Despite giving up two goals in the first two minutes of his first career NHL start, Kevin Poulin’s confidence and composure helped him finish with 34 saves on 37 shots as the Islanders came from behind to beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3 in overtime. Read below for our audio scouting report, printable scouting chart and NHL.com’s video highlights from the game.

To expand on some of the topics I discuss in my audio notes, here are some more details about Poulin’s performance in the 4-3 OT win:

+ Poulin’s hand placement was terrific. He had a very active glove and blocker and made a number of timely, quality glove saves. He also made at least four big-time blocker stops in which he had to make a pure reaction save in order to turn pucks towards the corners.

+ His footwork is quiet and the balance point for his stance is back towards the heels of his skates. This passive, calm butterfly style allows him to set his feet before shots are fired his way and he does an excellent job of absorbing shots up high.

+ One area of improvement for Poulin will be his overall foot and butterfly recovery speed. Because he is a bigger goalie, listed at 6-foot-2 and 211 pounds, he has a lot of weight to carry when moving laterally. This makes it tougher for him to travel from post-to-post or from low to high in his crease. Overall, the speed at which he recovers from his knees and pops up from the butterfly needs to improve.

+ Another area of improvement will be sealing holes when the puck is tight to his crease and body. Again, this stems from footwork that needs to be quicker. The faster his footwork gets, the better he will become at getting his body in position to react to quick shots in the slot area.

+ Poulin pays attention to details and has a solid work ethic. He has a terrific self-visualization routine before each period begins and this enhances his ability to track pucks and improve his overall vision.

+ Poulin’s puck moving skills were excellent and he did not show any signs of hesitation or struggle with his timing. Most of his passes were up the ice and he is one of the few goalies that still moves the puck using the traditional “under-hand” fashion.

+ Overall, Poulin is a quality positional butterfly goalie that compensates for his average foot speed with very active hands. He likes to challenge shooters and sets up above the blue paint when possible. Despite giving up two early goals, his composure and work ethic allowed him to relax and make a number of timely saves.