Goalies look beyond scrimmages to prepare for Cup Qualifiers

The biggest challenge for NHL goalies in preparing for the Stanley Cup Qualifiers is to replicate game situations in the practices.

Goalies have not lost their skills in the four months since the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, but getting into the rhythm of game play before it resumes Aug. 1 is often a harder ask.

Reading plays with 10 players moving around at high speed, or finding pucks through multiple layers of traffic, are situations goalies couldn't replicate during voluntary workouts or in traditional drills.

"You go through practice and it's all guys skating down the wing and shooting, skating down the wing and shooting," said Carolina Hurricanes goalie James Reimer, whose team will play the New York Rangers in a best-of-5 series starting Aug. 1. "No one shoots on a 2-on-1, it's always pass across, and nobody wants to shoot through a defenseman's legs because no one wants to hit their buddy in the ankle, so guys hold on to releases longer, they pass more, and for us goalies that makes it pretty hard."

In the round-robin, the top four teams in each conference based on regular-season points percentage will play each other once to determine seeding for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Those games will give goalies on those teams further opportunity to hone their games before facing an elimination series.

For the goalies on the 16 teams playing in the eight best-of-5 qualifier series, it's all about finding ways to feel game ready without playing games. The winners advance to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, against one of the round-robin teams in their conference. The losing teams will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery.

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk knows how hard it can be to get back up to game speed. He was away from his team while his wife, Jenn, dealt with a medical situation and did not play from Nov. 16 to Dec. 19. He had a save percentage below .900 in six of his first 10 starts after that break.

"It's almost impossible to truly replicate many game scenarios in practice," said Dubnyk, whose team will play the Vancouver Canucks in a best-of-5 series starting Aug. 2. "On shooting drills, guys are usually putting themselves in a great position with their head up and changing the angle, and every shot for the most part is a scoring chance, which is fine, but it's not realistic. Even the end-zone stuff, it's good, but you can't quite get there because guys aren't going to be ripping shots through ankles.

"The only way to get back to game speed and what you're feeling in a game is by playing a game. You can get all the other parts of your game sharp and do everything you can to keep those elements sharp in practice, but as far as playing a game, there's not really anything that replicates that for goalies."

Most teams have spent large parts of training camp during the past two weeks trying to replicate game situations, mostly through scrimmages. Almost every team has had at least one scrimmage, and some have gone as far as replicating the game-day experience with a morning skate and then a scrimmage at night.

"I think the team that's going to mimic the intensity and the best of a game is going to have an advantage," said Robin Lehner of the Vegas Golden Knights, one of the four teams in the Western Conference round-robin.

Some goalies believe the best way to create intensity isn't with scrimmages, but in small-area games during practice, where the nets are set up at the blue lines, or sometimes even along the boards in one end facing each other across the width of the ice.

"In a scrimmage, sometimes the mindset is, 'All right, just get through this.'" Reimer said, "But you throw in a small-area game at the end of practice and competition ramps up, it's like 10 minutes, all out, pride on the line."

Goaltending coaches can help the process by incorporating scenarios into their position-specific training before and after team practice. In many cases, scouting reports are used to work on passes and plays opponents might use on a power play.

"The first thing to go for goalies is the timing of the game, but we have implemented a lot of game play and game simulations, so I think that's going to come back pretty quick," said Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen, whose team will play the Columbus Blue Jackets in a best-of-5 series starting Aug. 2. "We're doing what we can to make it seem like we're in mid-season [form] right away."

Game situations help, but in the end, goalies must manufacture intensity on their own during practice sessions to stay sharp.

Dallas Stars goalie Anton Khudobin, who will also be in the West round-robin, knows this well through an 11-season NHL career that has seen him used extensively as a backup, often enduring long stretches between starts.

"My mindset for the practice is like a game," Khudobin said. "I'm just playing against my own players. In practice, we did the power play and I said, 'This is the game that I have to play.' You have to do exactly what you're going to do in the game, and that's my mindset right now. In a scrimmage, I'm going to prepare like it's a real game."