Koepke Scores First in Win Over Washington

The Tampa Bay Lightning bounced back after an embarrassing outing in Washington Friday by besting those same Capitals 6-3 at home on Sunday.

Tampa Bay was powered by a four goal first period. Mikhail Sergachev scored two goals and added two assists including what would be the game winning goal on the power play.

Washington would make things interesting in the third by cutting the Lighting lead to three on two different occasions, but the highlight of the night came after Cole Koepke scored his first NHL goal in strange fashion.

Upon further review… 🧐

Yes indeed! Cole Koepke has his first NHL goal! That’s one you won’t forget. 😅

NHL Next Gen Rookies presented by @BioSteelSports. pic.twitter.com/jjI57e0mlI

— NHL (@NHL) November 14, 2022

Nobody on the ice seemed to realize that Koepke’s backhander had in fact found the back of the net. To make it even stranger, Brandon Hagel scored seconds later in more obvious fashion. Right after the Hagel goal, it was announced that Koepke had in fact scored prior to Hagel following a review.

Koepke may have been robbed of the traditional celebration that ensues immediately after scoring your first, but the story makes it just as great.

“(10 years from now) he won’t be saying that he was sitting on the bench” said Jon Cooper after the game. Scoring in a non traditional way almost seemed fitting for the 24 year old Koepke after being held without a point throughout the first 12 games of his NHL career.

Koepke has been skating on a line with Pat Maroon and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare who have had trouble getting on the scoresheet together. “At times it’s easy to get frustrated when you’re not scoring” said Koepke.

In his first full season playing professionally, Koepke scored 20 goals last season in the American Hockey League with the Syracuse Crunch. The goals have not been there until tonight at the NHL level but often times, getting your first can open the floodgates. So, expect him to score a more traditional goal in the not too distant future.

The first of many!#GoBolts pic.twitter.com/9v7TujaLBL

— Channelside Sports Network (@chsidesports) November 14, 2022