It's Slightly Concerning How Much The Goalie Challenge Helps NHL Players Find The Back Of The Net
From left to right we have Johnny Manziel’s friend Dave, Matt Martin, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews. You may remember these guys from the Barstool Goalie Challenge which was released yesterday afternoon. Now the 3 guys here that actually play hockey had a little tilt against Buffalo last night. And as much as it pains me to give Portnoy and sort of credit when it comes to hockey… they combined for 2 goals, 1 assist last night and I think you have to at least consider the correlation between the Goalie Challenge and their play. For starters, let’s take a look at this Matt Martin goal.
Matty Marts is a beauty. Nobody is denying that. But he’s also more known in the league more for his fists than he is for his hands. But when you’re shooting the King of the Beach, Salt of the Earth, People’s Goalie from about a New York city block away with a tennis ball… well all of a sudden taking a low angle shot from the corner doesn’t seem so daunting. If anything, I’d say Matt Martin had more of an advantage here on Lehner than he did against Pres in the office. It’s like taking some warm up swings with a doughnut on your bat. Which is also what happened Auston Matthews bury this one from the slot last night.
Again, Matthews just got done shooting with a tennis ball from about a full football field away against brick by brick wall goaltender David Portnoy. You take 10 shots from that distance and obviously you’re gonna be money from the slot. Also–it’s no coincidence that Auston Matthews went blocker side with this snipe show. Can’t be going glove side on Davey Pageviews. Dude was a triple crown, gold glove award winner in high school back in 1953.
Another Barstool Goalie Challenge alum for Toronto lit the lamp last night as well. The guinea pig himself, Mr. James vanRiemsdyk (who some of you may remember from Nate @ Nite).
Now to be honest, I don’t think this one has anything to do with the goalie challenge. That’s just JvR’s office right there. Nobody in the NHL is better from that spot than he is. Guy spends about 10 minutes at the end of every warm up working on that shot. So it’s no surprise he was able to roof that over Nilsson’s shoulder from about 6 inches out. But still. Between these 4 guys last night and Ian Cole & Nick Bonino from the Penguins scoring right after doing the goalie challenge, there’s no denying the correlation. It feels like a pretty unfair advantage, to be quite honest. Which, again, I hate giving Pres credit for. But I’m about to send the entire Flyers lineup to the office tomorrow because they could use all the help they can get.