Beware long limbs: Trying to convert second chances, or even cross-ice passes below the hash marks, along the ice give Dobes a chance to use his athleticism and long limbs to make a momentum-changing save. There were several against the Lightning on second chance plays in tight and against the Sabres off cross-ice chances off the rush, including a fully extended robbery against Tage Thompson in Game 7. It’s important to get those chances above the pad even when Dobes appears to be out of the play, including nine goals off broken plays and bounces in the regular season that still required elevation, and given how well he uses his Gumby-like flexibility to build vertical coverage with his hands reaching over those pads even while stretched out, the top half of the net is safer still.
Traffic-proof? Maybe not. Dobes excelled against screens during the season, combining his size with a tall, narrow stance to see over traffic rather than looking back and forth around it from a lower stance. The Lightning scored three screened goals, however, and the Sabres added six in the second round, meaning traffic has played a role in nine postseason goals so far (25 percent), above the 15.1 percent average. Dobes can get caught in transition from that high stance into his lower-save stance, making quick shots and one-timers, which were a factor on 32 goals, an effective tactic even from the perimeter. But the key on three of Buffalo’s screen goals was getting into shooting areas below the top of the circles that got him into that lower-save stance and forced him to pick a side looking around traffic rather than over it before shooting to the other side of that traffic.
Against the grain: Shots against the flow of play accounted for 20 percent of regular-season goals, including a lot on clean looks, and a tendency to reach and push at low shots in a way that pulls his torso away from the puck played on role on low-blocker shots. There were five against-the-grain goals in the first round and five more in the second round, but they included passes that crossed the middle of the ice twice and were more about good plays that forced him to move back and forth and less about clean shots.
East-west down low: Dobes has quieted the east-west positional aggression that used to leave him stranded outside his posts laterally at times but Tampa Bay created a few such chances in the first round with wide net drive and shots off the end boards, and eight of 10 goals off passes across the middle of the ice came below the hash marks. Plays and shots from behind the net and below the face-off circles were a factor on 20 percent of regular-season goals, close to the 18.4 percent average, but five of 15 in the first round and five of 21 in the second round, a 27.8 percent total, and the Lightning twice caught him with quick passes the other way as he shifted down into his post play coverage. Even off great lateral passes, it’s important to finish with shots to the edges of the net, otherwise his incredible length and compete gives Dobes a chance to make a momentum-changing save.
