‘One of the greatest moves I’ve seen’: Wayne Gretzky raves about Barkov’s Game 2 goal
Aleksander Barkov’s spectacular second-period goal in the Florida Panthers’ 2-1, overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday drew about the highest praise possible during an intermission report on TNT.
Wayne Gretzky, an analyst for NHL on TNT and basically indisputably the greatest player in NHL history, was blown away by the All-Star center through-the-legs fake and backhand goal.
“That’s one of the greatest moves I’ve seen in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” the Hockey Hall of Fame center said Saturday.
The goal was an important one, too: It tied Game 2 at 1-1 with 12:17 left in the second period and ultimately set up superstar right wing Matthew Tkachuk to beat the Hurricanes with a second straight game-winning overtime goal at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Game 3 is Monday at 8 p.m. at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.
For Gretzky, the combination of Barkov’s creativity and the stakes of the moment are what made the goal so special.
“We’ve all seen guys go through the legs now. It’s become kind of an art,” Gretzky said. “A lot of guys try it, a lot of guys do it, but to see him in a Stanley Cup playoff game, under the gun, pressure situation, down 1-0, to make that move.”
Paul Maurice summed up what made it great even more succinctly.
“I’ve never seen that,” the coach said Saturday.
Barkov, always humble, was humbled when he heard about Gretzky’s praise.
“I’m pretty sure he scored a lot bigger goals, but it means a lot coming from him,” the captain said Saturday. “It’s nice to hear, for sure.”
The move had been sitting in the 27-year-old forward’s bag of tricks, he said. It was a split-second decision to actually break it out, though, after the Panthers’ aggressive forecheck led to a failed clear for the Hurricanes and let defenseman Josh Mahura find Barkov all alone in front of the net after he cut from the boards. Going from left to right, Barkov started to put the puck between his legs, only to bring back out in front of him for a backhand shot after Carolina goaltender Antti Raanta bit on the fake.
It’s the type of thing he’d test out during practices, and even just fooling around and skating outside back home in Finland. Goaltending coach Robb Tallas told Maurice that Barkov has “done that before,” Maurice said.
“It wasn’t the first time,” Barkov said. “It’s just whatever I practiced my whole life. When you go and skate outdoors, you practice those and then they get back in your head. Whenever there’s half a second or something, you have to decide. You just do it. Thankfully, that came to my mind at that point.”
Tkachuk was on the ice for the goal, but didn’t have a great angle. All he knew was “he kind of did something where it wasn’t just your traditional forehand then backhand.”
Once he got back to the bench, the All-Star winger took a second look.
“I had to watch it again,” he said Saturday. “That was insane.”
Radko Gudas’s mind was similarly blown.
“I would not even think of doing anything like that,” the defenseman said Saturday. He was then informed about what Gretzky said.
“That’s a little better compliment than from me,” he added.
Like Tkachuk, Maurice also sneaked an extra peak at a replay of the goal, both to try to figure out exactly what Barkov did and because it was just fun to watch.
For a moment, he became a fanboy.
“Those fan moments, I still get them all the time,” the 56-year-old Canadian said. “I’m on the bench, I’ve got my next line up and I’m watching it on the monitor, and I’m like, God, he just did that. That’s so awesome. It doesn’t change. You coach in the league a long time, you still have those absolute fan moments.
“He’s the least showboating player I’ve ever coached by far. Most times he scores, you kind of expect him to skate by the goalie, tap his pads and say, Sorry about that, but he pulled that move because that was the only move that’s going to work. There’s no one-upmanship or showmanship in that man. It’s just not in him, so when it went through his legs, he decided it wasn’t going to go and he made the best move he could. I’ve never seen that.”
