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Erik Haula rode quite the 10-second rollercoaster Sunday night in Montreal.
The Bruins center earned a rare penalty shot late in the first period with Boston leading the Canadiens by a goal. But as Haula mounted his attack from center ice, he skated right past the puck.
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Rather than give up on the play, however, Haula skated back to retrieve the puck, then calmly fired a wrist shot past Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault for one of the strangest penalty-shot goals you'll see.
NHL penalty shot/shootout rules stipulate that the puck must be kept in forward motion after being initially touched. But because Haula didn't touch the puck on his skate-by, he was able to go back and retrieve it legally.
Haula's teammate, Brad Marchand, is well aware of this rule. The Bruins star famously whiffed on a shootout attempt against the Philadelphia Flyers in January 2020; unlike Haula, Marchand touched the puck, so his attempt was ruled unsuccessful.
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Marchand probably wishes he pulled a Haula that night in Philadelphia and apparently wouldn't have been too mad if Haula made the same mistake he did Sunday night.
"[Marchy] was hoping I touched it because he had done it before and wasn't going to be alone," Haula said after the game. "... Thankfully I didn't and ended up scoring. There was a lot of laughs."
Haula added a second goal in the second period en route to Boston's 5-3 win at Bell Centre, so there was plenty to celebrate after the victory. Haula admitted he was sweating it out in the moment, though.
"Honestly, I was so flustered, I didn’t know what was going on," Haula added. “It was so loud, I didn’t know if the refs blew it [dead] or not. I just grabbed the puck and thought, 'All right, I guess I’ll take it down.' Thank God I scored."
