Rantanen ties it with crafty redirect, he was literally getting hounded by Ek for 30 sec before the score. Ek decided to go in front of the goal, why not the back? Is this instinct or taught, I am trying understand better this sequence of why as Rantanen is using the goal to get more space by going behind or away from Ek. Thanks
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You can tell Ekblad knew he read that play wrong because of the subtle way he smashed his stick on the net after
It’s just one of Ekblad’s gaffs. He’s a great D-Man but every few games he’ll misread a play and not be able to correct it in time
Rantanen shook him, plain and simple. What you’re seeing is a great player making a great play. Ekblad was frustrated with the outcome, he slams his stick after the goal, because he knows he could’ve played it better, but Rantenen got him.
I think generally players will avoid chasing behind the net as it leaves the slot open (see what happened on the OT game winner in the 4nations). although in hindsight its easy to see that wasn’t the right move in this case, especially since rantanen wasn’t a puck carrier.
He’d been on top of him for like a full minute before then. It was literally 5 seconds he let up and that happened.
Players generally can’t score from behind the net. It’s fairly common to cut through the slot in a situation like this and meet the attacking player there. But world class timing and a player with the skills of Rantanen can obviously defeat it.
So much of hockey defense is making the higher probability play. This was probably it, but it didn’t work.
It’s not worth looking too deeply into. Ekblad probably thought that was the most expedient path to the front of the net that would keep himself goal-side if Rantanen received the puck and tried to drive to the net. I don’t think he expected Rantanen to make that kind of redirection shot.
Very few players in this league would even attempt to re-direct the puck to the top corner of the net from where Rantanen was, fewer players still could actually pull it off.
If this was Sam Steel trying to make that play and not one of the best players in the league, we as fans wouldn’t even realise that Ekblad made the wrong choice there. With that in mind, I have a hard time blaming Ekblad for that one. An elite player made an elite play 🤷🏻♂️
Honestly, I don’t think Ek would’ve faired much different had he gone behind the net either. He still would’ve been behind Rantanen anyway and the pass was there on his stick the moment he got into position. He should’ve gone behind the net, since his odds would’ve been slightly better (maybe Rantanen feels his pressure and the redirect doesn’t go in), but ultimately, it was a likely goal either way.
My main issue with the sequence was that we just got stuck in our own end for so long. Our skaters just looked so gassed by the end of it