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:
PLAYER | SEASON | TEAM | CAREER GP OF FIRST GOAL | Date |
David Hale | 20082009 | PHX | 231 | 11/26/2008 |
Terry Murray | 19801981 | PHI | 219 | 3/14/1981 |
Tony Twist | 19941995 | STL | 181 | 1/21/1995 |
Matt Walker | 20072008 | STL | 153 | 2/17/2008 |
Radoslav Suchy | 20012002 | PHX | 152 | 11/17/2001 |
Bert Marshall | 19671968 | DET | 139 | 11/30/1967 |
Jason Strudwick | 19992000 | VAN | 139 | 2/29/2000 |
Josef Melichar | 20032004 | PIT | 137 | 1/27/2004 |
Matt Bartkowski | 20152016 | VAN | 137 | 10/18/2015 |
Eric Cairns | 19992000 | NYI | 134 | 2/25/2000 |
Randy Hillier | 19831984 | BOS | 133 | 1/17/1984 |
Victor Mete | 20192020 | MTL | 127 | 10/17/2019 |
Mike Weaver | 20062007 | LAK | 123 | 2/6/2007 |
Mike Komisarek | 20052006 | MTL | 123 | 3/20/2006 |
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:
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.