Andersen vs. Schmid goalie matchup in Eastern 2nd Round

Goaltending is an integral part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each goaltender, the last 50 goals allowed for each goaltender in the regular season and every goal in the playoffs were charted, with the help of Apex Video Analysis and Save Review System from Upper Hand Inc., to see what patterns emerge.

It might be tempting to say the Eastern Conference Second Round between the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils is a battle between one experienced goalie whose tendencies are well established and a newcomer that teams are still trying to build a book on.

It may hold true to some extent for Akira Schmid, the Devils rookie going through the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time after playing 24 regular-season games the previous two seasons. But Hurricanes starter Frederik Andersen always tries to evolve and adapt his game from year to year, even after 10 seasons in the NHL.

RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Devils series coverage]

Still, there are always trends and tendencies, and how quickly each team identifies those -- and how well each attacks them -- could go a long way to determining this best-of-7 series.

Game 1 will be at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday (ESPN, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS).

Frederik Andersen

Carolina Hurricanes

This season hasn't gone as hoped for Andersen, who has missed time with injuries while seeing his save percentage drop from .922 in 52 games last season, his first in Carolina, to .903 in 34 games this season, well below his .915 career average. But that all will be forgotten if he can find his usual form in the playoffs. He got off to a good start with 33 saves in the Hurricanes' 2-1 overtime win to close the New York Islanders in Game 6 on April 28. It was his first game since April 13, and he had missed Games 2-4 because of illness and an undisclosed injury.

Defend the rush:The most shocking trend among the 50 goals tracked at the end of this season was how many came off the rush: 64.0 percent, compared to 36.0 percent off in-zone plays, which is beyond the opposite (60.9 percent in zone, 39.1 per cent rush) of the averages tracked for 6,695 goals since this project started in 2017. Limiting the Devils chances in transition will be key based on that, and it won't be easy considering New Jersey's blend of speed and high-end skill.

Don't pass on clean looks: The other number that jumped out was 46.0 percent of tracked goals coming off shots where Andersen had time to set and see the release, more than double the average. Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck beat him with an open-look shot off the rush over the glove from just above the right face-off dot in Game 6, but a lot of the regular-season goals came from further out. High glove was a popular location, as were mid and low blocker shots, with Andersen tending to turn on his blocker side, trying to catch up to pucks parallel to and even behind his torso rather than cutting them off out in front of him. Counting on those trends to continue for a goalie as good as Andersen may seem like a risk in an era where shot quality is so important. But there were enough of them during the season that it's worth testing.

Wide and lateral:Another trend on rush chances was the tendency to get outside his posts as plays came down the wing deeper into the zone, which increased the distance he had to cover on any long lateral passes that followed. When he squares up on puck carriers coming down the wall, it also increases the amount of rotation required before being able to make those side-to-side pushes. It made it tough for Andersen to get across when those passes across the slot line to the other side connected, especially when there was a one-timer on the other end. He's still fast enough to get there and flexible enough to make momentum-changing pad saves when he does, but the need to reach rather than getting his whole body turned and across, like he did more in Game 6, led to opening and exposure over the pad.

Make him handle the puck:Andersen is good with his stick, but after years of being asked not to do it as often, he turned it over four times on plays that directly led to goals.

Akira Schmid

New Jersey Devils

Schmid allowed 32 goals and had a .922 save percentage in 18 regular-season games. The 22-year-old was impressive after taking over for Vitek Vanecek in Game 3 of the first round against the New York Rangers, going 4-1-0 with a .951 save percentage and two shutouts, including 31 saves in a 4-0 win in Game 7 on Monday. There isn't a lot of footage to break down yet, but goalie tendencies tend to be exposed quickly by opponents in the playoffs.

High glove? Depends on the situation: The Rangers had success with shots over Schmid's glove during Game 6, when they scored five times on 29 shots, including three aimed mid-to-high on the glove side. The season-long trends supported that tactic, with 34.4 percent of the goals mid to high glove, well above the tracked average of 23.6 percent. But Schmid adjusted nicely in Game 7 to make a couple momentum-changing glove saves in 1-on-1 situations where Rangers shooters aimed high, and another with the glove moving left to right on a cross-ice one-timer aimed just over his left pad. The secret may be switching those shot selections depending on the situation. Like a lot of goalies, Schmid tends to lower his glove when he's moving, which was a factor in the Game 6 goals. But in 1-on-1 situations, he uses more of what's known as a "fingers up" glove position, with his hand set almost like he's motioning for someone to stop. Shooters now are taught to aim just over the pad when they see this because of the inherent delay of turning the glove over to get it down. It's a trend the Rangers might have benefitted from in Game 7 and a lesson that Hurricanes shooters should heed.

Down low in tight: At 6-foot-5, Schmid fills a lot of the net, but he has a somewhat narrow butterfly by modern standards, with his feet more behind him when he's down on his knees rather than splayed wide. It not only limits his low coverage somewhat on screens and deflections but requires a few more moving parts to push side to side while in the butterfly because he has to lift his knee more to engage a push edge, which can create holes under the pads in scrambles and rebound chances in front that require lateral movements.

Lateral and quick: Despite his size, Schmid does not play a passive positional game. While his skating and movement appear calm and controlled, one-timers and shots against the grain, or opposite the direction he is moving, played a higher than average role on his goals.