Zamboni: The Sabres had a strategy for scoring goals à la Tage Thompson

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Zamboni: The Sabres had a strategy for scoring goals à la Tage Thompson
Credit: Capture d'écran - Twitter (X)

In Game 4 of the series between the Canadiens and the Sabres, Tage Thompson scored a bizarre goal.

While Buffalo was on the power play, #72 sent the puck deep into the Canadiens' zone… and a freak bounce sent the puck right behind Jakub Dobes.

The poor CH goalie was completely caught off guard.

Obviously, that goal got people talking because it was weird, but also because it changed the momentum of the game. The Sabres tied the score… and they eventually took the lead in the third period to win the game.

But what's interesting is that Chris Chelios, during an appearance on TNT, brought up that goal… and mentioned that back then, the Zamboni driver in Buffalo had his own little trick to try to create such goals.

The trick in question? He'd leave the Zamboni door slightly ajar on the visitors' side to try to deflect the puck. Our colleagues at Marqueur told you about it earlier today.

We know it's not uncommon to hear similar stories where small details of the home arena are used to play a trick on the visitors. And obviously, in the case of Thompson's goal, the story is a bit different because it wasn't the home team that benefited from it.

It would have been a bit unusual for the Habs to deliberately put themselves at risk of such an unpredictable bounce, you know.

But it's still interesting to hear Chelios talk about a story like that, especially since it involves the Sabres, who were able to take advantage of that bounce in Montreal.

And in the event that the Habs have to return to Buffalo for a Game 7, it might prompt them to be a little more cautious in case that know-how was passed down between two Zamboni drivers, hehe.


In a nutshell

– We'll see if the long break did them any good.

– Jay Leach, the next Maple Leafs coach?

– Interesting.

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