Figuring out the secret to Mike Smith's strong start for the Coyotes
LOS ANGELES – Jeff Carter skated in on Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith and whipped his powerful wrist shot from point blank range.
Smith reacted almost as quickly as Carter’s rocket making a sprawling, diving stop on the Los Angeles Kings sniper. But this was marred by Tyler Toffoli waiting for the rebound.
With Smith out of position Toffoli tapped the puck into the open net.
A year ago this would have spelled disaster for Smith with one goal leading to two or more. His confidence was shaken.
But this was a different Smith. That was the only goal he allowed that night as part of a 40-save performance in a 4-1 win where the Coyotes were out-shot and out-possessed by the Kings.
“That was a much different start than last year, that’s for sure,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said.
The next night Smith turned away 27 of 28 Pittsburgh Penguins shots on goals to pick up a 2-1 win.
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“He’s such an unbelievable athlete. His athleticism is second-to-none,” Arizona captain Shane Doan said. “He’s incredible. For him it’s to get rolling, get confident and do the things he’s capable of doing and allowing himself … he seems to be doing it right now.”
In 2014-15 Smith notched a 3.16 goals against average and .904 save percentage as he went 14-42-5 for the Coyotes.
If he was playing so poorly, why did Arizona keep trotting Smith on the ice for a total of 62 games?
He had signed a six-year $34 million contract extension that kicked in before the 2013-14 season, and it would have looked bad to not play Smith with four years left on his deal.
Also Smith has a no movement clause in his contract through 2015-16 and a no-trade clause the rest of the deal according to General Fanager.
The Coyotes were (and still are) stuck with him.
This actually turned into a blessing. The large amount of games enabled Smith to work on his problems in real-time action. In March and April he had a .929 save percentage, a stretch where he went 4-12-0. Smith went to the World Championships with Team Canada, where he had a 1.50 goals against average and went undefeated. He started to look more like the player who had a 2.21 goals against average and .930 save percentage in 2011-12.
“I feel good, I think I finished off the season well last year even though it didn’t show up in the wins and loss category. Well, it showed up in the loss category but not in the wins,” Smith said jokingly. “Going to Worlds and getting that experience and gaining confidence from that and going into summer on a high and then coming into camp feeling good about where my game was at.”
During the offseason, former Coyotes goaltending coach Sean Burke decided to leave the team in order to seek a management job elsewhere. The team brought in Jon Elkin, who operates Elkin Goalie Schools in Toronto for Burke's former position. Elkin coached Smith when Smith was a youngster, so the fit made sense – especially with the 33-year-old Smith locked into Arizona over the next four seasons.
“I do think after time a new voice is going to be good for Mike. It’s kind of a fresh approach and a different start,” Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said. “Sean did a good job for us, but I think a change is probably in order there. I think maybe a new voice for Mike will be good for him and hopefully will be good for us.”
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When asked what exactly Smith changed, the goaltender said he wouldn’t “give away any of my secrets” but praised Elkin for the work they’d done during the offseason.
“He’s known me for a long, long time and has worked with me since I was a young buck,” Smith said. “He knows my game real well and watches every game I play so he’s helped me a lot through the summer and into camp and hopefully that can help into the season. “
The Coyotes win over the Kings showed Smith’s importance to the team in general and why a revival is key to their success.
The Kings’ fired shot after shot at the Coyotes net. Not only did they out-shoot Arizona 41-22, their puck possession numbers were far higher than the Coyotes.
But Arizona was able to take advantage of an off night by Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, mostly because of Smith’s vintage performance.
“After some saves we went down and scored a couple of goals. That’s a good feeling when you can keep them out of your end and bury a couple and play with the lead,” Smith said. “Obviously the gameplan is to score but it’s nice to get them after you’ve made a couple of saves in your end.”
Even though the Coyotes have won their first two games and Smith has played well, there are still a lot of questions about both.
Can Arizona’s youth still look veteran during the long, long grind of an NHL season? Will Smith somehow revert back to his mediocre ways of last year?
With all the rookies in the Coyotes locker room, led by Max Domi and Anthony Duclair, the team will need to lean on Smith if it wants to have any chance to make any kind of noise this year.
At least through two games he seems up to task.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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