Michael Grabner opens the scoring for the Maple Leafs with odd goal (Video)

Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Michael Grabner, scores first goal of the game after being taken down and crashing into to net.

Penalty shots are rare in the NHL. Even less common, though, are penalty shot calls that are reviewed and called goals. But that is exactly what happened during the dying seconds of the second period in Sunday’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings.

Maple Leafs’ forward Michael Grabner breaks into the Red Wings’ zone before being taken down and crashing into the net. Immediately the referee goes up to signal a penalty shot being awarded. The play is reviewed, and it is called a goal.

Upon review of the play, it is clear that the puck crosses the line before Grabner, meaning the puck was in the back of the net prior to the net being knocked off. Scoring has been a struggle for Grabner this season as that was just his seventh goal.

That goal was not the first time the puck has found the back of the net in Sunday’s game, but it was the first to count. In the first period, the Maple Leafs thought they had taken the early lead, but the goal was waived off. Then earlier in the second period, Dylan Larkin thought he had the first goal of the game for the Red Wings, but it went in off his glove so the goal did not count.

That Grabner goal turned out to be the game winner, as the Maple Leafs defeated the Red Wings 1-0.