Brossoit Flaherty, Helleybuyck and the lateral drill that won Jets a game
- Brossoit and Hellebuyck were both beaten early in the season by backdoor plays because they locked too heavily on the shooter and lost their lateral rotation.
- Wade Flaherty designed a drill progression starting with stationary shooters and passers to ingrain the correct movement pattern before adding live elements.
- The drill began with the initial passer at the top of the faceoff circle and a second player at the opposite dot, emphasizing keeping hands connected during rotation.
- Brossoit's game-saving backdoor stop on Elias Pettersson in a 2-0 Jets win directly resulted from this practice work, preserving a 1-0 lead in the second period.
- Identifying a specific in-game breakdown and building targeted drills around it is an example of how elite goaltending coaches translate game film into practice solutions.
Laurent Brossoit made a handful of game-saving stops during a 2-0 win against his hometown Vancouver Canucks back in mid-February. With the Winnipeg Jets clinging to a 1-0 lead until a late empty-net goal, every save was big but this backdoor power-play stop on Elias Pettersson in the second period stood out, and not just because of the degree of difficulty:
The save also stood out because Brossoit and playing partner Connor Hellebuyck appeared to re-create the stop in practice the next day with Winnipeg goaltending coach Wade Flaherty.
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