Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson said something similar after reviewing video of a save he made during a preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens. With Canadiens forward Charles Hudon skating in on a partial break for a clear wrist shot from the left hash mark, Anderson held his ground just inside the top of his crease and used the one-pad down, or half-butterfly, save Lehner described. Anderson only dropped his right knee, keeping his left leg and glove up as Hudon's shot barely missed high and wide on that side.
"It's hold your ground, try to read the shot," Anderson said. "So as he pulls and drags, you kind of read he's going high glove. You get burned if he fans and goes five-hole, but for the most part, if you drop into a full butterfly there, he scores. It misses your shoulder, it's in the net."
Lehner, who said he learned a lot from Anderson during parts of five seasons as teammates with the Senators, pointed to those half-butterfly saves as more important than occasional pad stacks, especially against a generation of players that grew up learning how to score against the butterfly stance.
"If there's a guy shooting from the slot and he hits his spot, there's only one way of saving it and it's an unorthodox save," Lehner said. "If he hits the spot and you do a regular butterfly, he's scoring, end of story.
"As soon as I see they're into a dangerous zone, I stop being technical. I start looking at sticks and at [the shooter's] face and start predicting, leaning and cheating -- predictable cheating. It's about unpredictability, not making a perfect save."
Using the same save, in the same situation, over an extended period allows opposing shooters to target vulnerabilities, something Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur pointed out when he was asked about the recent run of lacrosse-style goals on the @TheRink podcast.
"Players are good, they look at goalies and when the puck is behind the net [goalies] are on their knees, so what is available? It's the top of the net," Brodeur said. "That's a spot that's vulnerable for a goalie just because they are on their knees all the time."
Dallas Stars goalie Anton Khudobin is on his knees less than a lot of goalies. He leads the NHL with a .932 save percentage playing an active, almost combative style that reminds some of a toned-down "battle-fly" style first coined to describe the hybrid style used by former Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas.