This is not the night for goalies.
The Thursday slate of games provided us with two pretty brutal goals against Detroit’s Alex Nedeljkovic and Toronto’s Petr Mrazek.
Let’s start in Toronto where Mrazek had a rough start against the Arizona Coyotes, allowing two fairly ugly goals in the opening five minutes. The focus here is on the second goal, scored by Coyotes defenseman (and potential trade deadline target) Jakob Chychrun. Chychrun attempted to one-time a shot off the rush, only to whiff on it, have the puck slowly roll toward the net, and somehow evade a flailing Mrazek to innocently slide into the net.
Goaltending has been a big problem for the Maple Leafs lately, and this is the type of things nightmares are made of if you are a Maple Leafs fan approaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That goal is just funny.
But the Alex Nedeljkovic own goal in Detroit? This is just rough.
Nedeljkovic attempts to swat a bouncing puck from the neutral zone away from the front of his crease, but accidentally hits it at just the right angle and in just the right direction that it bounces through his legs and into his own net for an own goal.
The goal is credited to Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek. It is probably the most unique goal of his NHL career.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.