Jake Allen Pro Tip
- Place your stick against the outside of the post during wrap-around attempts to gain leverage and reduce strain on your wrist and forearm.
- Jake Allen confirms this technique works on both sides, making it a versatile tool in desperation scramble situations.
- Tuukka Rask and Allen both acknowledge that highlight-reel saves typically reflect poor positioning, not elite technique.
- Even in chaotic scramble situations, applying simple structural rules — like using the post as a brace — can increase your chances of making the save.
- Study scramble situations actively: Allen reviewed actual game footage to identify and explain this specific stick-positioning detail.
Tuukka Rask put it best when we asked him a couple years ago about the saves that inevitably end up on highlight reels, and how they’re rarely the ones the goalie is proud of.
“I try not to make acrobatic saves because it means you are out of position but that’s what you have to do to make the highlights,” he said. “Just goes to show how much guys on TV know.”
While it’s true that scramble saves are rarely ones NHL goalies point to as their favorites — some of you may recall Carter Hart asking amid a past Pro Reads if all the video we had to review was spread out glove stops – the reality is the game is too dynamic and unpredictable to rely exclusively on great technique. Sometimes goalies have to go outside the box and battle, but even in those situations there are some rules that can help you make more saves.
Which brings us to Jake Allen and some sage stick advice for just such an occasion.
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