Owen Tippett sprayed away ice and sprinted toward the goal, his dreams tied to the puck at the end of his stick.
This was why he was viewed as a consensus first-round NHL draft choice. This was why the Panthers took the winger with the 10th-overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. And this was what Tippett, whose fiery orange hair peeked around the edges of his white helmet as he glided down the ice during a shootout drill Wednesday morning, wanted to do for as long as he could remember.
The 18-year-old Canadian can score. Various scouting reports agree on that, and the numbers back it up.