Trailing 3-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Florida Panthers needed a jolt in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Late in the third period, they got it, thanks to a shot from Brandon Montour and a lucky bounce — or two.
Florida’s Aleksander Barkov skated into the offensive zone and was quickly met by the Vegas defense. The puck, though, eventually found its way onto Montour’s stick. He shot it and it found the back of the net, giving the Panthers a much-needed goal. The replay showed that Montour’s shot didn’t exactly take a direct route to the net.
The puck hit the skate of Golden Knights defenseman, Brayden McNabb. It then traveled over to McNabb’s teammate, defenseman Shea Theodore.
The inadvertent game pinball, or perhaps, tic-tac-toe, then completed. The puck bounced off of Theodore’s skate and past Vegas goalie, Adin Hill.
Just like the Panthers drew it uppic.twitter.com/DMOmWtKgkz
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) June 11, 2023
Hockey fans reacted strongly to the wild goal.
Montour playing pinball https://t.co/1PNktVonkk
— Fear The Triangle ▶️ (@FearTheTriangle) June 11, 2023
That is a crazy goal. https://t.co/vRa8OahAta
— Erin Manning Writes (@emanningwrites) June 11, 2023
What a goal. What a sport pic.twitter.com/X1F2vfD3KO
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) June 11, 2023
Throw pucks on net they say… I mean, you can’t recreate that in full speed. That was a pinball goal like never before! #timetohunt #StanleyCup https://t.co/sbMSWRKxge
— Erik Kuhre 🦈 (@Puckguy14) June 11, 2023
Of course, there was a tremendous element of luck to this play working as it did for Florida. But the Panthers needed a goal — lucky or otherwise — in that moment.
As Wayne Gretzky and of course, Michael Scott once said, you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take. This goal seemed to bring that theory to life.
[Photo Credit: TNT]
