Why have Sergei Bobrovsky and Stuart Skinner looked so strong in the playoffs? Let's break down their highlights

New York Times

2 days ago

Whether it's fair or not, goaltenders are credited with wins and losses more than any position in hockey.
They're the only players with a record next to their stats, and those results hold the most weight in the Stanley Cup Final, which begins Wednesday night in Edmonton when the Oilers host the Florida Panthers.
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A championship can rewrite the narrative for a goalie's career, or further cement his place amongst the all-time greats. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, about to play in his third consecutive Cup Final, has done a bit of both over the last few years.
Not too long ago, he was viewed as a supremely talented athlete with little postseason success. He had two Vezina Trophies by the age of 28, but had only 17 postseason wins over his first 12 NHL seasons and had never been beyond the second round.
He's won 40 playoff games in the last three seasons. With four more, he would claim his second Stanley Cup championship and join Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek and Martin Brodeur (the consensus faces of the Mount Rushmore of goaltending) as the only goalies to win multiple Vezinas and championships since 1981.
In the other crease, Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner is looking to solidify himself as a true franchise goalie. On one hand, the 26-year-old has been replaced by backup Calvin Pickard in each of the last two postseasons. On the other hand, he just tied Bill Ranford for the second-most playoff wins in Oilers history (trailing only Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr).
A second straight loss in the final would leave Edmonton with questions about its future in net. A win would make Skinner one of only eight active goalies with his name on the Stanley Cup. He would also join Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jonathan Quick and Matt Murray as the only active goalies with multiple finals appearances and a championship.
There's a lot on the line.
How do these two stack up? In last year's seven-game series, Skinner actually had the higher save percentage, but Bobrovsky allowed only four total goals over the first three games as Florida took a commanding 3-0 series lead and capped it with a brilliant Game 7 performance.
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Let's analyze how each has gotten back to this point, highlighting some details in their game that have them as the last two goalies standing once again.
At 36, Bobrovsky is the sixth-oldest goalie in the NHL, and the oldest to start a game this postseason. His game is still defined by his incredible athleticism. He explodes across his crease with rare speed and precision, and contorts his body into positions we really only see from him. That lateral quickness is helpful against any opponent, but will be particularly important against a fast Oilers squad that passes the puck superbly.
Bobrovsky's explosiveness is obvious at times, like on this ridiculous save on Carolina's Logan Stankoven in the Eastern Conference final.
The amount of force Bobrovsky generated with the push off of his left skate was impressive, especially considering how wide his stance was when he made the move. The wider a goalie's skates get, the less power they typically have to move side-to-side, but Bobrovsky's leg strength and balance gives him the unique ability to get low when the puck is in tight while maintaining mobility.
His Olympic weight lifting routines are well-documented, and the fruits of that labor are unmistakable on the ice. Even the way Bobrovsky recovers from shots, jumping back to his skates without using his hands as leverage, shows off his strength and flexibility.
There are other, less obvious, ways that his leg strength helps him make saves, like on this glove save on Toronto's Auston Matthews in the second round.
This was a sensational read by Bobrovsky. On a lateral, high-to-low pass like that, it's easy for a goalie to default to a butterfly slide, especially with the shooter on his one-timer side. However, in this case, Bobrovsky realized it was a lengthy pass and he had the speed to beat it on his feet. Because he stayed tall, by the time Matthews released the shot, there was no room high to the short side.
Bobrovsky has dominated the last three postseasons, leading the league in wins (40), shutouts (six) and goals saved above expected (36.71).
As one of the goalie union's elder statesmen, Bobrovsky does a wonderful job of blending old school and new school. He has great modern technique, but isn't afraid to break out of that structure when necessary. One of the best examples of this is how he uses his stick when the puck gets near his crease.
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Bobrovsky has the most active stick of any goalie in the league, but in most cases, he doesn't use it in a traditional poke check. Part of the reason the old technique has nearly disappeared from today's game is that it's a bit of an all-or-nothing play that typically leaves the goalie exposed. Rather than selling out with an aggressive lunge, Bobrovsky maintains an upright torso and still reacts to the shot while fishing for a poke check to make the shooter uncomfortable.
Given how dangerous Edmonton's rush game is, and how good Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are at setting teammates up on the backside of the play, Bobrovsky's aggressive stick could play a factor in the Cup Final. Watch how he slides his blocker hand up to the knob of his stick, allowing him to stab out at the puck and cover a significant area in front of his net.
The biggest key, though, is that Bobrovsky has the balance and athleticism to still make the saves even when his poke attempts fail.
Outside of the obvious change in stick grip, he doesn't alter his stance or the way he's reading the play in these situations. He pokes to take valuable real estate away from the shooter, eliminating the chance for a deke in tight, but still keeps visual attachment to the puck and reads the shot. This save on Toronto's Max Domi in Game 1 of the second round is a perfect example. He uses the poke, forcing Domi into a quick shot, but still makes the glove save.
Now for Bobrovsky's magnum opus. For my money, this is the most impressive sequence of saves in this entire postseason, and it shows off every aspect of Bobrovsky's game that we've discussed to this point.
It was the signature save in Florida's series-clinching Game 5 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. First, Bobrovsky tried to poke the puck off the stick of defenseman Erik Cernak as he cut back against the grain. Bobrovsky narrowly missed the poke, but dug his left skate into the ice and exploded over for a beauty of a right-pad save.
