Goaltenders getting scored on from the other end of the ice will happen from time to time. A bad skip of the puck or a bit of a screen will do enough to allow for a hole to open and disaster to strike.
But in back-to-back games? From the same player? Yep, that happened this week in the KHL.
Henrik Karlsson will be having nightmares about Maxim Chudinov for a while. As Karlsson’s Barys Astana played Chudinov’s Avangard Omsk, who are coached by Bob Hartley, in the KHL’s Gagarin Cup playoffs, the unthinkable happened.
Luck, mistake, call it whatever you want, but it's still hard to explain. #GagarinCup pic.twitter.com/vIeS0XBTDz
— KHL (@khl_eng) March 21, 2019
As you see from Chudinov’s first one, Karlsson had a clear view of the puck, but some tough skips helped the puck get by him. Chudinov would add a second goal minutes later as Omsk would top Barys 3-1 to take a 3-1 series lead.
Two nights later, Chudinov, a 2010 seventh-round pick by the Boston Bruins, did it again.
🤯 He's done it again. #GagarinCup pic.twitter.com/EGg5H2NyMr
— KHL (@khl_eng) March 23, 2019
It’s never a good sign when an announcer is laughing after you give up a goal.
That would end up as the insurance goal for Omsk as they eliminated Barys in five games to advance to the conference final.
Chudinov, who also popped in an own-zone goal back in August, may have learned a thing or two from former teammate Andre Kuteikin, who scored three times from center ice during the 2017 Gagarin Cup playoffs. Kuteikin followed that up with another long-range blast early last season.
————
Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.