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It took 127 games, but Habs’ Mete scores first NHL goal

In the 127th regular-season game of his otherwise-solid NHL career, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Victor Mete finally scored his first goal.

Now, it’s true that goal-scoring isn’t Mete’s main job description. You could say that’s true even compared to his regular defense partner. If someone on that pairing is going to be shooting for goals, it’s going to be Shea Weber.

Still, that’s a long time to go without your first goal, and Mete’s teammates have probably razzed him for it. Delightfully, teammates and Canadiens fans seemed absolutely elated when he scored against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

It was a lovely goal, too, with a wonderful pass from Nick Cousins.

To give you some perspective, Mete set a new record for the Canadiens. Previously, Mike Komisarek had the longest start without a goal for Montreal, going 123 games before he finally scored a goal.

Via the NHL, here’s a list of long starts without a first goal with a team:

PLAYERSEASONTEAMCAREER GP OF FIRST GOALDate
David Hale20082009PHX23111/26/2008
Terry Murray19801981PHI2193/14/1981
Tony Twist19941995STL1811/21/1995
Matt Walker20072008STL1532/17/2008
Radoslav Suchy20012002PHX15211/17/2001
Bert Marshall19671968DET13911/30/1967
Jason Strudwick19992000VAN1392/29/2000
Josef Melichar20032004PIT1371/27/2004
Matt Bartkowski20152016VAN13710/18/2015
Eric Cairns19992000NYI1342/25/2000
Randy Hillier19831984BOS1331/17/1984
Victor Mete20192020MTL12710/17/2019
Mike Weaver20062007LAK1232/6/2007
Mike Komisarek20052006MTL1233/20/2006

Again, Mete has been a pretty nice player for Montreal, and quite a find as the 100th pick of the 2016 NHL Draft. While his underlying stats slipped in 2018-19, he’s looked good from a variety of underlying standpoints, including this RAPM chart from Evolving Hockey for 2017-18:

mete201718

Despite sniping clearly not being Mete’s focus, it has to feel nice to end that drought, especially with such gusto.

MORE:
Pro Hockey Talk’s Stanley Cup picks.
Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.