The manual on NHL goal scoring is a tough book to find.
The art of snapping the twine (or even just pushing a puck over the goal line) is perhaps the most difficult element of the game.
If you get 30 goals in 82 games, you’re a bit of a hero. If you get 20, you’re likely getting a raise. So thousands of players have tried to find different ways to score goals over the years, and that includes building things like speed, strength and your one-timer.
But maybe the most important tool – at least for a few Stars players – is the brain.
Jason Robertson was in the perfect place to shovel in a rebound Sunday in Philadelphia because he seems to know how to read the game. Joe Pavelski made a beautiful tip in front of the net for a power play goal, as he has done many times in his NHL career. Rookie Matej Blumel made a sapient decision to outwait the Flyers goalie and slip home a backhand shot for the first goal of his NHL career.
It was a smorgasbord of examples as to why hockey sense is such a valued commodity.
Blumel’s story is a fun one. The 22-year-old rookie from the Czech Republic said his friends caught his NHL debut Friday on television and were frustrated when he was stopped on a breakaway shot attempt. Two of his friends are goalies and they offered him some tips on what to do.
“We’ve been texting the past couple of days,” Blumel said of Dominik Frodl and Matej Tomek. “[Tomek] knows Carter Hart really well. I thought Carter Hart was going to be playing. He didn’t.”
The fact that Blumel did the research, however, gives you great insight into his thought process. He said he scouts goalies on videos before games and tries to do as much research as he can on how the puck moves around certain goalies.
“Since I’ve played pro, I’ve been doing it before every game,” Blumel said of the video work. “Obviously, there are a lot of goalies in every league, and I don’t know them, so I want to look where is the spot to shoot and what they do with the puck when the shot comes to them.”
When players are on the ice, the game happens incredibly quickly, so having the ability to react is a huge advantage. Robertson tends to find himself around the puck a lot, and that’s often dismissed as puck luck. But the bottom line is you don’t get 148 points (68 goals, 80 assists) in 143 career NHL games just by being lucky.
Robertson puts in the work, and it’s paying off.
“I don’t think there’s any real easy answers,” he said when asked about secrets to scoring goals. “If you have all the time in the world, then you can think. But so much of it you have to react quickly and just trust your instincts. I think a lot of that is practice and working on the ice to put yourself in all of those situations. Then, when it comes up on the ice, you’ve been through it.”
Pavelski uses practice to refine the art of puck tipping. He also works on corralling pucks in front of the net and firing up quick shots, like the unexpected backhand lift he has used on several occasions this season. He said the perfect shot comes from work, and a little bit of fortune.
“It’s just trying to get sticks on it,” Pavelski said of the tip strategy. “When I’m really dialed in, I think depending on the angle of the shot, you’re trying to pull to certain areas [on the goalie], but sometimes there’s just a lane. You got to get a little lucky, too.”
It’s amazing that the harder you work, the luckier you get. Blumel tallied double digit goals in the Czech Republic the past two seasons, was the Stars’ best player at the NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan before training camp, and tallied 11 points (five goals, six assists) in nine games in the After AHL he was sent down.
In each situation, he found a way to improve his game.
“He’s got that pop to his game, where you know he can help us out and get in there on forechecks,” Pavelski said. “He’s around the puck, he’s strong, he shoots it well. He does a lot of little things. He’s a hockey player. I think, when you look at him, that’s what you look at. He doesn’t shy away from things. “
It’s an amazing trick, and one that can take you very far in the NHL. While the Stars’ roster in recent seasons has been filled with players who can create opportunities but not finish, the ones who put the puck in the net are worth gold.
“It’s really hard. That’s why those guys get paid the way they do,” DeBoer said when asked how hard it is to score goals in the NHL. “It’s a gift, and everybody is looking for it. You’ve got world-class goalies, you’ve got well-structured teams, you’ve got defensemen on the other side that are all big and can skate. So, the guys who can create that offense, they’re the elite guys.”
And, just maybe, a little smarter than the rest
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika
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