Leino Makes Statement On His First NHL Shot

Technically Ville Leino is a rookie in the sense that he had never played an NHL game until yesterday when the Wings took on (and lost to) the Washington Capitals. He was brought in to fill a roster spot vacated by a groin-nursing Thomas Holmstrom and for all intents and purposes was just supposed to go through the motions. Right? Well don’t tell that to Leino, who played a total of 12:20 on 16 shifts (including a little time on the power-play) and scored his first NHL goal on his first shot in Denis Savard-like fashion, spin-o-rama style. Have a look-see.

Granted, it might not have been as pristine as a Savard spin-o-rama, but you have to give the kid credit for giving it a whirl (pun intended).

Said Leino about the goal:

“It was a two-on-one, and I was looking for a pass for Hossa, and he kind of denied the pass and told me to go straight. I toe-dragged, and then looked for the pass but I couldn’t pass it. So I just turned around and shot it.”

Shot it he did, and it was so impressive that since yesterday the YouTube video has already received over 10,000 views. And what does Leino think of his sudden Internet celebrity? For him it’s as simple as scoring in the NHL.

“That’s cool,” he said.

Posted by Paul Benvin on Feb 1 2009. Filed under Atlantic, Central, Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes, Western Conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.