In a game in Minnesota in late November, Maple Leafs goalie Matt Murray slid across his crease and planted his right skate against the post when suddenly, the play shifted back to his left. Murray made a powerful push with his right skate, dislodging the net and sending it careening away from the crease to stop play.
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Later in the game, Murray’s shoulder knocked that same post off its mooring, bringing play to a halt. Moments later, it happened again.
Murray never received a penalty, but Minnesota coach Dean Evason was upset following the contest.
“You can’t knock the net off three times and not get anything out of it. It doesn’t make any sense,” Evason said on Nov. 25. “We have offensive time in there, sustained time, we could get more opportunities, and all of a sudden, boom, it’s stalled out, the momentum’s gone and whatever.
“I don’t understand it. It’s hard to ask (the refs), you don’t want to yell at the refs all the time, but it didn’t make any sense how a goaltender could knock it off three times and there’s no repercussion.”
Goalies in general seem to be dislodging nets often this season, and the league is taking notice. The NHL Situation Room in Toronto has been keeping a close eye on the matter, clipping video of every time it occurs as part of a presentation to the general managers at this week’s meetings in Manalapan, Fla. Earlier this winter, the league also planned to conduct a series of tests to determine the force it takes to knock its nets off the moorings and if they could make changes to the way to the way nets and pegs are made, or the way nets are installed into the ice in order to better secure them. The hope was for this data to be presented this week in Florida.
After conversations with several top goalies, most believe the biggest reason for net dislodging isn’t necessarily the moorings themselves, but more so an incorrect installation.
“Sometimes, when the net comes off once, there’s a lot of snow that goes into the hole,” Predators goalie Juuse Saros said. “If the refs don’t clear the hole, then the peg doesn’t go deep enough. I feel like that’s usually the problem, so they need to remember to take the snow out.”
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The NHL has used the Marsh Peg design to hold its nets in place since 1991. The plastic anchors were originally 1 5/8 inches long, but in 2002, the league increased them to 1 7/8 inches. They sit in drilled holes in the ice, but can become less effective if they are not sitting at the correct depth. This provides a possible explanation for why some goalies will go weeks without dislodging a net once, then have it happen multiple times in a single game.
The incident with Murray in Minnesota may have been the most talked about, but he isn’t alone.
“I had never really done it in all my years here, and then I saw there was controversy going on with it and, all of a sudden, I did it three times in a game,” Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark said. “I haven’t changed my game.”
A few weeks ago, the NHL sent out a memo that reminded linesmen that even though they’re not ice keepers, too often the nets were just being placed back on the pegs. Linesmen were given procedures to follow if the nets come off the moorings that includes making sure the holes don’t have ice shavings in them, that they’re properly drilled and that they’re secure once the nets are placed back on.
If not, they must take the time needed to call the ice crew out to get it right. The league is not at the point at which they’re focusing on individual goalies. While clipping instances of goalies knocking the nets off, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, “We’ve learned the way the nets are essentially getting moved. Some of the engineering fixes that we might have with respect to that, it really does in a lot of cases have to do with peg placement in the ice. So, it’s educating our facilities.”
Daly said that league executive Kris King reported on the fact that there have been a lot fewer nets coming off the moorings during the second half of the season as opposed to the first half, “so it’s starting to work already in terms of the reminders that we’re sending out. So, we’ve made progress in that area.”
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If the league has been using the same moorings for more than 30 years, why has it suddenly become more of an issue? The most likely answer is the change in technique being used by goalies when guarding their posts.
Long gone are the days of goalies standing upright with their pads neatly tucked together when the puck moves to the side of their net. Every goalie in the league has adopted the use of the RVH, or Reverse Vertical Horizontal, technique. The name refers to the positioning of the goalie’s legs, with the post-side leg horizontal to seal the ice, and the inside leg placed vertically with the skate blade dug into the ice as leverage to help seal the post tightly.
The technique has exploded in popularity over the last decade, with goalies using it more and more aggressively. It places more stress on the net’s moorings than virtually any other move.
“We do only knock off the nets when we’re in that position, basically,” Ullmark said.
“I think it’s the demand on the post play these days,” Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck said, “and how important it is to keep what people call ‘bad goals’ out of the net. It’s so important to really squeeze yourself against the post, because we’re not square so you have to really close the holes.”
While in the RVH, goalies often have their skate blade or toe of their pad tightly against the post. When the puck is moved into the center of the ice, they’ll explode off the post to get to the top of their crease, which is another one of the most common ways a net is dislodged.
“Sometimes it happens because you’re using the post as a pushing point,” Andrei Vasilevskiy said. “I’m a 220-pound guy, so I’m pretty heavy, right? Sometimes when I push too hard, it happens by itself. Let’s just say I’ve never done it on purpose. It happens, and obviously the opposing team is never happy about that.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy. (Stephen R. Sylvanie / USA Today)
As with every developed goaltending technique, shooters adapt. Lately, more and more, goals are being scored on the short-side top corner when goalies drop into RVH too quickly. As a counteractive measure, goalies are now pressing their shoulder up into the crossbar to seal that gap, which can lift the net off its moorings.
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“Guys are trying to go top-shelf on us, and some goalies don’t have the physical appearance to cover that area, so what you try to do is lift your body up, but at the same time you’re leaning,” Ullmark explained. “So when you do that, it’s just natural for the net to move upwards.”
There are some goalies who wonder if there’s a better way to anchor the nets.
“It’s also tough because you can’t just drill metal pegs in,” Ullmark said. “All of a sudden, you have guys coming in and slamming into the net, and God forbid something happens. You have to think about that, but yes, I think there has to be some better solution to what it is currently that can help us not knock the nets off.”
Many aren’t as concerned with the recent trend, and believe more uniform installation of the pegs will go a long way toward solving the problem.
“I don’t think the pegs are a huge problem,” Hellebuyck said. “I think it’s just something we have to deal with. Obviously some goalies go into the net a little differently than others. I know most goalies aren’t trying to knock it off, but I’m sure there are some that don’t care if it gets knocked off.”
Goalies stick together. It’s a union of sorts. Asked if they believe fellow netminders could be intentionally dislodging nets to prevent scoring chances, the league’s top goalies all smiled and dismissed the notion.
“I don’t think,” Saros said, pausing for a second. “Or, at least I’d like to think, that goalies are not trying to do it on purpose.”
(Photo of Matt Murray: John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)
