NHL players are refining the art of the bank shot via ricochet off the masks of the goaltenders

Off the goaltender’s mask, off a defenseman’s back, nothing but net. Well, at least in the net.

That is how Colorado’s Casey Mittelstadt got his first goal of the NHL playoffs this year, and it is not the only one. Several players have scored by ricocheting the puck in off a goalie’s head, including Dallas’ Evgenii Dadonov against Vegas earlier this week.

It is an art that is becoming more and more refined as skaters find ways to score against the best netminders in the world. Sniping goals in from near-impossible angles — Mario Lemieux was remarkable at it — is now common and even expected for NHL forwards. Maybe banking shots in off a goalie’s mask was the inevitable next step in a league that saw its first “Michigan” — the lacrosse-style goal done from behind the net — only in 2019.

“Some guys seem to be really good at it,” New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey said. “It seems like some guys are starting to perfect it.”