Henrik Lundqvist calls out Stuart Skinner during Game 2.
Legendary NHL goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had some criticism for the Edmonton Oilers netminder.
It would seem that Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner has rubbed a beloved former National Hockey League goaltender the wrong way.
On Friday night, during the course of Game 2 of the second round Stanley Cup playoff series between the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks, legendary former New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist went off on the TNT intermission panel about the current state of goaltending in the NHL.
Although Lundqvist did go out of his way to make his statements on the matter as general as possible, so as to not focus his ire on Skinner, he would specifically use Skinner as an example after making his comments.
"We have a pandemic guys," said Lundqvist. "We have another pandemic in this hockey league, a reverse VH pandemic."
When using the term "VH" Lundqivst is referring to the vertical-horizontal play from goaltenders in the NHL, and it was a goal from Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov that would set him off on his rant. Specifically, Lundqvist was critical of Skinner for going down to his knees far too quickly on the play.
"Obviously it's a bad goal and listen goalies we make mistakes all the time we give up goals," began Lundqvist. "But it's the decision making of using this play from this angle, and again a lot of goalies do it these days. I don't understand why, because you put yourself in trouble... because then you're down."
Although Lundqvist does believe the move is useful, the way it is being deployed by goaltenders like Skinner does not sit well with King Henrik.
"I understand over time you have new moves that happen with goaltending and it makes sense at certain times," said Lundqvist. "But now you see goalies go down, like that, for no reason. There's no reason for him to use that move from that angle... that player is no threat."
Skinner would give up a goal despite Lundqvist feeling that Zadorov presented no real goal scoring threat, and Lundqvist certainly has enough experience at the position to know what he's talking about.
