Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus
Who cares which goalie is in the net? 78% with Smith is still pathetic for a team with 100 point aspirations. The problem is not the goalie it's the poor positioning by the 4 skaters and complete lack of pressure at the right times.
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I think it's fair to expect this lineup to be a top 10 PK unit when you have depth on on D and Backlund/Frolik 1st unit PK.
I have no problem saying the skaters should be better at putting pressure on opponents, but...
With Smith in goal, you might expect 83%+ PK. But at this point, 2 bounces over 16 games (Smith played) make the difference between 78% and 82%. The results are within a standard deviation. One bad bounce every 8 games. That could turn around in the next 20 games with a few modest improvements.
It is way different when Smith is not in goal. Flames backups stop 50% of shorthanded shots so far. If your PK successfully holds opponents to 2 shots (or say 1.75 shots average) on a powerplay, you would still get scored on most of the time. We're talking 2 or 3 "bad bounces" every game they (Lack) are in goal. That needs to be corrected if you expect to be a top 10 PK over the season.
It has more to do with goaltending than you might think.