At the time, the Blues were leading the Isles 3-1 with about 15 minutes remaining in regulation. The Blues possessed the puck behind their net and defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo chipped the puck up the boards and towards the blueline and the Islanders defense. Perron raced from the top of the faceoff circle and towards the blueline. He hesitated when the puck reached the Islanders defenseman, but a fortuitous bounce saw the puck find Perron's tape and he split through two players to exit the zone. From then on, it was one-on-one, a battle of speed, skill, patience and concentration. One not often seen in today's game. Perron separated from two trailing Islanders and once he reached the Islander blueline, he initiated his world-class hands and creativity.
It started with a lighting fast chop-chop as Perron stickhandled briefly to freeze the defender. He then extended his arms with the puck on his forehand, as if to sell the defender on a shot. At this point, he maneuvers in a fashion that none of us recall witnessing prior to or since that day. In most cases, with their arms extended and the puck on their forehands, right-handed shooters will turn their sticks over and cup the puck with their backhands as they extend their outside leg and slide the puck through their legs and off their inside skate to beat a defender. Perron throws a curveball. Instead, he drops his inside leg back to slide the puck through and receives it on his backhand. After the chop-chop, hesitation, and drag, Islander defenseman Mark Streit is helpless. His stick is caught on the inside as Perron goes around his outside shoulder, leaving only Dwayne Roloson on - excuse the pun - an island. A drag of the puck from his backhand to his forehand, across the front of the net, and the deed is done. Streit and Roloson have been posterized into Blues history.
"We practice those kind of moves," Perron said after the game. "You react to what's open, what's available. It worked, so it was fun. I'm glad it worked out tonight."
"That's (Perron's) dangling skills," said teammate Patrik Berglund. "He shows that every day at practice, and finally he got a hot goal like that."
Very hot. Enjoy!
Watch: Youtube Video
