Tyler Ennis scores goal of year candidate vs. Canadiens (Video)

There’s a great moment after Tyler Ennis scored his goal of the year candidate vs. the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night. Habs coach Michel Therrien glances up at the replay and looks like he just sucked a bushel of lemons. Granted, this is somewhat his usual comportment, but it also spoke to the “how did he do that?” aspect of the goal.

“That’s one of those goals you’re going to be looking at probably for the rest of the season,” Therrien’s counterpart in Buffalo Ted Nolan said. “That was one beautiful goal.”

That it was.

Ennis took a Zemgus Girgensons’ pass in the neutral zone and was off to the races. He blew around Alexei Emelin on right wing and cut to the net. With Emelin on him and Carey Price moving over for a save attempt, Ennis miraculously kicked the puck to himself while leaping in the air over Price. He then collected the puck on his backhand and fired the thing through Price as Ennis fell to the ice.

This wasn’t just scoring a goal. It was defying gravity. This was some Neo-in-The-Matrix stuff right here.

“You look at his skill set and the way he competes, the things he can do with the puck, I mean a couple times he almost flipped the puck to himself … he’s highly skilled and it’s great seeing him play the way he’s capable of playing,” said Nolan.

Apparently never having gotten the “Dishonor For Connor” memo, Ennis leads the Sabres in goals (7) and points (15).