Ross D. Franklin
Jonathan Quick may be vying for the unofficial title of best goaltender of the NHL playoffs but one miscue in an otherwise stellar performance means he'll be starring in YouTube videos.
The Los Angeles Kings goalie was caught anticipating a little too much early in Sunday's Western Conference final opener. He expected a shoot-in by Phoenix Coyotes defenceman Derek Morris to go around the glass or to the corner but instead saw it bounce 100 feet down the ice and right into the net to tie the score 1-1.
Quick was fortunate his teammates kicked into gear the rest of the way and beat the Coyotes 4-2 but he could have cost the Kings dearly by forgetting one of a goaltender's key maxims - always concentrate. The youngster figured Morris would do what defencemen do 99.9-per-cent of the time in that situation - dump it into a corner or fire it into his zone hard along the boards or around the glass. So he was caught leaning the wrong way and couldn't recover in time to make the save.
The Hockey Night In Canada highlights have the embarrassing goal here.
However, Quick should not feel too bad. He is in good company. Twitter may have come alive Sunday night with lots of yukking at former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Dan Cloutier's gaffes but YouTube has all sorts of compilations of embarrassing goals featuring some of the biggest names to ever put on a set of pads.
Some of the lowlights feature familiar names (Vesa Toskala) making another of a long line of flubs but others star Martin Brodeur, Tim Thomas and Patrick Roy. All of them have one thing in common - a quick or not so quick lapse of concentration. Some miscues came in Stanley Cup finals.
Roman Cechmanek is still hated in Philadelphia for his brain cramps while tending goal for the Flyers. He gave up a big goal in the 2003 playoffs to the Toronto Maple Leafs when he was worried more about retrieving a lost glove than Robert Reichel's shot from the boards.
Tim Thomas won the 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Boston Bruins took the Stanley Cup but a few years earlier he also fanned on a clearing attempt with his stick to give up an embarrassing goal against the New Jersey Devils. Speaking of the Devils, Brodeur once misplayed a similar shoot-in for a long goal in the Cup final.
Then there are those who received a come-uppance for hot-dogging. Patrick Roy tried to show off when he made a great glove save against the Detroit Red Wings. He whipped his catching glove high after crowning a flurry of saves with a big grab only to see the puck squirt out of his grasp and into the net.
All of the fun is here.