New York Rangers midseason report cards: Goalies, coaches, front office
Ondrej Pavelec
Pavelec is the latest success story of Rangers’ goalie wizard Benoit Allaire. After spending his entire nine-year career with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise, Pavelec is coming into his own as the backup goalie to Henrik Lundqvist. It took Pavelec a few games to get into a rhythm, but he has looked miraculous in his limited opportunities to play.
In seven starts and 10 appearances, Pavelec has posted a career-low 2.55 goals against average to go along with a stellar .926 save percentage, also a career high. If you dive deeper into the numbers, though, Pavelec has been nearly unbeatable in his last four starts. Against Pittsburgh, Dallas, Washington and Vegas, Pavelec has stopped 147 of 153 shots on net, good for a .961 save percentage.
Pavelec came into the season playing a very aggressive–and at times, too aggressive–style in net. The problem with that he is not quick enough moving side-to-side. Allaire, as he usually advices, has worked with Pavelec to tone down the aggressiveness and stay a little deeper in net. It has paid off wonders for the Czech.