NHL Rookies: First Points & First Goals

On Saturday night, against the Edmonton Oilers, Kaapo Kakko registered his first NHL point, which also happened to be his first NHL goal!  Kakko skated into the offensive zone on the right side of the ice.  After cutting to the middle of the ice, he dropped the puck off to his teammate streaking in next to him.  Upon giving the puck up, Kakko sneakily cut to the net past his defenseman.  He received a pass on his backhand and made a nifty backhand-forehand-backhand move to roof it over the goalies catching glove!  Check out the full video from NHL below:

Quinn Hughes, rookie defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks, scored his first career goal on October 8^th against the Los Angeles Kings!  Hughes received a pass on the right point from the right side of the zone and hammered home a slapshot that sniped the top right corner, just over the catching glove of the goalie!  Check out the goal on YouTube below:

On Thursday night Jack Hughes, first overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, recorded his first point against the Rangers! His point came off a wacky play when the defenseman took a shot from the point and Hughes, in the high slot deflected a shot on net. The puck shot towards the net but hit Miles Wood on the back and deflected into the net. Not exactly a “highlight-reel” play but obviously an exciting milestone regardless. Check out the full play from Sportsnet below:

Somewhat of a “sleeper” rookie is Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadians.  His first goal of his NHL career was on Wednesday night against the Minnesota Wild.  The right defenseman took a slapshot that deflected off an opposing player.  The puck bounced right over to Suzuki, who was positioned on the left side of the net in the slot.  Suzuki niftily collected on his backhand and sniped the top right corner of the net!  Check out the goal in the video below:

https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/video/suzuki-scores-first-nhl-goal/t-277437414/c-69720003