Red Wings’ James Reimer Inexplicably Ducks to Allow Game-Winning Goal

Red Wings goalie James Reimer has allowed 528 goals in his NHL career, but the one he let in on Thursday against the Senators was unlike any other. 

Detroit and Ottawa met on Thursday in the first of four games the NHL is hosting this weekend in Stockholm. After falling behind 4–0 early in the second period, the Red Wings stormed back to force overtime and were within seconds of sending the game to a shootout when Ottawa’s Tim Stützle scored a stunning game-winner. 

In the closing seconds of the overtime period, Drake Batherson flipped a pass in front of the goal toward Stützle, who patiently waited and whacked the puck on net with a baseball swing. Reimer might have had a chance of making a game-saving stop if he hadn’t ducked out of the way of the puck as it flew toward him. 

Here it is from another angle. 

Batherson’s fluttering pass apparently left Reimer flummoxed as he frantically searched for the puck. But even if Reimer had trouble finding the puck, it’s tough to explain why a 14-year NHL veteran would have ducked out of the way of the shot.

The loss dropped the Red Wings to 8–5–3 on the season, third in the Atlantic Division, while Ottawa is now 7–7.