Playing that first NHL game, even if it’s just one-off, is an important measuring stick that can spark a significant change in a career arc. Win or lose, lessons from a League debut can provide a better-defined purpose in offseason training and propel goalies to new heights as early as the following season.

“I felt way behind,” Thatcher Demko said of getting called up from Utica of the American Hockey League by the Vancouver Canucks to make his NHL debut, a 26-save effort in a 5-4 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 31, 2018. “I got called up, I played and I got sent down the next day, and I definitely felt like I had a lot to do. But knowing that and experiencing it is a lot different than just thinking it, and instead of trying to guess what you should be doing, you have an idea of specifics, a blueprint to follow.”

Those specifics can vary from goalie to goalie, but often involve adapting to the speed of an NHL game.

That was the case for Stuart Skinner of the Edmonton Oilers, whose first NHL game was an 8-5 win against the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 31, 2021, one of the best recent examples of the potential impact of a single game.