Snake-bit Maple Leafs’ Ilya Mikheyev Finally Bites the Snake Back

Ilya Mikheyev has been snake-bit all season. And, it’s not as if he hasn’t had his chances. That’s especially true on the penalty kill where it seems as if he’s had about 15 breakaways without scoring a goal. 

In fact, his scoring this season has been way down. And that isn’t because he’s playing badly. In fact, to my eyes he’s playing very well. His speed and his skills – especially on defense – are evident almost every game the Maple Leafs play. He adds value to the Maple Leafs’ lineup.

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This Time the Snake Gets Bit in Return

However, Mikheyev seems to be snake-bit. Really, even though his team is playing well on the season, for him and his scoring nothing much seems to be going right. 

However, tonight Mikheyev bit the snake back. On a rush down the ice, (1) defenseman T.J. Brodie jumped into the rush, (2) threw a shot at the goalie, (3) missed the net, (4) bounced the puck off the post, (5) which bounced up in the air, (6) hit Mikheyev on the chest, and (7) then proceeded to bounce past goalie Anton Forsberg (who was making his Senators’ debut) and into the net. Forsberg – who played really well on the night – was what you would call an innocent bystander on this goal.

Then, for just another moment, the snake took another nip off Mikheyev’s statistics when the referee immediately called “no-goal.” However, upon video review, that call was changed and Mikheyev was credited with scoring his fifth goal of the season.

Watch the Action on the Video – Can You Follow the Bouncing Puck?

In the video below, you can see the action that’s taking place. It took me a couple of attempts to be able to follow the puck – it happened so quickly. As you can see, Mikheyev accidentally scores after the puck bounces off his shoulder past – without any purposeful direction(ing) by using any part of his body – past goalie Forsberg. 

In a tick-tack-tack-tack-tack (and so on) play, Mikheyev was finally credited with a good goal to tie the game for the Maple Leafs who went on to beat the Senators with only a few seconds left in overtime.

Can Mikheyev Build Off this Fluky Goal to Start Scoring Again?

Time will tell if Mikheyev can build off this one time this season he was able to bite the snake back. As I noted, he’s been playing well – just not scoring. Until tonight!

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