Egor Zamula's goal for the Philadelphia Flyers against the Ottawa Senators is a lesson for you kids out there -- don't always just follow the crowd.
The defenseman went his own way in the first period Sunday and was rewarded with perhaps the easiest non-empty net goal of his life and surely the strangest goal of this season.
With the Flyers on the power play, forward Joel Farabee fired a shot from the left circle through some traffic. The shot was saved by Senators goalie Mads Sogaard and a scramble ensued in front of the left side of the net in anticipation of a rebound.
The problem, of course, was the there was rebound to be had. At least not in front of the net.
As seven skaters and Sogaard devoted their attention to the area where they thought the puck was, Zamula calmly skated over to the puck's actual location -- just outside the right faceoff circle -- and fired a clean, straight shot right into a virtually empty net.
After the play, Senators forward Claude Giroux was protesting to official Francois St-Laurent, who seemingly explained to him exactly what did happen on the play, which is pretty close to unbelievable until you see the replay.
We will award a few bonus awareness points to Farabee, who was the only other player on the ice to locate the puck before it hit the twine, moving to the slot and calling for the puck before Zamula hit the twine.
See, kids? You don't have to do whatever everyone else is doing. Create your own path. Follow your instincts and your heart and, of course, your eyes. That's how you end up with the big reward.
