Six seconds doesn’t seem like a long time.
The number of things you can do is six seconds is limited by how short that passage of time really is. But if you Andreas Athanasiou, and three others who came before him, you’ve sorted out how to score an overtime winner in that relatively short span.
Yes, Athanasiou joined the likes of Mats Sundin, David Legwand and Alex Ovechkin on Wednesday night when his marker six seconds into overtime helped his Detroit Red Wings dispatch the hapless Ottawa Senators in lightning-quick fashion.
He barely gave the TV graphics crew enough time to put the score and the time back on the screen. By the time they did, it didn’t matter anymore.
It was the first time in 12 seasons, dating back to Ovechkin in 2006, that the feat had been accomplished.
Andreas Athanasiou matched an NHL record for the fastest regular-season overtime goal in League history. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/irDrAKwlIK
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 4, 2018
Now, who is going to score on in five seconds?
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck