Streaks were snapped, goaltenders were victimized, while everybody else was simply entertained as there was a whole bunch of sick game-winning goals in the NHL on Thursday night. The stars were out, doing silly things with the puck, and, more often than not, ending games in the process.
Here’s all those game winners you may have missed from last night, or that you’ll just watch again because you have nothing else to do on a Friday. Oh, and we threw a little Patrik Laine in there, too. Just because.
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Sidney Crosby is unstoppable once again this season. He has 25 points in 18 games since returning from a concussion on Oct. 25 and leads the NHL with 16 goals, with three game winners. None of which were more nasty than this insane display of hand-eye coordination from behind the net during Pittsburgh’s 6-2 thrashing of Dallas on Thursday.
Another eye-popping winner went down in Boston last night as David Pastrnak threw a couple slick moves on Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward, who was simply collateral damage on this one.
Panthers centre Aleksander Barkov wasn’t to be outdone as his shifty move in overtime against Detroit lifted the Panthers to a much-needed 2-1 win. The gorgeous backhand touch also snapped Barkov’s 22-game goalless drought, and got new head coach Tom Rowe his first win behind the bench.
Claude Giroux netted his seventh goal and first game winner of the season as he rifled home this delicious feed from Jakub Voracek in overtime against Ottawa. Philly is a hard team to figure out, but Voracek and Giroux are not. They are good at hockey.
And last but far from least, super rookie Patrik Laine—who I’m 100 percent sure is Alex Ovechkin’s unclaimed son—went off again last night. They aren’t game winners like our previous endorsements, but, whatever, watch them anyway—you’ll be happy you did. They may look identical, but it has been confirmed that these are two different goals and not an instant replay. Laine, with 15, sits just one goal back of Crosby for the NHL lead.
It was another great night in the NHL in what’s shaping up to be an amazingly entertaining season.
