It happened again.
Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk scored a ridiculous between-the-legs goal Thursday that completed his team's comeback against the Nashville Predators.
ABSOLUTE JAW DROPPER!#CGYvsNSH | #Flames pic.twitter.com/qYG7WzP9Ao
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) November 1, 2019
It wasn't just the in-game situation that makes this goal a candidate for the best of the season — Tkachuk one-timed the shot through his own legs when the puck tumbled his way off a blocked shot.
The 21-year-old American isn't the first player to offer a between-the-legs highlight this season. Columbus Blue Jackets forward Sonny Milano offered a spectacular breakaway score on Oct. 16 for early entry to the goal of the season conversation, and Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak followed up with his own version against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 22.
The 2019-20 season is almost one month old, and with multiple highlight-reel goals scored in that fashion, let's take a look at five of the best between-the-legs goals in recent hockey history.
5. Aleksander Barkov — Feb. 17, 2019
"Did you just do that, Aleksander Barkov?"
The Florida Panthers captain wowed fans with one of last season's top highlights when he chipped the puck past Montreal Canadiens defenseman Victor Mete and took off on a breakaway at Carey Price.
Even with Mete trailing closely behind, Barkov still cheekily pulled off a surprising between-the-legs move that flipped the puck up and over the Montreal goalie.
Barkov's goal was part of a 96-point 2018-19 season that firmly entrenched him as one of the league's top players.
4. Connor McDavid — March 28, 2019
The league's most electrifying offensive force scored his 40th goal of the 2018-19 season with a quick between-the-legs goal that stunned the Dallas Stars.
McDavid's goal impresses because he pulled the move off in tight space — Stars defenseman Esa Lindell placed his stick just inches from the Oilers' star and nearly deflected the puck away. No. 97 requires little time or space to confound opponents, though, and he found the far end of the net open when goalie Ben Bishop slid out of position.
3. William Karlsson — March 31, 2018
The Vegas Golden Knights shocked the league when they finished fifth in the NHL in the franchise's first season of play — which happened to coincide with William Karlsson's emergence. No. 71 scored his 42nd of a 43-goal season with a beautiful between-the-legs move on a shorthanded breakaway against the San Jose Sharks.
The highlight is perhaps notable because it was highly visual — Karlsson was all alone, leaving the home crowd with a perfect view of a moment that symbolized the larger-than-life arrival of pro hockey in Las Vegas.
2. Marek Malik — Nov. 26, 2005
Malik played 13 NHL seasons as a defenseman, never registering more than 23 points or seven goals in a single season. But early in the 2005-06 season — the first in which the league utilized shootouts to decide tied games — New York Rangers head coach Tom Renney called on the unlikely candidate when a shootout against the Washington Capitals lasted an unprecedented 15 rounds.
Malik's turn against Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig won the game for New York and prompted one of the great television broadcast calls in hockey history.
In 2016, the Rangers' website published an oral history of that shootout and interviewed Malik and others on the ice that night. The defenseman said he had started planning his move "six or seven guys" before him.
"It looks like a really hard move or trick," Malik said of scoring the goal. "But it's not that hard. It's pretty simple, especially when you have long legs and a long stick like I do. I was totally calm."
1. Tomas Hertl — Oct. 8, 2013
San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl erupted for a four-goal performance against the New York Rangers as a rookie in just his third career game.
The cherry on top was the fourth and final tally: Hertl slipped behind the Rangers' defense on a breakaway before absolutely befuddling netminder Martin Biron when he pulled the puck between his legs and sent it to the net's top left corner.
The moment is remembered for a number of reasons: some around the league initially saw it as showboating during a blowout game (the Sharks defeated the Rangers 9-2) and Hertl noticeably didn't play another shift after the goal. The criticism prompted Sharks veteran Joe Thornton to defend then-rookie Hertl's celebrations, gracing the world with the now-famous four-goal promise.
Hertl's goal also unexpectedly linked his career to that of the goalie he scored on that night. Biron played in 16 NHL seasons, but he only played one more game after conceding that tally; the Rangers placed him on waivers and Biron called it a career.
One between-the-legs goal signaled the start of a career and the end of another. Biron wound up signing a goalie stick for Hertl later that season after his retirement. It wasn't just a highlight play — it was an unlikely moment in league history.