Too early to panic about Markstrom

[Winsor_Pilates]

He has been terrible.
I'm a big Marky fan but let's not pretend. The Flames would have another 2-3 wins easily with decent goaltending.

I'm concerned him and others are still mentally shook from the Oilers series and blowing all those leads.
They lock up when in leads again and look nervous to blow another one.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Markstrom is going full Tommy Salo on us. Was concerned after the playoff meltdown but he's showing few signs of coming around. The team psychologist needs to do some work with the guy. His focus is just not there.

[Teroy]

Trade him for that winger we need. Bring up Wolf and let him and Vladar fight it out for #1. We'd be no further behind and would probably be better. Markstrom is being out goaltended every game. Yes, he makes some great saves but he also lets in the soft ones.

[1_Flames_Fan]

I think it's mental with Markstrom right now. Maybe some sessions with a sports psychologist would help? That's what I would be looking into if I was running the show.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Isn't Markstrom a slow starter generally? I just have a sense that that was his rep from before he joined the Flames.

[jlh2640]

Honestly he has been pretty good lately, but the third goal in both the last 2 games cannot happen. They have to be saved. Then we are sitting here with a minimum of 3 points instead of 1.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

When you have a save percentage in the .880 range you're going to get some criticism.

And he does deserve to get some criticism. But not "What can I think of to blame him for that goal?" criticism.

The thing I like about reading Bingo's post game reports is when it comes to Markstrom he's neutral. It's refreshing after sitting through a game thread. If he thinks he was bad he'll say it. If he thinks he was fine and the team let him down he'll say it. He even called me out for criticizing Markstrom for the second goal against Edmonton. And he had a good point even though I still don't like how he played the dump in.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Isn't Markstrom a slow starter generally? I just have a sense that that was his rep from before he joined the Flames.

Without diving into his stats my impression was always good year/off year/good year/off year

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by jlh2640

Honestly he has been pretty good lately, but the third goal in both the last 2 games cannot happen. They have to be saved.

Last night I agree. Monday night that was a tip. I thought it was bad until I saw the replay.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

That sounds about right. That's basically every goalie in the past 20 years other than Lundqvist, Rask and Luongo though. Although maybe not that regular that you can set your watch to it. Even top tier netminders have down years, and more than one. Look at Price's career stats.

[ComixZone]

DailyFaceoff

This season? Among 64 netminders who have logged at least 100 minutes at 5-on-5, they sit 39th and 57th. Markstrom’s degree of difficulty has gone up slightly, while Vladar’s is actually lower. They are both seeing roughly the same number of high-danger shots as they did last season. So the defensive play is not to blame for the netminders’ woes. They have simply just been B.A.D. at stopping pucks.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Inferno

AHe even called me out for criticizing Markstrom for the second goal against Edmonton. And he had a good point even though I still don't like how he played the dump in.

I'll never understand people's defense of that goal. That goal is terrible and IMO shows a lot of Markstrom's issues right now.

Ignore the failed dump in for a second, and just assume Markstrom is playing that shot from the boards.

The replay at 26 seconds is the best look of it Https://www.nhl.com/video/mcdavid-ev...724/c-13455787

Markstrom identifies McDavid as the one getting the puck and has more than enough time to save that puck.

But He over slides, makes himself super small, and gets beat short side. That one is a legitimately bad goal on him and those same problems (making himself small, oversliding) have been issues all season.

Look at his position when the shot is taken, vs how small he is when the puck goes through him short side. When a goalie is playing well, he looks big in his net and it feels like pucks just hit him right now Markstrom looks small and he looks like he's finding ways to miss shots.



Great look at last nights game winner too at 33 secondds of this clip https://www.nhl.com/video/hischier-b...044/c-13644115

Slow to get himself square to the shooter, makes himself small in his butterfly, and then leaves his pad off the ice for the puck to squeeze through him.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I'll never understand people's defense of that goal. That goal is terrible and IMO shows a lot of Markstrom's issues right now.

Ignore the failed dump in for a second, and just assume Markstrom is playing that shot from the boards.

The replay at 26 seconds is the best look of it Https://www.nhl.com/video/mcdavid-ev...724/c-13455787

Markstrom identifies McDavid as the one getting the puck and has more than enough time to save that puck.

But He over slides, makes himself super small, and gets beat short side. That one is a legitimately bad goal on him.

