Jake Allen Montreal Pro-Read 2
Reactive post play when facing multiple threats
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Jake Allen is having a good first season with the Montreal Canadiens, so we were happy he found time during a recent road trip to review video with InGoal in order to update our Pro Reads segments and move on from save reviews in a St. Louis Blues jersey.
His first Pro Reads wearing Bleu, Blanc et Rouge featured some great advice on the importance of being comfortable on your posts, and this second installment continues that theme.
The Scenario
Allen is at home in Montreal against the visiting Vancouver Canucks for this chance, which starts with a turnover in the Canadiens end and a point shot that fells his defenseman Jeff Petry and creates a quick sharp angle attack with a down low pass option for Nils Hoglander.
What makes this interesting is the post-integration options available to Allen as Hoglander skates off the boards in a shooting position in the freeze frame above. Allen can use an overlap to square up on Hoglander, opt for a traditional VH, which he still has in his arsenal and uses more than many of his peers, or select reverse-VH, which might set him up better if Hoglander passes down to Tanner Pearson for an attack from the below the goal line.
Which one would you choose and why? Does Hoglander being a left shot affect it?
Actually, before you answer, let’s add a wrinkle by panning out a bit on that play:
Does the presence of another threat cutting down towards the faceoff dot change your read on this play and what post integration to use? Especially since that threat is Canucks sniper Elias Pettersson, who owns an Alex Ovechkin-like one-timer?
THE SAVE
Now let’s take a look at the entire sequence to see which post-save selection Allen used.
Watch Jake Allen break down the full video for you
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- Jake Allen breaks down his save on a sharp-angle attack by Nils Hoglander, with a below-the-goal-line pass option to Tanner Pearson and Elias Pettersson cutting to the dot as a secondary threat.
- Allen starts in a VH before quickly transitioning to a reverse-VH once the pass moves to Pearson, demonstrating that both reads were correct depending on how the play developed.
- The presence of a high-danger secondary threat like Pettersson changes which post integration is optimal, making reverse-VH the better choice to defend the below-the-goal-line attack.
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