DETROIT – It didn’t ricochet off of a set of shin pads en route to the net or deflect off the backside of an unfortunate defender.
In fact, Xavier Ouellet’s first-career goal was a thing of beauty set up from a productive passing sequence that resulted in a wide-open net for the rookie defenseman to finish the play, earning his piece of history.
“It was a nice goal,” said Stephen Weiss, who initiated the scoring play. “(It) started from behind the net. I tapped it over to (Darren Helm) and Helmer kinda backpedaled out from almost in the corner from behind the net and threw a beautiful seam pass across the crease to X and he just tapped it in.