Post-Game Talk: POLL - Did Nate do that on purpose?

[expatriatedtexan]

I'm sure if you ask MacKinnon, he'll tell you the whole world wears bifocals....but he, he's got vision.

 

[Steerpike]

Nate is of the school of thought that a wild shot half a second ago is better than a perfectly placed shot half a second from now. This is just the resulting puck luck you sometimes get from one player throwing the puck towards the net and another crashing the net.

 

[Hennessy]

I vote yes. He knew Toews would cheat deep and he knows the boards at home. Maybe he figured he had no clean shot and no options so he threw it to the gods.

 

[Perratrooper]

Rust 100% gets a piece of that shot which is why it goes so far wide. If you look closely at the first image you can actually see that I have no clue what I’m talking about.

 

[Freudian]

I think MacKinnon just tried to get the puck on net as quick as possible but didn't get a lot on it so it was slow and wide. MacKinnon rarely thinks pass from that spot and if he does, it's a cross pass.

 

[chet1926]

No way this was planned, Nate was just trying to get a shot on net. Which is good play in a tie game with 4 mins left. He missed, got a nice deflection of the wall and Toews buried it.

This furthers the evidence that if you just get pucks towards the net, it can result in good things.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

No way he did this on purpose when it would have been a lot easier for him to hit either Bura or Toews with a cross pass.

 

[LTC Pain]

Chuck Norris called and told Mack to do it

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

It was a foretaste of what is to come.

When a skill team has luck like that, they usually win the Cup.

That was immaculate reception sort of luck......

 

[PAZ]

Definitely a bit of luck, but it was also good hockey sense. IMO Mack instinctively knew if he took even a half of second more a players would end up in the shooting lane, much better to throw the puck onto the net after a broken play/scramble and see what happens than take an extra second or two to hope something else develops.

 

[Foppa2118]

That looked like a designed play to me. Why would Toews just park himself at the side of the net if he didn't know what was gonna happen there? He's way too smart for that. He would have backed out instantly, otherwise for all he knew that shot easily could have been blocked or the rebound kicked into the slot, and now it's a 3 on 2 with Nate back, or a 2 on 1 with just Cale in a tied game late in the third. He never pinches that aggressively.

And how the hell did Nate miss the net so wide? It wasn't even close. He never misses that bad. And he had a wide open shooting lane, it's not like he was trying to thread a needle.

 

[Foppa2118]

No way he did this on purpose when it would have been a lot easier for him to hit either Bura or Toews with a cross pass.

Wouldn't have been easier. There were two Pens players with their bodies and sticks on the forehand in the passing lanes to both Burakovsky and Toews.

Also when he decides to wind up for the shot, it looks like there could be 2-3 players in the shooting lane too, but then when he shoots they get out of the way to avoid the screen.

 

[cinchronicity]

Just wanted to add that there is video evidenc3 of Makar doing this precise thing quite a bit - going back to the UMass days at minimum. And while I am nothing but a beer league player ince college, I made this 'pass' in college and in all important keg games. Was the pass directed specifically to Toews? I doubt it. Was it a purposeful attempt to put the puck at one side of the net, and the goalie on the other? I believe it was.

Also, as pointed out by @Foppa2118 , Toews would have been terribly out of position which is unlike him.

 

[John Mandalorian]

I think he doesn't miss that wildly. Sometimes you try stuff and get lucky. He's probably tried a variety of similar things that aren't noteworthy because they didn't work.

 

[wayninja]

Congratulations to 38.5% of you who correctly got the right answer. The rest of you hosers can take off.

 

[cannucky]

Congratulations to 38.5% of you who correctly got the right answer. The rest of you hosers can take off.

We're up to 40.3 % perhaps the OP should have been did Nate just make a pass they practice 20 times every practice or was it just dumb luck .

 

[wayninja]

We're up to 40.3 % perhaps the OP should have been did Nate just make a pass they practice 20 times every practice or was it just dumb luck .

Bold of people to vote after the confirmation.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Bold of people to vote after the confirmation.

Bold of a lot of people to believe MacKinnon.

 

[wayninja]

Bold of a lot of people to believe MacKinnon.

How dare you.