The Washington Capitals are one of the NHL's biggest disappoints this season, having gone from a preseason Stanley Cup champion pick to a team sitting two points out of the playoffs and 3-6-1 in its last 10 games.
To snap out of their funk, it's going to take hustle, aggressive play and a little bit of luck. Forward Mathieu Perreault personified all of that in scoring a third-period goal during Washington's 5-2 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night — along with displaying a tongue for the net.
Perreault's incidental head-butt sent the puck past goalie Craig Anderson. After the game, he explained to the Washington Times how he could literally taste this goal:
"My tongue was out, so it bounced off my tongue and in the net," Perreault said. "These things happen when you go to the net. Not the way you want to get goals, but he hit me in the face and it went in."
With that, Perreault joins such luminaries as Brenden Morrow and Ian White as players who used their faces to help score goals. (Of course, in White's case, it was to help an opponent score a goal. Ouch.)
But scoring a goal using one's tongue? That might be an NHL first. The closest we've come to it recently was Kris Draper scoring with his teeth.
In the end, this is a great way to try and lick the competition. The type of play that leaves goal-scorers salivating. OK, we'll stop.
Follow Greg Wyshynski on Twitter at @wyshynski.
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