PITTSBURGH — Penguins defenseman Kris Letang scored one of the Stanley Cup playoffs’ more peculiar goals in Pittsburgh’s Game 5 win Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Late in the second period, Letang scored what ended up as the game-winning goal when he took an innocent-looking shot from the right point. Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar, who looked shaky with his glove hand all night, waved at the errant shot as it went wide.
As Vladar was whiffing with his glove hand, the puck caromed off the boards behind the Philadelphia net and back toward the goaltender. The puck then bounced off his skates and trickled behind him, clearing the goal line by a fraction of an inch and giving the Penguins the 3-2 lead, which they would not relinquish.
“Especially after all the looks I got in the second, I can’t believe that one goes in, but I just tried to put it there,” Letang said after the game. “Obviously, a crazy bounce.”
With the win, the Penguins avoided elimination for a second straight game to force Game 6, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday in Philadelphia.
“That was crazy,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “Just goes to show, throwing the puck on net is never a bad idea.”
The puck sitting just over the goal line was reminiscent of Sunday night’s Stanley Cup playoff action, when a shot by the Ducks’ Ryan Poehling trickled through Oilers goaltender — and former Penguin — Tristan Jarry and was ruled a goal after replay showed that the puck appeared to be barely across the goal line.
“It was huge,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “Anytime there’s a momentum swing like that, it’s huge. I’m a big believer that you earn your bounces. Bounces are part of the game. When you’re working to do the right things, that’s usually when the bounces go your way.”
The Penguins’ goal on Monday would have counted regardless because Rickard Rakell, seeing the puck near the goal line, pounced on it and shot it into the net before Vladar could gather himself.
“It’s an unfortunate bounce, to be honest with you,” Vladar said. “You can always do something better on every single goal, doesn’t matter if it’s a bounce off the boards or a (two-on-zero) breakaway. You can always do something a little bit better. Just got that bounce that we didn’t. They were the happier team today.”
The goal was the 25th of Letang’s postseason career, the most among active NHL defensemen.
Earlier in the second period, another strange goal went the Penguins’ way. Connor Dewar’s shot hit the goal’s back bar, but the officials thought it hit the post and remained out of the goal. However, the Penguins started celebrating, which compelled the officials to stop play. A video review showed the puck was indeed in the net.
