Anatomy of a Goal: Vision and Flow

Last night's game was fun to watch, aside from the now-part-of-the- team-identity Vancouver douchery, Johnny Torts' incredulous face after his team gets scored on, and the local couple who had a dad and baby in Avs' gear and mom in a 'Nucks jersey (at least he's a better parent than he is a judge of character, right?).  The only outcome that would have made this a better game to watch was if Ryan Kesler was suddenly struck by something resembling embarrassment at his continued employment and he then retired to go live in a glue factory.  Instead the Avalanche faithful were treated to another fantastic goal by the deadly dynamic duo of Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny!

As we begin our trip through this magical goal, let's introduce all of the players.  Nate Guenin had just stopped a board wrap pass about half-way up the far boards. Stastny is in the far corner with former friend of the show Brad Richardson (#15) the lesser Weber, Yannick (#6). (I mean really, the same uni number and everything?) Jamie McGinn is in the high slot being marked by center Nicklas Jensen (#46).  Just barely on screen is the other defenseman for Vancouver, Ryan Stanton (#18) while off to the the left future 1st round bust Zack Kassian (#9) is making pew-pew noises and pointing his finger like a gun at the puck.  Somebody remind Zack that hunting season is nothing like Duck Hunt for NES.  Ohh and that he needs to wait until AFTER the 'Nucks miss the playoffs this season before going hunting in the first place.  Needless to say, this is a mismatch for Tortorrella's club.  How can I make that judgement?  Richardson is BY FAR the most experienced guy in that lineup.  By like 300 games.

Anyway... Guenin caught the puck on his backhand and executed one of  the few hard wraps I've seen in his short NHL career. If only he could clear pucks from his own end with such aplomb...In fact, Guenin's backhand was so formidable it ramped up the wall behind Vancouver goalie Eddie Läck (UMLAUTS!!), took a superball bounce off the dasher past Landeskog, and swung all the way into the corner and then up the near boards!  Notice how Kassian was trying to distract everybody with his t-rex impersonation....

The back and forth swing of the play was so quick that Stanton managed to trip over the back of the net while trying to stay with Captain Landeskog.

And who, pray tell, was on the near boards waiting?  Why it twas frequent fan punching bag and Mr. On-the-ice-for-both-goals-against Cory Sarich!  Sarich had pinched down low to stop the surprising dump from Guenin.

Sarich then threw a pass, or maybe it was a shot, (shass?) back behind the goal line to Stastny who had just filled the back-of-net spot vacated by Landeskog and Stanton.  Watching this in real time I was pretty sure that I saw a blueberry colored puff of smoke and hear Bamf! when he suddenly appeared on screen. Why both Weber and Richardson let 'ol Walnuts set up behind the net unencumbered, we may never know. Landeskog had read the pinch by Sarich and wheeled on his forehand back toward the net.  Even though Jensen was in a pretty good spot to defend Landeskog or at least take away time and space, he followed the flow of the pass from Sarich and had eyes only for Stastny, completely ignoring Landeskog and his sick flow.  In his defense, so did Richardson and Weber as they came in from the left side. Läck assumed it was a bounce pass off the back boards (or a missed shot, it is Cory Sarich after all) and BF slid to the far post anticipating a bounce out or wrap chance.  Weber and Richardson are trying to take away that side of the play too.

The left side of the net was in lockdown and Jensen quickly realized that he done fucked up.

Using his superior, medically-enhanced vision, Stastny's made a quick pass to a wide open Landeskog a scant few feet from a now wide open net...

...and he didn't miss from there! More solid logo placement from the Altitude Ad Department too.

Läck was both confused and humbled by what just happened, especially since he still hasn't seen Stastny behind the net.

Landeskog starts the handslap parade and if you watch the video, he and Stastny are in perfect synch the entire time.  It's creepy.  Not Sedin Twin creepy, but definitely a little Silent Hill creepy. Ohh and Jamie McGinn got a Top 6 +1 for the night.