Unmasked: Goalies have unique ways of slowing down moments of chaos

VANCOUVER -- Cam Talbot works daily to improve his vision using a specialized computer program and glasses, but the Detroit Red Wings goalie knows a big part of life in an NHL crease is surviving the chaotic moments when seeing the puck feels impossible.

In those moments of mayhem, with players from each team piling up around the crease and sticks whacking at wherever the puck has ended up behind that mix of flailing limbs and fallen bodies, time can slow down for the goalie.

But not in a good way.

"In real time, it's only one or two seconds but it feels like a lifetime until you can find that puck," Talbot said. "When those scrambles are happening in front and you don't know where it is, or you've located it but can't get to it, you're just kind of a sitting duck."

It's worse when the initial shot that creates chaos doesn't make it all the way to the goalie. At least a goalie knows where a rebound is headed when the puck hits him, even if traffic in front prevents him from seeing it. When a shot hits a leg or stick in front, a goalie may have no idea where the puck will bounce next, and because they're typically already down in a butterfly, the options to find a sightline are limited.

"You're just seeing butts and knees," said Colorado Avalanche starter Mackenzie Blackwood.

At that point, it's about looking for other clues if the puck isn't visible. Sometimes those hints come from the reaction of players in front.

"If somebody dives or slides, you're like, 'OK, maybe the puck is over there," Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner said. "You have to figure out this whole puzzle without actually seeing the puck and without making the wrong decision to move, and it's really hard because you're looking at just a whole bunch of chaos, to be honest, and it's hard to find the puck, and it's hard to make a smart decision because everything is so chaotic."

Blackwood remembered a play earlier this season against the Florida Panthers when a shot was taken off the half wall into a double screen and the puck hit one of those players standing in front, and he had no idea where the puck had bounced off those bodies.

"It was like two steamboats and I'm just standing there, I didn't even go down, because he was trying to shoot high and I was up against my post, like, 'Where the heck is the puck?'" Blackwood said. "And [Matthew] Tkachuk was to the left and I saw him wind up to swing, so I thought I'd go into my RVH, and he whacked it out of the air, and it hit me in the pad."

If Blackwood hadn't dropped into his post, he said the puck would have beaten him.

"You just have to use whatever you can to figure out where the puck might be," he said. "Whether you see the bodies or the heads moving, whatever you can use."

Sometimes those cues are auditory.

"Hearing can be a big part of it," Skinner said. "You are listening for guys saying stuff like 'Shooter, shooter or take it, take it,' or even a stick that sounds like it's hitting a puck. That happens in traffic too.

"I would imagine every goalie has probably been through it, where you're seeing it and then somebody comes through your vision, and you have no idea where it is, but you hear that shot, so you're like, 'Well, I've got to go down to the ice' and then it hits your pad. Hearing somebody shoot at least lets you know the puck is coming."

The key to surviving those agonizing moments is not to panic and start moving around the crease while searching. At least when a goalie is down in the butterfly, they have the bottom of the ice covered, but moving side to side from the butterfly requires lifting a pad and giving up that coverage along the ice.

Talbot, a 12-season NHL veteran, believes his use of Vizual Edge, an online cognitive- and vision-training program, helps him find pucks faster amid all those bodies in front, and credits it for playing his first two NHL All Star Games in the past three years.

But until he can see the puck, the secret is to not give into the pandemonium.

"You have to stay as calm and patient as possible," Talbot said.

That's because to push to the left, a goalie must lift his right knee high enough to get the edge of the right skate on the ice, which lifts that pad off the ice too -- and vice versa for pushing to the right -- and leaves him vulnerable to a low shot.

"It seems to happen multiple times every game," Washington Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren said, "especially at this level. Guys are so good at creating that chaos in front of us, usually it starts with a screen and maybe a blocked puck or a rebound that ends up squirting out somewhere in front of us, and then all the bodies come in.

"For the goalie, you want to stay as controlled as possible in that chaos. You don't want to create and open holes."

Buffalo Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who will represent Team Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, has adopted a less-is-more strategy for those moments.

"I feel like the biggest thing now is you can't be just chasing the puck around," Luukkonen said. "So, let's say I lose the puck. Most of the time rather than try to scramble and look for it, I take a step back to be in a position where I can still react when the next play happens. Just try to seal the ice, don't let anything through you on those situations is the biggest thing and if they make a good play on it and go bar down, you probably didn't have that good of a chance to save it anyways. But I feel like giving the best odds to yourself in those situations where you don't exactly know what's going on, I think that's the biggest key."

Blackwood has learned a similar lesson during his seven seasons.

"Some guys might grab an edge and be all panicky," he said. "I used to be like that for sure, but now I try and just maybe drift back a little bit to try and gain the middle of the net. Not tucked all the way into my net but lose a blade of depth to try and find where the puck is, because if I shade back a little and it's moved, I'm a little closer to getting on my angle. Just don't panic, which is easier said than done in that chaos."