The Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning have all pulled the goalie really early - with poor results.
The Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning have all pulled the goalie really early - with poor results.
EDMONTON -- Over the past week or so there have been numerous NHL head coaches who have pulled the goalie with more than seven minutes left in the third period - the New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Perhaps (unsurprisingly) it hasn't worked out for any of those teams.
The first was Patrick Roy with the Islanders. The Islanders were playing the St. Louis Blues and were down 3-0 with about 12 minutes left in the final frame.
Right before the Blues scored this empty net goal, defenseman Noah Dobson had his shot ring off the post. If Dobson had scored there, Roy would look like a genius. Instead, the deficit increases to 4-0, which would be the final score of the hockey game.
Then Kris Knoblauch tried something similar for the Oilers. On Saturday the Oilers lost a heated Battle of Alberta against the Calgary Flames. With about eight minutes left in the third period the Oilers pull their goalie. It's an offensive zone faceoff, but the score is 5-2.
The final score was 6-3 for the Flames.
Finally, Jon Cooper tried this with the Lightning last night. With approximately nine minutes remaining in the third period (and down 4-1) they pull Andrei Vasilevskiy.
At first it appeared to work with Steven Stamkos scoring with 5:26 left. That pulled the Lightning to within two goals. The goalie returned to the net right after - but was pulled again. The Philadelphia Flyers would score two empty net goals this time - with 4:38 and 2:19 left in regulation
The "tried and true" strategy of pulling a goalie for an extra attacker is a worthwhile strategy under certain conditions. These teams proved that it is not something to consider with such a substantial amount of time left on the clock.
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