Puckpocket

In all the hype about bites, hair pulls, referee run-ins and CBC hate, it often gets overlooked that Burr is an incredibly skilled and smart player. He is like a coiled cobra, usually the fastest to spot and pounce on an opening. No wonder he features so prominently in overtime and short-handed goals. Give him a mere sniff, and he'll bite. Last night's OT winner was a piece of fantastic skill when you analyse the whole sequence. It started with Burr faking out Thomas, but there was still some work left to be able to come all the way around the back of the net and on the other side. Thomas, a big man, was sprawled and his stick extended to stop Burr. And right on top of Burr was also Chara, six inches taller and with probably the longest stick in the NHL. So the first thing Burr did was to send the puck on its way first. He fired it against the backboard at exactly the angle where it would rebound and end up on the other side of the goalmouth. Without having to worry about also stick-handling the puck at the same time, Burr then proceeded to hop, skip, jump, push and thread his way through whatever Thomas and Chara threw at him . . . and arrive at exactly the right moment on the other side to extend his stick and gently steer the arriving puck into the net. And all that in mere seconds to beat Thomas's rush to get back in front of net. Legend!