Lightning add to NHL's own-goal epidemic against Blackhawks

By Michael Blinn Ah, the own goal. It's embarrassing enough to accidentally put one into your own net, let alone when you do it in front of a full crowd. The

By Michael Blinn

Ah, the own goal. It's embarrassing enough to accidentally put one into your own net, let alone when you do it in front of a full crowd.

The NHL has seen quite a few players tally one for the other team, and the trend continued on Thursday when blueliner Matt Carle attempted to pass back to partner Radko Gudas from center ice into the Tampa Bay defensive zone. In what can only be described as a  lightning-quick moment, the puck glanced off of Gudas' skate and behind goalie Ben Bishop.

The own goal erased the Bolts' lead, which they'd only established 40 seconds earlier, tying the game with just 1:49 left to play. While it certainly might not have been the easiest goal of Jonathan Toews' career, based on how the play developed beforehand, it's certainly one that will show up on blooper reels throughout the season.

Luckily for the Lightning, Martin St. Louisscored in overtime for a 6-5 win over the Blackhawks.

Of course, that lowlight reel can already have a subsection of its own, as it's the latest in a line of own-goals and miscues from the young season. Witness Jonathan Quick's attempt to play the puck by the hashmarks turning into a trip-fall-and-redirect-into-his-own-net experience:

Quick and the Lightning can also count Roberto Luongo among their brethren, as evidenced when a Canucks attempt to start a breakout ended with the puck in the netminder's skates, and then into the goal behind him.

target="_blank">point and laugh

it can happen to anyone

twice in one game