Following in the footsteps of a fellow Swede who first executed the move five years before he was born, Elias Pettersson paid homage to one of the greatest hockey players to ever come out of the Scandinavian country with his own rendition of the signature shootout move.
The odds-on favourite for the Calder Trophy pulled off the Peter Forsberg on Devils goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood in Friday night's shootout in which the Canucks fell 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils.
The video of the goal is stunning to watch, but an aerial photo encapsulating the goal might just rival the feat.
"It's something I have, and something I felt like trying today," Pettersson said. "That move is famous. It's a good move if the goalie bites on it."
Forsberg made the move famous in the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics to help propel Sweden to a gold medal over Team Canada, beating former Canucks goaltender Cory Hirsch with the one-handed move. Multiple NHLers have copied the move since, including Jussi Jokinen, who just about perfected the move over his career.
"I thought I had him all the way in the shootout," Blackwood said. "He went to my blocker side, and I thought he had no more room left and next thing I know the one hand comes out and the puck comes over and I'm stretching for my life there. He's a heck of a player, and that was a great goal."
“He [isn’t] scared to dangle,” teammate Nikolay Goldobin says. “He [isn’t] scared of it. He isn’t scared of turning over the puck. And then he makes plays that maybe you don’t expect.”
Pettersson managed to break an eleven-game goalless drought by ripping one over Blackwood's shoulder right under the bar for his 27th of the season.
The 20-year-old leads rookies in points with 59 (27 goals, 32 assists) in 60 games, and is one point away from breaking Ivan Hlinka and Pavel Bure's rookie record for most points in a season by a Canucks rookie.
