The good, the bad and the bizarre: NHL goalies have a wild night
It was a wild night for goaltenders in the National Hockey League.
There were some acrobatic saves, freaky goals and unlucky own goals.
Wednesday'™s Detroit Red Wings-Pittsburgh Penguins game ended in a not-soon-forgotten shootout.
The star of the shootout -- which became necessary after the Red Wings scored with less than two minutes to play in regulation and the teams completed a scoreless overtime period -- was Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who robbed Daniel Alfredsson with one of the best saves you'™ll see all season.
And now for the bad. Peter Budaj is going to have nightmares about this one.
With his team locked in a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime Wednesday night, the Canadiens goaltender committed the ultimate mistake by actually tapping the puck into his own net to hand the Blackhawks a 3-2 victory.
The trouble began for Budaj when Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith found forward Patrick Sharp open in front of the net less than a minute into the overtime period. Sharp flicked a wrist shot on goal that Budaj was able to deflect with his stick, but the puck flew up in the air behind the Montreal netminder.
Budaj reflexively turned back to reach the puck but instead ended up batting it directly into his own net for the game-winning goal.
Check out a full video of the tough own goal below.
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