Despite all NHL rinks being the same size, some have a home-ice advantage: the boards. You see it all the time, especially at Joe Louis Arena, where the Red Wings know exactly how to work the boards to their favor and get the right bounces.
And sometimes the home team doesn’t need to do anything to be on the fortunate side of a lucky board bounce. Sometimes they can just sit back and watch the visiting find that right spot and see the puck go into their own net. Wait, what?
That’s what happened in the opening game of the MHL’s (KHL’s major junior league) Kharlamov Cup between Spartak and Omsk:
You have to feel bad for Spartak defenseman Daniil Arefyev. He helps provide some pressure to force a turnover and then when he tries to wing the puck around to the other side of the ice, the puck bounces around like Plinko chip and eventually ends up in Spartak’s net.
Omsk would win the game 2-0, with Semyon Zherebtsov getting credit for that lucky bounce; and they would then take a 2-0 series lead with a 6-2 win on Saturday.
While you can't really fault him for that own goal, goaltender Alexander Trushkov did give Spartak one highlight so far in the series with his fantastic glove save, robbing Omsk forward Ilya Baskakov of a sure goal:
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy
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