It’s been a weird year for goaltending in the NHL. The league average save percentage dipped below .900 for the first time in 21 years. Many of the biggest names in the crease were eliminated early in the playoffs or missed them entirely.The starting goalies for the four remaining teams carry an average cap hit of only $1.8 million.The suggestion that goaltending has lost its once-overwhelming impact on the game is overblown and shortsighted. We’re not even a year removed from surefire Hall of Famer Sergei Bobrovsky, and his $10 million cap hit, backstopping the Florida Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles. Not long before that, it was Andrei Vasilevskiy and his $9.5 million cap hit, winning twice in a row with Tampa Bay.This is just a really weird year for a really weird position. Let’s embrace it.Just as we often see complementary skaters step up in the postseason and become instant legends in their respective cities, we’ve seen some unexpected netminders lead their teams to the conference finals. We’ve already seen some shaky moments, such as Carolina surrendering four goals in the opening 13 minutes of Game 1, but eventually one of these otherwise unheralded goalies will etch their name on the Cup.Welcome back to Goalie Tracking, where we examine the details of the position and attempt to explain why goalies do what they do. We try to highlight exactly what different goalies are doing to separate themselves. This time, we will dive into one specific skill that each of the four remaining goalies has done particularly well in these playoffs.Jakub DobešNo goalie has grown his legend more in these playoffs than the Canadiens’ rookie. Dobeš has played his best when Montreal has needed it most. The Canadiens have needed Game 7 wins in each of their series to advance to this point. In those two games, Dobeš put up a ridiculous .956 save percentage and saved 4.97 goals above expected.He has also yet to lose two consecutive games this postseason, and is arguably the team’s favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy if they end up winning it all.He has done it with extremely aggressive positioning, challenging far beyond the edge of his crease at times. He’s intuitive with his depth control, which allows him to play in that manner. We covered both of those skills more in-depth in a piece on Dobeš, with insight from his college goalie coach, if you’re interested.Today, the focus is on Dobeš’ compete level. The big, athletic Czech netminder never gives up on a play. He isn’t afraid to abandon technique and do whatever is necessary to stop the puck, like on this incredible save in Game 4 against Buffalo.Watching Dobeš chuck his stick early to dive across with his blocker flared, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to another Czech goalie who used to do it with regularity.Some guy named Dominik Hašek.That’s obviously a lofty comparison, and Dobeš is a long way from that level of goaltending. However, he has shown similarities to Hašek in the way that he intuitively reacts in desperate situations. In particular, the way he prioritizes sealing the ice and covering the bottom of the net when he’s out of position.Hašek played the position with a unique creativity. You never knew what piece of equipment he would use to make the stop, but he almost always made it. And while there was plenty of variety to his highlight-reel saves, the one constant was his priority to seal the ice. Dobeš also has that to an extent, and this save on Buffalo’s Bowen Byram’s net drive in Game 6 is one example.Dobeš reached for the poke check, shifting his weight more onto his left side than he’d like in this situation. When Byram deked around his paddle, Dobeš couldn’t get a strong push off of his post, so he instinctively reached his leg across to stuff the shot. Most importantly, he didn’t sacrifice his pad’s seal along the ice. There was plenty of room in the top half of the net, but elevating the puck is a significantly harder shot for Byram. Dobeš knew that the odds were the shot would be along the ice, and he made the save because of it.