The slickest goal of the Stanley Cup playoffs might have come in a Game 1 of the first round. Nashville Predators winger Filip Forsberg carried the puck by his right skate as Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard approached. In a move that looked beta-tested by video game controllers, Forsberg poked the puck through his own legs, collected it in stride, scooted around a wobbly Girard, then slipped the puck past goaltender Jonathan Bernier.
The sequence took all of three seconds, but the reverberations — the instant GIFs, the social media gushing,cheap nike nfl jerseys china the highlight on loop — lasted well past the 24-hour news cycle. As Forsberg’s teammate Austin Watson said afterward: “He thinks of doing things out there that wouldn’t even happen in my dreams.”
There’s another thing the Predators want you to know about the 23-year-old Swede: You might be impressed by his dazzling moves in games, but you should see the stuff he tries in practice.
“He’s always trying something — flipping his hands over, doing something weird,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “You’re like, ‘What is he doing?’ But he pulls something off his sleeve, and it’s usually pretty impressive.”
“He might be the most creative player I’ve ever played with,” said center Kyle Turris, acquired from the Ottawa Senators last November. “The things he tries in practice are insane. It’s really neat to watch.”
Or, as defenseman P.K. Subban said, “Everybody gets burned by Fil.”
In the playoffs, Forsberg is the anonymous assassin. His 12 points — 5 goals, 7 assists — through 11 games pace the Predators (Forsberg led Nashville in the regular season with 64 points despite missing 11 games with an injury and three to suspension). Since the start of the 2014-15 season,nfl nike jersey cheap Forsberg has 24 game-winning goals — ninth-most in the NHL in that span and more than players such as Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin or Jonathan Toews. Meanwhile, Forsberg’s top line is Nashville’s most lethal in the playoffs; Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson have a 53.7 Corsi for percentage and 63.6 goals for perc
