Buffalo Sabres defenseman Nicolas Deslauriers got creative and played a puck with his head like a soccer player.
Way to use your head out there, kid.
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With their season all but over, the Buffalo Sabres’ players may as well start getting creative and have some fun. That’s exactly what Sabres defenseman Nicolas Deslauriers did in a game against the Ottawa Senators. Senators forward Erik Condra lifted the puck into the air into the Sabres’ end. It started to come down in the general vicinity of Deslauriers.
Most players would either grab it out of the air and put it down to play it, or maybe just swat it away with their hand. Deslauriers decided to get creative and be different.
Deslauriers decides to jump in the air and head it away in the direction of his teammates, just like a center back would do to clear the ball out of his box in soccer. Deslauriers clearly has played some soccer growing up.
It’s actually a pretty smart playing, as if he swatted it away with his hands and one of his teammates continued to play it, it would be called a hand pass and the faceoff would come back in their zone. Instead, he plays it with his head and his teammates are able to continue playing the puck.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen hockey players play the puck with their heads. New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist plays the puck with his head all the time in an attempt to direct the puck out of play without committing a delay of game penalty. We’ve seen other players play the puck with their head such as Deslauriers did, although not with the kind of style he just did. We’ve also seen players make some nice soccer-style passes with their skates during games.
With the Sabres not going anywhere this season and right in the thick of the Connor McDavid sweepstakes, now’s the time for young players like Deslauriers to get creative and show what they can do. That’s exactly what he tried to do here.
H/T SB Nation, Pat Iversen
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