Why do some hockey players kneel as they take a shot?

Question

I was watching the Rangers vs Islanders game, and McDonaugh scored a goal while down on one knee, a bit like .

Here is video of the goal at NHL website and on youtube.

I've seen lots of players do this before, often when someone passes across the goal on a 2 on 1.

Is there any reason why they do it? Do you get more control/accuracy like that?

Answer 1

I asked my friend, who played hockey in college, and she said that it is a combination of a few things:

• You turn some of your momentum into shot speed/power, if you do it in a single motion. Your push off the back skate can be stronger when going down to a knee, and some of that is transferred into your lower stick arm (the right arm in the above picture).
• You are able to use more of your strength from the lower hand/arm/shoulder in that position.
• Some players may feel they have a higher degree of accuracy, but my friend wasn't sure whether this is true or not.

I also found that it specifically allows a shot that is higher in the net with power; for example, this hockey tutorial shows how to do it. They credit Brett Hull with popularizing it, and I can't say I know whether that's true or not (as my hockey watching days date to basically early Brett Hull but not before).

Answer 2

It is simply because Ryan McDonaugh was not in the greatest position relative to the puck so rather than stopping the puck for a moment to position himself he got the shot off as quickly as possible in order to surprise Halák.