Daily Faceoff Show – Was Rickard Rakell’s goal sneaky or greasy?

As their playoff hunt continues, the Anaheim Ducks won an overtime thriller last night against the San Jose Sharks thanks to a strategic finish which saw Adam Henrique head to the bench and Rickard Rakell pop out further up the ice behind the Sharks defenders for an instant breakaway.

Was Rakell’s goal sneaky, or was it a little bit too greasy? Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discussed that on today’s Daily Faceoff Show.

Mike McKenna: “It’s greasy in the best way! Not a bad way at all. We used to do this play at St. Lawrence University, where you’d win a faceoff, you’d put one player on the bench in the door, you’d have another come out the other. We would gain the entire neutral zone in college because the benches were so big. We had an assistant coach there named Chris Wells who used to call it ‘The Chiseler Play.’ He’d just be on the bench screaming ‘Chiseler! Chiseler! Chiseler!’. I don’t know how teams didn’t catch on, but this is the end result.

Look at this breakaway that results from it. I think the Ducks are totally legal here. Player’s at the bench, Henrique’s there, come off, game’s over. I love this play!”

Frank Seravalli: “I don’t have any issue with it. Bob Boughner from the San Jose Sharks seemed to not enjoy it. Does he need to actually physically be on the bench? You look at the gap between the amount of ice he covered and that guy getting to the bench. I think it’s kind of right on the borderline, but this has happened forever, so I don’t really seem to have any issue with it.

The crowd in Anaheim certainly seemed to love it, you could hear the building explode with the OT winner. I don’t know, sneaky or greasy, sometimes it takes both to get into the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Anaheim Ducks are certainly trying.”

You can watch the full video here…