All saves are worth it to a team playing defense, but this year thanks to the "Hyundai Hope on Wheels Greatest Save" program each stop will be worth a little more. The NHL has partnered with the NHLPA, The V Foundation and Hyundai Canada to make every save worth an additional $10 donation to pediatric cancer research. The program is projected to yield over $700,000 in donation money this season.
If Linus Ullmark's goalie stick was just an inch shorter, this play wouldn't qualify for the Greatest Save because it would have been a goal.
The Ottawa Senators goalie made a stunning save with the heel of his paddle against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Ullmark stopped a shot from the right circle and the rebound squirted to New York Islanders captain Anders Lee, who sent a perfectly placed pass across the front of the crease to Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the doorstep.
Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven was in front of the net, and was able to get a piece of Pageau's shot but the puck was still headed toward the goal until Ullmark reached all the way back to turn the attempt away at the goal line.
With the puck headed back out toward the slot, Ullmark dove across the crease just to quell a chance by a crashing Maxim Shabanov.
