Yegor Zamula‘s goal against the Ottawa Senators is a lesson for you kids – don’t always just follow the crowd.
The Philadelphia Flyers defenseman went his own way in the first period of Sunday’s game and was rewarded with perhaps the easiest non-empty net goal of his life and surely the strangest goal of this season.
With the Flyers on the power play, the defenseman Joel Farabee fired a shot from the left circle, through traffic. The shot was stopped by Senators goaltender Mads Sogaard and a scramble ensued in front of the left side of the net in anticipation of a rebound.
The problem, of course, was that there was a bounce to be had. At least not in front of the net.
As seven skaters and Sogaard devoted their attention to where they thought the puck was, Zamula calmly skated to the puck’s actual location – just outside the right faceoff circle – and fired a clean, straight shot straight into a mostly empty net. .
After the game, the Senators forward Claude Giroux » protested to official François St-Laurent, who apparently explained to him exactly what happened during the play, which is almost unbelievable until you see the replay.
We’ll give some bonus awareness points to Farabee, who was the only other player on the ice to locate the puck before it hit the twine, moving to the slot and calling for the puck before Zamula hit the twine.
See, kids? You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing. Create your own path. Follow your instinct, your heart and of course your eyes. This is how you get the big reward.
