Tanner Pearson deftly deflects overtime winner (Video)
Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Pearson showed off his coordination by deflecting in an overtime winner.
The Los Angeles Kings haven’t gotten too much scoring this year. However, forward Tanner Pearson has been huge for them this season. He’s been a constant clutch player for them this season.
Pearson came up huge for the Kings against the Minnesota Wild. During overtime, he deflected home an Alec Martinez pass past Darcy Kuemper to give Los Angeles a much needed 4-3 win.
In 37 games this season, Pearson is already just four goals away from tying his career high in goals (15) he set last season. He also has 19 points. Martinez does a great job setting up Pearson and Pearson does a great job having the hands necessary to get a piece of his pass. It ended a great overtime session by both times. Give the Kings credit for being resilient. Most teams lose it in overtime after missing a shot, allowing the other team to get a quick break the other way. However, the Kings calmly recovered the puck and set up the game winner.
This is his second game winning goal of the 2016-17 season and his 10th of his career. Overall, it’s Pearson’s 11th goal of the season and 41st of his career. Originally drafted by the Kings with the 30th overall pick of the 2012 draft, he is in his fourth NHL season. Pearson has seen his ice time increase to a career best 15:47 per game this season, fitting in well with the Kings first forward line recently. He has done well with Anze Kopitar as his center, so expect his ice time to continue to rise unless Los Angeles can find a better fit.
The Kings came back from a first period deficit of 2-0 to win in overtime. They are now in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference.