Colorado Avalanche Get 2 Incredible Goals from Nail Yakupov

Colorado Avalanche winger Nail Yakupov was credited with two incredible goals against the Boston Bruins.

Colorado Avalanche winger Nail Yakupov is known for being a supposed first-overall bust — not for being a guy who scores goals that are literally hard to credit. (Ie. incredible) However, his first two tallies for the Avalanche are just that.

Colorado faced the Boston Bruins in TD Garden, and they won the game 4-0. Goals number three and four came from Colorado’s newest winger, Nail Yakupov. Both came in the third period.

The first of Yakupov’s goals came on a bad over-play by Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. The veteran netminder had allowed two goals on just five shots in the first period, though he tightened it down in the second. However, maybe he was feeling some frustration, because this happened:

Rask looks like he’s suddenly transformed into a defenseman instead of a goalie. I mean, there’s coming out of your crease to cut down the angle of the shot, and then there’s coming out of your crease to go get some popcorn.

Yakupov is known for his skating agility, and he shows it off in his first-ever Colorado Avalanche goal. He swings right around Rask and snipes the shot past the goalie’s paddle into the wide-open net. Seriously, Tuukka Rask is going to want that one back.

And that’s what makes the goal so incredible — Rask usually makes better decisions than that.

Side note: Nail Yakupov’s goal celebration is pretty fun. He ‘fronts an angry Boston crowd then gives a little come-to-me finger wiggle while waiting for his teammates.

Yakupov’s second goal of the game — and of his career with the Avalanche — came with just 44 seconds left in the game. Boston coach Bruce Cassidy had surprisingly pulled the goalie even though his team was down by three goals with two minutes remaining. (Two minutes is a lot of time in hockey, but it’s a tight timeline for scoring three goals.)

This is one of the weirdest goals I’ve ever seen the Colorado Avalanche… score? Or get credited with. Here it is:

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Sven Andrighetto barrels down the ice toward the empty net. He’s forced against the glass, but he still manages to get a shot off. The puck caromes past the net and bounces against the boards. It heads back toward the net, but it’s going to squeak past again.

Nail Yakupov pinches in. He scoops the puck toward the net, but it mostly bounces over his stick. Andrighetto reaches to bat the puck in just as the Bruins David Pastrnak knocks the net off.

The rule is that, if the puck were going to go into the net before the net is knocked loose, it’s a good goal. However, as you can see by slo-mo, this isn’t the case with Yakupov’s nudge. It’s Andrighetto who pushes it past the goal line, and it’s after the net is dislodged.

That’s what makes this goal so hard to credit.

In any case, it does get credited — to Yakupov. Personally, I wonder if it’s the officials finally giving the Colorado Avalanche justice for this travesty of a call:

I mean, I guess it’s just as well they enact the makeup call in this season when games are actually counting again.

Second side note: It seems Nail Yakupov’s official nickname is Terry, for Teriyaki.

Next: Avs Mix up D Pairings

Anyway, it’s good to see Yakupov getting the scoring going for the Avalanche.