Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Islanders 3-1 on Tuesday night, that one goal occurred in the first period when … when … aw, just watch.
That, my friends, is what you call a 176-foot stroke of luck. Rob Davison’s slapshot somehow confused goalie Vesa Toskala to give the Isles a 1-0 lead.
This is more magical than a halfcourt shot in basketball, because there’s no way to defend that. It’s not even like a 109-yard kick return in football, unless the returner somehow stiff arms the last defender into oblivion. And there’s nothing like it in baseball, unless Whitey Ford were to throw a 24-mph fastball tomorrow, and it passed through the catchers legs on a swinging third strike, enabling Jose Reyes to scamper around the bases for a run.
But what of Toskala? Should we expect a Rick Ankiel-style meltdown in the coming weeks? Former goalies say that he needs to take the goal in stride, noting that most goalies have that one puck that they let slip through their five-hole.
And if that doesn’t help him, well, then maybe Mr. Toskala needs to relish in other goalie’s misfortunes:
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