Ducks Goal of the Week: Isac Lundestrom Spins Us Right Round

This week’s notable goal takes the form of a good, hard forecheck, a skillful takeaway, great passing, a spin-o-rama, and some deception. I’m talking, of course, about Isac Lundestrom’s short handed goal against the New Jersey Devils on November 2nd.

This goal was the definition of teamwork: it couldn’t happen without both players doing their part and making outstanding plays. I know we’ve bagged on Derek Grant a lot lately, but we also have to give credit where credit is due; he makes this play possible by making a few great decisions within the span of a few seconds.

It starts with Grant getting in on the forecheck while the Ducks change lines behind him. The Devils are spread out with multiple passing options and good puck support to try and break it out of their defensive zone to transition. Nine times out of ten, this setup results in gaining control and starting play going the other way. So it’s tough to fault the Devils for this, especially when you’ve got what should be a pretty lopsided matchup in Nico Hischier (number 13) vs. Derek Grant.

Obviously, this isn’t how it played out.

If you watch the video, you’ll notice that Grant actually just loses this puck battle with Jesper Bratt (number 63). The puck spits back up towards Hischier, who then tried to one-touch pass it back to Bratt, who theoretically has open ice to his left to bring the puck out to begin the transition. The critical mistake here is Hischier’s pass having too much mustard. The puck goes right through Bratt and back to Pavel Zacha (number 37), who clearly was not ready to receive it. Grant uses a strong stick to take advantage of Zacha’s awkward positioning with not much weight on his own stick to strip the puck.

As soon as this happens, you’ll see Lundestrom start darting toward the net in open ice while everyone else is puck watching as soon as he noticed Grant gain possession.

With the puck under control, Grant heads down towards the corner with P.K. Subban headed for Grant while rookie Dawson Mercer (number 18) tries to get a stick in the passing lane. You can also see Bratt realize what is happening and desperately try to get into position to defend Lundestrom behind him. Grant hesitates for just a split second to gauge where Mercer’s stick is before firing a perfect pass to the Ducks center.

The first hard part is over. Now comes the second hard part. Lundestrom has the puck, but is in a difficult position. He’s got Hischier coming down to attack while he has Bratt blocking out the lower slot area in front of Devils goaltender (and former Ducks goaltender) Jonathan Bernier. Hischier makes a weak attempt on the puck which gives Lundestrom the opportunity to maintain possession with just some simple stick handling.

The Ducks being short handed on this play actually simplifies the choices here for Lundestrom. He knows he isn’t going to maintain possession for much longer, and knows that his number one priority in this situation isn’t necessarily to keep possession for a scoring chance, but to keep the puck out of his own end. So instead of looking for another passing target or dumping it into the corner, there is absolutely no harm in him spinning and sending the puck towards the net.

With Bratt making the mistake of attacking the backhand where the puck had been previously instead of anticipating him bring it to his forehand on the other side, and with Hischier having tried and failed to knock it away, Lundestrom has daylight on Bernier’s left side, since the goaltender had to respect the fact that a backhand attempt coming from his right was a likely outcome.

Instead, with barely any follow-through to create just enough deception, Lundestrom just flicks the puck backward into the daylight. Due to Bratt partially screening Bernier and the goaltender’s anticipation of the potential shot from the other side, he can only react with his left pad once he sees the puck headed toward him, which is far too late.

The goal put the Ducks up 4-0 and effectively put the game out of reach for the New Jersey Devils, while giving Derek Grant and Isac Lundestrom a highlight-reel clip to proudly show off to the world.