The hot-hand theory posits that an athlete who has performed well in the recent past performs better in the present. We use multilevel logistic regression to test this theory for National Hockey League playoff goaltenders, controlling for a variety of shot-related and game-related characteristics. Our data consists of shots for 93 goaltenders in the 2008-2016 playoffs. Using a wide range of shot-based windows to quantify recent save performance, we find no evidence for the hot-hand theory, and some evidence that good recent save performance negatively impacts the next-shot save probability. We use a permutation test to rule out a regression to the mean explanation for our findings.
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