Results tagged “Jonas Hiller” from Quackalackin'
The full text of my story on Pete Peeters' recent work with the Ducks goalies, which was truncated in some editions:
Two goaltenders were the last to leave the ice at the Ducks' practice Tuesday. One was Jonas Hiller. The other, donning the full pads and a goalie mask, was Pete Peeters.
Yes, the Ducks' new goaltending consultant is impossible to miss when he's on the ice. And while he advocates the pads-on approach, Peeters isn't being paid to turn heads in practice, but rather make the Ducks' goalies better in games.
It's been working so far on the current homestand; Peeters flew in from Edmonton to work with Hiller and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and was pleased with the efforts of each in his last start. Hiller allowed three goals in a loss Saturday to the San Jose Sharks, the league's highest-scoring team, and Giguere surrendered two goals against Calgary en route to his first win of the season Monday.
What words of wisdom did Peeters impart?
"Basically it's making sure that we're having the proper depth in the crease when we're facing a rush or an in-zone play," Peeters said. "That we're far enough on top of the crease or are in the crease without taking ourselves out of a play, being able to put pressure on the play with good depth in the net."
In other words, nothing too profound -- merely getting back to the basic aggressiveness that seems to have eluded the Ducks' duo at times. Their 3.32 goals allowed per game rank 27th of 30 teams in the league.
When he was hired in July, Peeters said, he promised Ducks general manager Bob Murray that he would be available to the team in an emergency. This was a scheduled visit, not an emergency, though the Ducks' place in the Western Conference standings (eight points back of eighth place) might qualify as one.
Certainly Giguere's performance Monday was badly needed, if not overdue, for both the team and the goalie.
"Pete's been trying to make me a little bit more aggressive," Giguere said. "I tried to remind myself of that (Monday) when I played -- be aggressive, make sure that you challenge ... and it seemed to work.
"You forget when you're in a slump ... how to play sometimes.
You need to be reminded. I'm going to have to keep thinking about it for a
little while, for sure."
This goal by Steven Stamkos has to be the most jaw-dropping goal I've ever witnessed in person.
Sadly, I didn't drop my jaw.
It happened so fast that it was almost impossible to tell how Stamkos scored, sliding on his butt along the ice, in real time. Here was Jonas Hiller's description of the goal, which brought the Tampa Bay Lightning to within 3-2 of the Ducks on Thursday at Honda Center:
"It was a play from behind the net; he shoots the puck and I think I made a pretty good save. It hit me right in the chest and bounced back. He fell backwards and just tipped it somehow. Sort of a lucky goal, but that's what happens if you get in front of the net if you keep working for the rebounds."
Note: Upon arriving home, I was not shocked to see this made SportsCenter's #1 highlight.
Scott Niedermayer fired the game-winner past Lightning goaltender Mike Smith 52 seconds into the extra period, and Jonas Hiller made 21 saves as the Ducks snapped a four-game losing streak at Honda Center.
Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne each finished with a goal and two assists as the Ducks improved to 7-10-3.
The players can change, but a Jacques Lemaire-coached team will always look basically the same.
Trapped into submission everywhere outside Martin Brodeur's breathing radius, the Ducks fell 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils.
The lone goal came from Corey Perry, who was standing in the crease behind Brodeur when the goalie lost the puck between his legs, and easily tapped in his 12th goal of the season at 2:25 of the second period. That goal tied the game at 1, but the Devils scored twice more in the period on a pair of breakaways, by David Clarkson and Zach Parise, the latter coming short-handed with 13 seconds left in the period.
Jonas Hiller stopped 22 of 25 for the Ducks, who were missing center Saku Koivu. Koivu was a last-minute scratch with a lower-body injury, and Erik Christensen took second-line center duties.
Brodeur stopped 31 of 32 and got plenty of help from a defense that held the Ducks to just eight shots and no goals on six power-play shifts.
For the first time in a long time, the spotlight on the Ducks was large enough to accommodate most of the team.
Teemu Selanne scored twice, passing up Jean Beliveau for sole possession of 38th place on the NHL's all-time points list (1,220). His first-period power-play goal, the 211th of his career, also eclipsed Keith Tkachuk for 10th place on the all-time power-play goals list.
Todd Marchant added his first goal of the season, Bobby Ryan scored his fifth, and Jonas Hiller stopped all 40 shots he faced for the fifth shutout of his career.
Radim Vrbata scored the only goal in the shootout, and the Ducks left Glendale with a point in the standings following a 3-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.
Ilya Bryzgalov was perfect in the shootout, and the former Duck engaged Jonas Hiller in a nifty goalies' duel through 65 minutes. Bryzgalov stopped 32 of 34 and Hiller stopped 30 of 32 in his second start in as many nights.
Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne scored for the Ducks. Selanne's goal, with 9:47 left in the third period, gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead that seemed sure to hold up. Then Phoenix's Vernon Fiddler scored a mere 18 seconds later, tapping a rebound past Hiller to re-tie the game at 2.
Evgeny Artyukhin returned to the Ducks' lineup following a three-game suspension, joining Todd Marchant and Petteri Nokelainen on the third line. In another significant lineup move, Bobby Ryan re-joined Perry and Ryan Getzlaf on the top line and stayed there, logging 18:44 of ice time.
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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