Ducks update: Devante Smith-Pelly’s unusual first NHL goal
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There was near cyber silence when Ducks rookie Devante Smith-Pelly checked in Thursday morning.
He figured to hear something about his first NHL goal, which came against Nashville. But ... nothing.
‘It was kind of weird just looking at my phone and no one really said anything and no one really knew,’ he said after practice.
Not even his parents.
What happened was that Smith-Pelly wasn’t awarded the goal until after the game. He didn’t even know when reporters entered the dressing room for interviews and only found out when he was about to leave Honda Center.
The goal had originally been credited to Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler, and it turned out the puck had glanced off Smith-Pelly’s knee and gone in. Smith-Pelly thought it was his goal, at first.
“I guess you can kind of tell by my reaction. I was pretty excited,’ he said. ‘I turned around and everyone was at Cam, so I just kind of skated over to him. It was weird.
‘After the game, guys were asking if it touched me and I said yeah.’
The quirky thing was that his first goal meant that fellow rookie, center Peter Holland, is still searching for his first NHL point. Holland lost the assist when the change was made but joked, saying: ‘I probably won’t pass him [Smith-Pelly] the puck.’ ALSO:
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