We Had A "Goal Of The Year" Candidate And More From The Top 5 Goals From The NHL Last Night (10/18/18)
The amount of skill in the NHL right now is insane so having a “Goal of the Year” nominee is almost a nightly occurrence. But I’m not complaining since it definitely makes my job easier with these Top 5 blogs. Anyway, here’s a fun little life hack for all you boys and girls back home. As long as you schedule a game against the Philadelphia Flyers men’s professional ice hockey team, you’re bound to make some nasty shit happen. Doesn’t matter if you’re also an NHL team or if you’re some D3 club team. You play against the Flyers, you end up making some highlight reels. So get ready to see a bit of Columbus in today’s Top 5 since they were the latest team to receive the honor of playing against that joke of an organization.
P.S. – I’ve seen all of your complaints about the videos not working so I’ll try to add as many GIFs as I can. But just so you know, the videos work fine for me so maybe you’re all just a bunch of idiots. Try a different browser or something.
5. The Devils Are Helping Out The Community By Providing Free Passing Clinics To Anybody Who Is Interested
A lot of things about this goal are nasty. Like the Taylor Hall pass from the boards right on the tape to Zajac on the back door. Then you also have the unselfish and brilliant pass from Zajac on the door step right to Hischier for the easy tap in. But the thing I really want to highlight in this clip is just how shitty of a time this was for Patrik Nemeth. Watch this clip again a few times and pay attention to #12 in white.
First he takes Erik Johnson’s stick straight to the chiclets after Johnson hits Palmieri and his stick goes whipping backwards. So Nemeth gets fucked up right there, stays on his feet since the boys are already down a man, the puck gets kicked over to Zajac on the backdoor and he’s assuming that the play is over right there. But instead, Zajac one-more’s it to Hischier right in front while Nemeth is just standing there with his glove on his mouth not doing a damn thing because he’s probably got an entire bottom front row of teeth missing. So now he just looks like an idiot dropping down to a knee before Hischier puts it in the back of the net. So beauty of a passing clinic from the Devils here, but pour one out for Patrik Nemeth tonight.
4. Cam Atkinson Hey Howareya
So anybody watching that Flyers v Blue Jackets game last night can tell you that Calvin Pickard looked like your beer league goalie who you purposely tell the game starts at 10pm when the puck really drops at 9. Pickard was a liability out there and was getting dingle dangled all night. So some of these goals might have to have an asterisk next to them since they were against a goalie who had no idea what he was doing out there last night. However, this Cam Atkinson drag was still made from some of the finest silk in all of the land.
What’s so impressive about this goal is that it’s almost more Datsyuk-ian than anything else. I feel like a lot of right handed shooters coming down on that angle would opt to go forehand-backhand on the finish here. But Atkinson controls the drag the whole way through on the forehand, keeps the puck on a string and then sends it to the back of the net. Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm.
3. If Connor McDavid Has To Go Out There And Do Everything For The Oilers, He’ll Go Out There And Do Everything For The Oilers
You know how ants can carry like 50 times their bodyweight? Well that’s essentially what Connor McDavid is doing with the Edmonton Oilers. He’s just one guy and he has to carry 20 other guys around every single night. Fortunately for Edmonton, McDavid is the best hockey player in the universe and he is totally capable of accomplishing this task. But poor guy is going to be gassed in a few more seasons if he needs to keep making plays like this every night just so the boys can get a win.
First off–absolutely hilarious that Brad Marchand thought he could sneak that pass by the fastest player in the world. Not only does he get his pass intercepted, but then McJesus snaps Marchand’s ankles coming into the zone with a casual little shake. And then second off–isn’t Patrice Bergeron supposed to be, like, the best 2-way center in the game? Get a load of this guy sprinting out of the zone while the puck is still behind his own net. At least he got the best seat in the house to watch McDavid dish that one off to Draisaitl for the game winner.
2. Gabe Landeskog With An Impressive Display Of “Just The Tip” From His Knees
Gabe Landeskog netted home a hat trick last night and they were all pretty nice goals. Now I understand that this one might not be some fancy shmancy dangle or anything like that. But it’s almost impossible to describe how impressive this was so we’ll just let the GIF do the talking for me.
Gets interfered with in the slot. Is falling down to his knees, is still able to turn his body into position to make a play on this puck, has the hand-eye coordination to actually get his stick on the puck while he’s falling and moving in the opposite direction, and then I could be wrong here but I’m pretty sure he goes 5-hole on both Mueller and Kinkaid. The funny thing here is that Mueller probably did Landeskog a favor by shoving him to the ice before the shot. Because if Landeskog was still up on his feet right there, the shot probably would have been at a awkward height to do anything with and he’d end up just being handcuffed. Instead he gets to deflect it from above his shoulders without it being a high stick. Maybe defensemen should stop being pricks.
1. Yes. Obviously It’s The Anthony Duclair Show
I already wrote a blog on this goal last night so feel free to go check that out right here. But the general gist of it was that this goal was borderline offensive how nasty it was, and I think Anthony Duclair should have to apologize to Christian Folin for making him look like this much of a fool and television.
Oh, and speaking of Christian Folin…..
BOZO OF THE NIGHT AWARD:
This will probably be the first and only time that Christian Folin is highlighted twice in a “Top 5 Goals From The NHL Last Night” blog, but boy did my guy deserve it. Something they forget to teach you in hockey school is that ice can get slippery at times. So you always have to watch out for that. Unfortunately for Christian Folin, he just forgot.
I’ll have more on this play later this morning. But what was even worse about this goal is that the Flyers were still only down by 1 goal here with like 5 minutes to go in the game. They could have easily scored another to force overtime. But not only does Folin look like a high school JV player out there, but the Flyers could have at least used a save from Calvin Pickard to bail them out there. Instead he lets a Charmin Ultra Soft backhander go in and that’s an absolute dagger. How in the fucking heck is this a professional hockey team?