Pro-Reads: Martin Jones – net drive down low with back door threat
With Martin Jones
We loved this read as much for his description of the somewhat unconventional save selection as for the situational read itself.
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This week’s Pro-Read is from San Jose’s Martin Jones. He was kind enough to review a number of his saves from last season while on site at a local hockey retailer for an appearance, and so in addition to a pro-read, we are treated to a sound track in today’s video!
The Scenario
This first save comes from the 2019 Western Conference Final when Jones’ Sharks met the eventual Stanley Cup Champions from St. Louis. Early in the third period of game three with the series tied 1-1 and St. Louis holding a one-goal lead Jones sees this scenario develop in front of him.
You can imagine in the above scene that Jones might be feeling like there are numerous possibilities that might unfold but with numbers on his side that he should be fairly comfortable that he was at worst about to face a low percentage scoring chance.
Unfortunately for Jones, the situation changes quickly as a result of a strong play by Ryan O’Reilly taking the puck wide and low and some less than stellar defensive coverage by his teammates. The play results in the following scene. Take a few minutes to look at it carefully and consider for yourself…what is the primary threat? Is there a secondary threat? How would you play this chance? Stand up? Overlap standing? VH? RVH? And with whatever selection you might make how will you adjust based on your threat assessment?
The Save
We can see that Jones’ primary threat is clearly O’Reilly coming from a sharp angle and he should have a tonne of support. But notice where all five San Jose players are looking….
OK, let’s take a minute to play the video below and see how the play unfolds. Jones makes the save, a very impressive one, as he ends up dealing with more than he should have if the defensive players had managed the situation differently.
The Pro-Read
Now that you have seen this situation in full and had a chance to consider it yourself, let’s watch and listen in as Jones takes us through his read and his save selection. Our own Kevin Woodley anticipates some of the questions you might have and gets Jones to elaborate a bit more on a save that he describes with the same matter-of-fact calmness that he seemed to have on the ice as well that evening.
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- Martin Jones breaks down his save on Ryan O'Reilly's net drive with a backdoor threat in Game 3 of the 2019 Western Conference Final against St. Louis.
- Identify the primary threat (sharp-angle drive) and secondary threat (backdoor) before committing to a technique selection such as VH or RVH along the post.
- Defensive breakdowns can transform a low-percentage scoring chance into a high-difficulty save, requiring the goalie to reassess threats mid-play.
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