The Buffalo Sabres have been a fount of unexpected goals this holiday season. Two days before Christmas, they won a game versus the Phoenix Coyotes on Mike Smith's butt goal, as the Coyotes' goalie, unaware that the puck was in his pants, backed the game-winner into his own net.
And now, two days after Christmas, the Sabres have given us another tally almost as rare: a John Scott goal. It's a post-Christmas miracle!

Let this be a lesson to you, kids: if you don't swallow those chintzy dump-ins, you may pay the ultimate price -- a John Scott goal.
Poor Jonathan Bernier. He's historically had some trouble with the Sabres. Coming into Friday night's start, he was 0-3 versus Buffalo, with 11 goals against. That's embarrassing, especially considering the Sabres have not been a good team during Bernier's NHL career.
But getting scored on by John Scott is even more so. The only other goaltender with that black mark on his resume: Mike Leighton, who was beaten by Scott on November 15, 2009.
The Sabres seized the moment to mock the Maple Leafs, which seems appropriate:
Toronto is outshooting John Scott 8-2. Scott leads 1-0
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) December 28, 2013
The problem for the Sabres is that they're still the Sabres, so the window to gloat was a small one. Despite heading into the first intermission up 2-0, they were trailing by the end of the second.
Leafs fans piled on after that, but it's tough to say anything that could hurt a team as comfortably numb as the Sabres:
Great to hear from all the Leafs fans tonight. Just a reminder that the Sabres & Leafs each have 4 wins in December.
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) December 28, 2013
Full credit to Scott, who has actually proved to be a real problem for the Leafs this season. First, he goaded both Phil Kessel and David Clarkson into suspension, and now he's scoring goals? And you thought the Sabres picked him up to deal with Boston.
It couldn't have happened for Scott at a more fitting time, either. Friday marked his 200th NHL game.
Scott wasn't making a huge deal of it coming into the tilt.

“It means I’ve got 200 in seven years,” he said, nonchalantly, this afternoon. “I’ve got a lot of healthy scratches.”
“I guess I never would’ve thought that would happen. It’s cool. It’s a big honor, I guess. So it’s exciting.”
But I'll tell you what's even more exciting than playing an NHL game. Scoring a goal in one. And now Scott can say he's done it two times. Two!
Can Scott score another? Well, based on his rate of production, that depends on whether or not he can play another 100 games.
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Harrison Mooney is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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