Back in October, I spent a few minutes with Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne. I was working on a story about something I ask him about every training camp (or, in this case, early in the season). Every once in a while, he makes an attempt to score on a empty net and Preds fans everywhere hold their breath. I never got around to writing the story with the quotes he gave me but now it’s too late.
It’s too late because Thursday night, in Chicago, Rinne finally scored his first career goal.
But I’m not going to let that content go to waste! Below is my entire conversation with him just 12 weeks ago. I think you’ll find some of his comments particularly interesting because some of them are exactly what happened.
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Jeremy K. Gover: “Is that the most opportune time? When you’re up by two goals late in a game so if you try, fail, and they score, you still have a cushion?”
Pekka Rinne: “It doesn’t happen too often that you actually get the puck in a situation where you have time to actually shoot down the ice. But, yeah, it’s always in the back of your mind and a two-goal lead, in a situation like that, is optimal. That’s probably one of the only chances when a goalie can actually try and go for it. But, yeah, down the road hopefully I’ll get a chance.”
JKG: “How badly do you want that moment? I know you’d never put something selfish before the team but how badly would you like to look back at your career and say ‘I did that.'”
PR: “It’s more of a fun thing. It would be cool to score a goal as a goalie but it’s not something I constantly think about or anything like that. But, yeah, if there’s a moment when those situations arise when we’re up a couple goals and they pull the goalie it’s in the back of my head that, if I get a chance, I’ll go for it.”
JKG: “Do you remember the first time you saw a goaltender score a goal? Not a Billy Smith or Chris Mason thing but a goalie actually shooting like Ron Hextall in the 80’s or Martin Brodeur in the 90’s?”
PR: “It was one of those, Ron Hextall or Martin Brodeur, those early goals. I ended up seeing them on video. It was pretty cool. I was just like ‘How is that even possible?’ Obviously not everybody can shoot the puck like that. As a goalie, you’ve gotta be able to do that and it kinda opened a lot of eyes. There’s been guys since that who’s scored goals as a goalie. But, yeah, I think those opened a lot of eyes that, when the other team pulls a goalie, the other goalie can actually score a goal.”
JKG: “Hextall, Brodeur, Chris Osgood. Those guys were able to handle the puck because there was no trapezoid. How much do you think the trapezoid effects your efforts now?”
PR: “Still I think, anytime just to get the puck when you have [enough] time, it might happen once a season or twice a season. But I played back then too, when there wasn’t a trapezoid, and it was easier, for sure. It was easier to go anywhere and get those pucks and help out or shoot the puck down the ice but it doesn’t hinder it too much. I feel like if you’re going to get that opportunity, it almost has to be a shot on net, you catch it, put it down and go for it. After a rimmed puck, it’s a little bit harder. You have to pull the puck out and a lot of times the forecheck is right there [pressuring you]. The best opportunities, I always feel like, are when guys are shooting toward the net, you just quickly put it down and go for it. You need a lot of things to go right for you.”
JKG: “Last one for you… You’ve tried on a few occasions. Do you remember what’s going through your head in those instances or are you just reacting to the situation of the game?”
PR: “Yeah, I think it’s exactly that. It’s in the back of your head that, if I get an opportunity, I’ll go for it. I don’t think there’s been any close calls. I’ve missed the net a couple times — I tried once in Milwaukee and I missed the net — but I think the closest one was against St. Louis. Colton Parayko knocked it down with a high stick at the red line. It was actually a good shot. It had a chance. But, other than that, I can’t say I’ve been close to scoring a goal. But I’ll keep trying.”
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PHOTO CREDIT: Casey Gower