It’s rare for a player to score across the court when the opposition isn’t on the power play. However, Montreal’s Johnathan Kovacevic had it much easier in the second period. Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault made a save against Darren Raddysh’s shot and held the puck for a while. The Tampa players considered the situation settled and headed for the substitution. There were even light effects on the desktop…
But the whistle was not blown, the visiting goalkeeper passed the puck to Kovacevic and signaled to him to shoot, because the home goalkeeper Jonas Johansson drove out of the goal area to stretch a little. And then he couldn’t be surprised, just like the Tampa bench and its fans. The Habs defenseman hit an empty net.
“There was a ruckus in the hall, so I couldn’t hear if it was whistled or not. But I saw that there was no one in the space in front of me, so I said to myself: I’m going for it. I noticed that the goalkeeper was leaving and I could have shot it straight away. I was quite sure that we would surprise them,” Kovacevic recounted.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper has never experienced anything like this in his career. “One of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen in the NHL. You go into a match and you never know what’s going to happen. The most important thing I learned, though, is that our goalkeeper leaves the goal before he thinks the whistle has blown,” he joked. “I think it can be played down now.”
The unprecedented goal did not help Montreal much and rather kicked the hosts, who tied the game at 2:2 before the end of the period and eventually won 4:3.
“I thought there was a whistle when suddenly the music started,” wondered Tampa’s Swedish goalkeeper. “But I felt that this situation gave us more energy. We came back and won, that’s the most important thing. The whole team played better then,” added Johansson.
Tampa captain Steven Stamkos celebrated his 1,038th game in the Lightning jersey by winning, surpassing Vincent Lecavalier in the number of games played and rising to the top of the club’s standings. At the same time, the home team finished with four backs when Erika Černák knocked out Josh Anderson’s interception and Haydn Fleury also headed into the booths, blocking the shot with his hand. But not even Kovacevic’s bizarre goal broke Tampa.
