"I don't know. Not really."
This was Phil Kessel, of course. Because that's the classic Kessel comeback upon being asked whether he'd made any meaningful difference in the Penguins' 5-2 flipping of the Red Wings on this Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. You know, after he scored twice and set up the other of his team's first three goals.
"I thought we played well and, kind of like, we'd draw a penalty, it turned momentum ... and it kind of started from there."
Kind of like, indeed:
That was Kessel's first goal, 7:12 into the second period, that tied the score at 1-1. The ugliest conceivable power-play breakout preceded it, but Evgeni Malkin hit his bud with a lateral bullet, Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson lost the edge on his left skate, and Kessel was gifted a short-range breakaway.
"Hopefully, I don't miss a breakaway, right?" he recalled thinking then. "I'm not great on breakaways. To score on it feels nice."
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