Ex-Hershey netminder David Leggio, he of Pierre McGuire impression fame, seems to have found a loophole in the rulebook. We couldn’t be prouder.
Playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL, the 30-year-old Leggio, who represented the US at this year’s World Championship, faced a 2-on-0 after his team turned the puck over at center ice. As ex-Lightning forward Dana Tyrell made his way past the blue line, Leggio knocked the net off its moorings.
Intentionally displacing the net is nothing new in hockey, especially in the AHL. For a particularly egregious net-shove, the offending player would be punished with a minor penalty, but if an attacking team has a breakaway at the time, the goalie would face a penalty shot.
Leggio seems to have found a loophole. By deliberately knocking the net off on a 2-on-0, he improved his chances to prevent a goal since the penalty shot is just a 1-on-0.
Things almost went badly for the cheater when Lukas Sedlak, who broke with Tyrell, fumbled the puck. After the game, Leggio claimed Sedlak had already let the puck get away from him. It’s tough to say if it’s true or not from the video, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Sedlak lost control of the puck because of what he saw in front of him. In the end, the unconventional move worked out for the veteran goalie, who stopped Tyrell on the resulting penalty shot.
Leggio told Michael Fornabaio of CTNews that the 3-on-0 he faced during the World Championship led him to try this strategy. Back then, Leggio allowed a goal after Alex Ovechkin, Viktor Tikhonov, and Sergei Plotnikov skated in, undefended, against him.
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