Bobrovsky was in a full extension splits when the rebound went straight to the stick of Lightning forward Gage Goncalves, but he sprung back up to his skates and exploded the opposite direction. Elite balance, leg and core strength on full display.
He was still holding the knob of his stick, fishing for the potential poke check, but read Goncalves' shot high to the glove side, and got the cuff of his glove on the shot for a sensational save. Truly magnificent stuff from one of the best to ever do it.
One hundred eighty-four feet across the ice, Skinner has the unenviable task of trying to best Bobrovsky. As mentioned earlier, his .909 save percentage and 2.38 goals saved above expected in last year's Cup Final were both superior to Bobrovsky's numbers. He'll need to do something similar this year if Edmonton is to win its first championship in 35 years.
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He gave an interesting perspective on that game within the game following Edmonton's Game 4 win over Dallas in the Western Conference final.
'I know you guys love the goalie battle, but if you asked (Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger) the same question he would say he doesn't really care, and I would say the same thing,' Skinner said. 'I'm just trying to outplay him. He's trying to outplay me, but that's not going head-to-head. It's a little bit different when you're a goalie. I can't body-check him. He can't cross-check me. So it's a little different, but as a goalie he gave his team a chance to win tonight, and so did I.'
Since reclaiming the Oilers' net in Game 3 of the second-round series against Vegas, Skinner has given his team a chance to win as regularly as any goalie in these playoffs. His 6-2 record, .931 save percentage and 9.19 GSAx since then trail only Bobrovsky, and his three shutouts are tied for the most this postseason.
Skinner has found his game over the last two series. He ended the second-round series against Vegas on a 127-minute shutout streak, holding the Golden Knights scoreless for each of the last two games, including a 1-0 overtime win in Game 5. He followed that up with an equally impressive stretch against Dallas in the conference final, allowing only two goals on 88 shots across games 2, 3 and 4.
What has been the biggest difference in his game? It certainly looks like he's playing with a lot more confidence, and as a result he's making faster reads. Skinner is a blocking-style goalie, opposed to a more reactive goalie such as Bobrovsky. He prefers to do his work prior to the shot, positioning his 6-foot-4, 230-pound frame to take away angles.
It may feel like his hot streak has coincided with Edmonton playing better defense in front of him, but the numbers actually say the opposite. The Oilers have allowed more scoring chances, high-danger chances and expected goals per 60 minutes in Skinner's last eight starts than they did in his first two of the playoffs.
Edmonton's layered zone defense has consistently held teams out of the dangerous areas, but Skinner's personal improvements have been a major difference. When he's at his best, he maximizes his size well, showing shooters very little net. He does this through several means, the first of which is great posture in his butterfly.
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When Skinner drives his knees to the ice to seal the lower part of the net, he keeps his hips high, rather than going back on his heels, which shrinks net coverage. He doesn't get compressed, and the height of his shoulders almost doesn't change when going from standing to butterfly.
This save on Golden Knights leading scorer Pavel Dorofeyev is a good example of that. It's a dangerous turnaround shot from a player with a tricky release, but Skinner makes himself big and easily shrugs the shot off with his shoulder.
Watch how Skinner's head and shoulders stay at the same height throughout the save, even though he's dropping to his knees. Not only does this cover the top of the net, but the stillness of his head also leads to better puck tracking.
Skinner makes a lot of saves in this fashion. They aren't flashy, but they're efficient, repeatable and easier to execute on shots through traffic, which is going to be a big key when facing a Panthers team that sends waves of players to the front of the net.
This shot by Dallas' Mikko Rantanen was a missile of a wrist shot directly off the faceoff, and Skinner had three Oilers defenders between himself and the shot, completely hiding Rantanen's release.
Skinner actually missed the puck with his glove, which is understandable on a screened shot from that close, but because he stood tall in his butterfly, it hit his shoulder. When dealing with compromised sight lines, positioning is paramount.
Skinner has excelled at stopping these types of shots throughout his career. He has allowed only 26 goals on 962 shots from long range in his career for a stellar .973 save percentage. In the playoffs, when traffic and screens increase, he has given up only seven goals on 203 shots (.966).
Lately, Skinner has also looked noticeably calmer in chaotic situations, when it's tough to find the puck through bodies. This save on Dallas' Jason Robertson highlights that.
On Robertson's initial shot, Skinner did a good job of looking around the screens without compressing himself or losing his posture. He dropped into the butterfly, but the shot didn't make it through the five bodies between Skinner and the puck. In this situation, he could've easily panicked and stood up – opening the bottom of the net – but instead he calmly remained in his butterfly, fought through contact with Sam Steel at the top of the crease with a shove with his glove hand, and found the puck just before Robertson got to it again. Because he was already down, tracking the shot to his glove side was a bit easier, and he snagged the puck for a huge stop.
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These are the types of plays Skinner will have to make consistently to win this series against Florida. No team creates chaos in front of the goalie better than the Panthers, so this will be his toughest test yet. The same could be said for Bobrovsky, whose lateral explosion and creativity will be tested by the Oilers' high-octane attack.
It won't be easier for either goalie. It shouldn't be. Whoever comes out on top will earn a career-changing win. Either Bobrovsky will cement his spot in the Hall of Fame with a second Stanley Cup, or Skinner will silence the doubters to end Canada's 32-year Cup drought.
(Photo of Sergei Bobrovsky and Stuart Skinner: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)