He wasn't completely set. Getting back to the net in time doesn't mean you're ready to face a shot. That's not to excuse him and deflect responsibility because like I said I didn't like how he played the dump in.

[sketchyt]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

But He over slides, makes himself super small, and gets beat short side. That one is a legitimately bad goal on him and those same problems (making himself small, oversliding) have been issues all season.

I agree with your whole post as much as I want to defend him. I'm seeing the same thing. Also noticed he's very late at getting his feet set.

Good news is that it's all fixable and a veteran goalie should be able to re-adjust. Just glad it's happening now and not at the end of the year.

[Monahammer]

Residence time in the flames system seems to be one of the best predicting factors in Goaltender decline. I use to blame our Goalie coach but we finally changed that situation last year so it must be something else. Maybe lighting at the dome is slightly different and kills their eyes over time? I don't know. Whatever it is, it's extremely depressing.

[SuperMatt18]

Looking through to find some examples of him playing really small in his butterfly, not moving well to get square, and having poor net coverage over the last 2 games.

Palmieri Goal: Bad giveaway but honestly it's a 1-2 coming down low and Markstrom plays super small, sets up outside his own post, and gets beat far side. Slight deflection but if he's playing big in his net and is square I think he gets it easily. (32 seconds - https://www.nhl.com/video/palmieri-e...410/c-13624767

Graves Goal: Bad transition defense but once again super small in the net, doesn't get square, and look at all the net Graves has to shoot at. Don't think he should save this one, especially with Lucic all over him, but flagging how small he is in his net. (42 seconds - https://www.nhl.com/video/graves-bur...044/c-13642469)

Hischier Goal: Small in his net, doesn't get square in time (33 seconds - https://www.nhl.com/video/hischier-b...044/c-13644115)

None of these goals are "soft" or "low danger" chances but to me my worry more is it's just some of the positional and structural parts of his game that seem to be an issue right now, and why more of these chances seem to be going in than not. He's really played hunched in his butterfly, isn't moving well laterally, and seems to flopping forward a lot.

[Infinit47]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Looking through to find some examples of him playing really small in his butterfly, not moving well to get square, and having poor net coverage over the last 2 games.

Palmieri Goal: Bad giveaway but honestly it's a 1-2 coming down low and Markstrom plays super small, sets up outside his own post, and gets beat far side. Slight deflection but if he's playing big in his net and is square I think he gets it easily. (32 seconds - https://www.nhl.com/video/palmieri-e...410/c-13624767

Graves Goal: Bad transition defense but once again super small in the net, doesn't get square, and look at all the net Graves has to shoot at. Don't think he should save this one, especially with Lucic all over him, but flagging how small he is in his net. (42 seconds - https://www.nhl.com/video/graves-bur...044/c-13642469)

Hischier Goal: Small in his net, doesn't get square in time (33 seconds - https://www.nhl.com/video/hischier-b...044/c-13644115)

None of these goals are "soft" or "low danger" chances but to me my worry more is it's just some of the positional and structural parts of his game that seem to be an issue right now, and why more of these chances seem to be going in than not. He's really played hunched in his butterfly, isn't moving well laterally, and seems to flopping forward a lot.

I would also say I don't see him tracking the puck very well through traffic. I want to see a goalie battle to see the puck and he just seems to be behind the play.

[Enoch Root]

sliding laterally too much, not square to the shooter, backing in instead of pushing out to the shooter, and making himself small

all of these things are causing too many pucks to evade him, and that is making it seem like we are giving up way more, and way worse, chances than last year, but in reality, we are just more nervous when the chances occur, because we can't trust the goaltending

[Enoch Root]

On the McDavid goal, I could accept it more, if it had beat him short side because he wasn't set and slid too far out.

But that wasn't the case. It went under his arm because he shrank inward to make the save, instead of playing positionally and trying to be a big target. To me, that shows a lack of confidence.

Markstrom is huge, and IMO, he plays best when he is playing a more positional style: be big, be square to the shooter, cut off the angles, and keep lateral movement to a minimum.

But right now he is guessing, he is moving laterally on almost every shot, and he is sinking backwards when he attempts to make a save

[Northendzone]

I feel like markstrom has lost his kevorka……will be interesting to see if he can recover; and, if he can hopefully it is in the next few weeks…..