Blues center uses length to advantage to try pulling off goal named after Peter Forsberg; attempted it in Monday's 2-1 OT loss against Vegas
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Kevin Hayes has been down this road before.
This wasn't the St. Louis Blues' center's first rodeo.
It's a calculated move where a player skates in alone on a goalie, pulls the puck to his backhand and tries tucking it on the backhand behind him.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
For Hayes this time, Vegas Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson got the best of Hayes in a 2-1 Vegas overtime win on Monday.
"I was low. I actually talked to 'Binner' about it," Hayes said Wednesday. "I think it would have went in if the goalie wasn't opposite. His hands were off. He's different than most goalies. When your hands are off, your shorter side is usually your glove side. That's what I usually do it on. ... It was a good save. It was No. 1 on SportsCenter Top 10. So I'm famous."
It came with 16:35 remaining in the third period of a 1-0 deficit for the Blues that had 18,096 on their feet ready to explode with anticipation.
"It was a great try," Blues center Robert Thomas said. "It got stuck on his toe. When he's that big and has a long stick, it's hard for him to come in on that side angle to really get around the goalie. I thought it was a good try."
It's not the first time Hayes has tried to pull it off.
We found a successful one as a member of the New York Rangers nine years ago to the day in 2015 when Hayes scored against the Washington Capitals.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AMQ1gB_EBo[/embed]
"I have a super long reach so usually, I thought it was going to go in when I pulled the move, to be honest," Hayes said.
There have been some, including from the orchestrator himself that have pulled it off, including a familiar face at the start of this video:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h27Wy3lJkzk[/embed]
It does beg the question of when to try and and would a player try it.
"I don't know. I actually feel like in the situation sometimes when you're coming in on such a sharp angle that you kind of have to. So maybe," Thomas said. "I think it's all about the angle you're coming in on. Some goalies are pretty aggressive. When they're out up high, you can kind of get it right around them."
