Rutger McGroarty scored his first NHL goal on Thursday, and he picked quite the time to do it.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were trailing in the final seconds of their matchup with the St. Louis Blues when McGroarty jumped on the ice and jammed the puck past goaltender Joel Hofer. It sent the game to overtime tied at four and was quite a way to get into the box score for the first time.
You can watch the moment here.
“It was pretty cool, especially at that point in the game, versus a team like that, and how hot they are,” McGroarty said postgame, per team-provided transcript. “It was pretty cool for Ville and I to do that on the same goal. We might have to split the puck in half, I’m not sure.”
Ville Koivunen recorded his first career assist on the same goal.
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“I’m really happy for him. It’s a big goal,” Koivunen said.
Blues forward Robert Thomas won it with a power-play goal with 2:48 left in OT, giving his club a franchise-record 11 consecutive victories. It was a sour end to the night, but one that was full of fun moments as the Penguins look toward the future.
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Featured image via Jeff Curry/Imagn Images