Sometimes you can fault a goalie for surrendering a goal. And other times, you wanna put your arm around the guy and say, ‘hey, buddy, these things happen, nothing you could have done on that one.’
Like when Matthew Tkachuk uses an opposing goalie’s head for a deflection, for example.
Against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night, Tkachuk collected the puck and skated down below the goal line. Mouthpiece dangling from his lips, he snapped a bad-angle shot that deflected off the back of goalie Mike Smith’s mask and into the top of the net for the rookie’s fourth of the season.
“There was enough there that I had to bank it off his head,” said Tkachuk after the Calgary Flames’ 2-1 overtime win over the Coyotes on Wednesday night.
And he didn’t even call bank, Mike Smith!

Guess that’s a shot you can take to the bank, eh,*Mike Smith?!

OK, so maybe he wasn’t impressed.
But the rest of the Flames were. The third-period goal tied the game at 6:40 for the 18-year-old native of*Scottsdale. (Coyotes fans: ‘Traitor…’)
“It was a great shot … it was a great goal and it got us going,” said Michael Frolik, who scored the overtime game-winner.

Indeed it did. Congrats to Tkachuk on finding a way to get a head in this League.
—
Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS