Every moment matters in the Stanley Cup playoffs, especially when one mistake or terrific decision can lead to a season-altering goal in overtime. With that in mind, we’ll dive in deep with a video breakdown for every game-winning overtime goal of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs to highlight the little things that you might’ve missed while celebrating or crying.
The Islanders’ double-overtime goal is a great reminder that screening your goalie is bad
Poor Luongo.
Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
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You know who's great in overtime playoff games? Roberto Luongo.
The Florida Panthers goalie has seen his fair share of multiple overtime affairs in his long career. In fact, he holds the record for most saves in a playoff game: a robust 72 saves against the Stars in a 2007 game.
So, he can't be the reason the Panthers lost in double overtime to the Islanders in Game 5 on Friday, right?
Well ...
THE DIAGRAM
Thanks again to Mike Darnay for making this. As you can see below, the Islanders are using a traditional “umbrella” power play strategy. One guy at the point, two guys at the circles or up high, two guys down low. The point is to make a lot of quick passes back and forth in order to pull the goalie out of position.
Which -- hey, look:
That’s exactly what happened! Though, much like Patrick Kane’s OT goal this week, a single move was Luongo’s undoing.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
Luongo fights off an early save, and the Panthers go to retrieve the puck. Jussi Jokinen (No. 36) and Brian Campbell (No. 51) are the two panthers in the middle of the ice. Everyone is where they need to be. Now the Panthers just need to win the puck.
SO, NOW WHAT?
Well, the Islanders still have the puck. And now they’ve gone into full umbrella mode: pass the puck back and forth up top, get the Panthers and Luongo changing lanes constantly.
But Florida is in good shape because Luongo knows where the puck is.
NOW HE DOESN’T
Three things just happened. First, Islanders winger Alan Quine just crept in to the top of the left circle. Nobody is covering him. That is not a good thing. Brian Campbell should be covering him as soon as the puck goes to the point, but he doesn't.
Second, Marek Zidlicky just faked a shot at the point. That gets Aleksander Barkov (No. 16) to bite and try and block the nonexistent shot. He's clearly about to pass the puck to Quine, but Luongo doesn't know that because the Panthers have three guys and an opponent screening him.
Luongo is so blind in that moment that Florida might as well be set up like this:
TOO SLOW, LOU
But Luongo just doesn’t get over in time. He drops down, anticipating the shot too quickly, and Quine fires it before he can complete his swim over to stop the shot.
So the blame goes to ...
Campbell and Luongo. The veteran defenseman decided to double-up on the guy in front of the net, leaving Quine alone to snipe the goal home. He was horsing around instead of covering Quine. (That’s a horrible equine joke and I’m sorry).
But Luongo just gets beat. The pass to Quine was slow enough that he had time to recover. Instead, he took too Luong.
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