Watch: NHL Player Scores Wild Goal of the Year from His Back
You won’t see many goals with a higher degree of difficulty than the one New York Islanders right winger Tom Kuhnhackl scored Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks.
About 5 minutes into the game at Barclays Center, Kuhnhackl went into the corner to dig out the puck with Canucks defenseman Ben Hutton all over him.
As he took control of the puck, Kuhnhackl tried to wheel around to face the goal, but he was tripped by Hutton and fell to the ice.
Kuhnhackl was on his back, facing the other way, when he wheeled the stick around and fired a no-look shot on goal.
Somehow, the puck sneaked past goaltender Jacob Markstrom into the back of the net.
Here’s another look.
Kuhnhackl scores while on his back on the ice. pic.twitter.com/PUTC25WbJH
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) November 14, 2018
The announcers were as surprised as anyone, initially not thinking that he scored and raising the noise level 10 decibels after realizing it went in.
Kuhnhackl didn’t realize it either.
“I just tried to throw it on net and it was fortunate enough that the puck went in,” Kuhnhackl told Newsday after the game. “I looked at Leo (Komarov). He came over and said, ‘Hey, you scored.’ I didn’t even realize it for another 10 seconds.”
Kuhnhackl scored again about three minutes into the third period. They were only his second and third goals of the season.
The Islanders won 5-2.
“It was a tough start there, but Kuhnhackl came back with a great goal,” said the Islanders’ Mathew Barzal, who had two assists. “We kind of had a lucky bounce on (Josh) Bailey’s goal, so some things went right tonight for us and we needed that. It’s a big win.”
#isles are now up 2-1 thanks to elite sniper Josh Bailey making his own luck with a goal off Tanev’s skate. #JTwho pic.twitter.com/oTeKrvOPSW
— Eyes on Isles (@eyesonislesFS) November 14, 2018
Jordan Eberle and Cal Clutterbuck also scored for the Islanders. Brendan Leipsic and Jake Virtanen scored for Vancouver.
The Islanders are now 9-6-2, second in the Metropolitan Conference with 20 points. Vancouver fell to 10-8-2 with 22 points, second in the Pacific.
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