Simon Holmstrom & Shooting His Shot
No. 10 has a ridiculous release, but it's more about getting him to use it than anything else.
EAST MEADOW, NY — Simon Holmstrom is in the midst of a career offensive season. Through 61 games, the 23-year-old forward has career-highs across the board with 17 goals and 20 assists for 37 points.
Over his 186 career games, he’s had some pretty goals. You think back to that Auston Matthews-esque semi-toe-drag against the Carolina Hurricanes as arguably his best…until this past Thursday.
With the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens knotted up at 1-1, in a monumental game for both sides, Holmstrom unloaded a power play one-timer from the right dot that beat Sam Montembeault over the glove and just under the bar:
With a release like that, did Holmstrom know he got all of it?
“Yeah, I knew,” Holmstrom said with a laugh. “They moved the puck very well from Tony [DeAngelo] to [Noah] Dobson and move to me. I was just trying to go short-side and in.”
It was a goal that just reinforced the notion that Holmstrom’s shot is elite….when he takes it.
Playing more of a bottom-six role to begin the season, it was understandable that Holmstrom was focused on playing shutdown defense, as that was his job.
But, with the injuries to the top six and the loss of Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche, head coach Patrick Roy has elevated Holmstrom first to the second line and now the top line, expecting offense.
With that power-play goal, Holmstrom now had goals in three straight games, the two prior being empty-net game-sealers. So, to see him beat a goalie was important, as it was his first past a tendy in 13 games.
As we’ve seen recently, he’s been given a chance to play on the power play, something that’s been the Achilles heel of this franchise for years.
Finding a home on the power play has been a struggle, as he’s played everywhere.
“I’ve been everywhere except the point this year,” Holmstrom said. “I think we have our formation, or whatever you want to call it, but no spot is cemented. We can move around because everyone can play in every position. So, I think that's one of the good things about our power play.”
Right now, he’s in the spot where Nelson used to be.
“I learned a lot from Brock,” Holmstrom said. “He was a great guy to have on that spot and had an unbelievable shot as well. Just every day, I was trying to see and look at what people are doing out there.”
For Holmstrom’s teammates, it wasn’t so much that Holmstrom scored a nice goal. It was that he didn’t hesitate to let it rip.