Detroit Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk celebrates his winning goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the overtime period Friday night at Rexall Place. Reuters
EDMONTON - Steve Smith has been there and done that in a way that will never go away no matter how long he lives.
The Edmonton Oilers rookie, on his birthday, came out from behind the net and bounced one in off the back of Grant Fuhr’s leg and into the net late in a Game 7 against the Calgary Flames in a moment which many believe cost the ’80’s glory gang five Stanley Cups in a row.
It’s ironic that this night Smith was Jeff Petry’s coach, changing the defensive pairings on the bench.
Jeff Petry with almost the same time remaining, just under six minutes, scored one off Devan Dubnyk.
It wasn’t from behind the net.
It was from directly in front of the net.
He shoots. He scores.
It was a goal that ended up sending the Detroit Red Wings to overtime where Pavel Datsyuk went around him like, as Howie Meeker used to put it, “a hoop around a barrel” to score the winning goal.
