7 of the best, most filthiest shootout goals in the history of hockey

3. 2017: Nikita Kucherov‘s “no-move” move

Nikita Kucherov is so shifty that he’s pulled off this move three separate times over the last few seasons. Only one of those was in the shootout, of course, but we linked the highlight for all three of them because they’re just that good.

In Kucherov’s first successful attempt of the move, Buffalo Sabres netminder Robin Lehner is the unfortunate recipient of this fake-out. Kucherov looks like he’s making your normal, run-of-the-mill shootout attempt, but where it gets tricky is his “accidental” mishandling of the puck as it slides right through Lehner’s five-hole.

It’s a brilliant trick. Goaltenders are often watching the stick of an incoming shootout player, so of course Lehner bit on the deke that left him wide open for the puck to slide in as he was preoccupied with what he thought Kucherov was doing. And the move wasn’t accidental either, it was a full-on fake-out by Kucherov, which makes it even better.

Kucherov then pulled the move off twice more, once in the All-Star Game and once against the Washington Capitals in-game, but both against Braden Holtby. Talk about confidence to pull the same move three times, twice on the same goaltender!