Pro-Reads with Ryan Miller
With Ryan Miller
Reading the rush and defensive pressure allows Miller to cheat a bit on this save that even he admits didn't go perfectly, despite the excellent result.
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Ryan Miller retired this summer but after a remarkable 18-season career that included the most NHL wins by an American goalie (387), the 2010 Vezina Trophy and a silver medal as MVP of the 2010 Olympics, we weren’t going to pass on a chance to pick his considerable puck-stopping brain and break down video from his last couple of seasons with the Anaheim Ducks.
As thoughtful off the ice as he was brilliant on it, Miller is poised rejoin the USA Olympic team as a coach for the 2022 Beijing Games, something he discusses at length on Episode 137 of the InGoal Radio Podcast before reviewing footage of a half dozen saves for Pro Reads.
THE SCENARIO
This is the fifth of those video reviews and this time Miller is facing a rush chance against skilled Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller that becomes more of a sharp-angle chance.
What do you make of Miller’s positioning as Keller gets down near the bottom of the left face-off circle above? If you’re thinking he was more worried about something else based on the way Miller is setting up, you’re right. Let’s zoom out and take a wider look:
Now that you have a wider look at the passing options, what do you make of Miller’s approach on Keller? Any risk on not staying square on such a skilled shooter? Maybe more important, is there anything else about the play or Keller that might contribute to this read?
THE SAVE
Now let’s take at the entire sequence to see if Miller got it right by fading Keller as a shooter:
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- Ryan Miller breaks down his save on a rush-to-sharp-angle chance by Clayton Keller, where he faded Keller as a shooter to take away the pass to Phil Kessel.
- Miller deliberately left his short side exposed, confident Keller would not shoot based on a specific read off his own defenseman's positioning in that instant.
- Recognizing a skilled forward's passing trigger in real time — not just their shooting threat — is what allowed Miller to cheat toward the pass and still make the save.
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