If you had to bet your life on any player to pick a goalie apart one-on-one, who would it be?
My guess is a lot of people would pick a flashy, super-skilled Russian such as Pavel Datsyuk or Alex Ovechkin. Others might volunteer “healthy” Sidney Crosby. Outside the box types might go with shootout stars such as Jussi Jokinen or Erik Christensen.
Here’s my vote for Martin St. Louis, though. The bite-sized superstar winger tends to get overshadowed by prototypical centers such as Steven Stamkos and Vincent Lecavalier, yet the wondrous winger continues to lobotomize goalies on breakaways. This example was more broken play than breakaway, but it highlights just how hopeless a goalie is in a one-on-one situation with St. Louis.
Even an all-world goalie like Ryan Miller has no chance to stop him.