3 goal of the year candidates to challenge Panik's effort vs. Penguins

It seems like "goal of the year candidate" is tossed out a bit too freely these days.

Case in point: Twitter blew up Wednesday with calls for this gem from Richard Panik of the Chicago Blackhawks to be nominated, and perhaps rightfully so.

Still, 2017 is barely two months old, and already there are others that have arguably been more impressive.

Here are three candidates.

Spurgeon's catch and release

Some might sleep on this one, but Jared Spurgeon's ability to catch the puck and immediately bat it into the back of the net was ridiculously impressive.

Now Athanasiou, now we don't

The Penguins fell prey to another beauty back in January, as Andreas Athanasiou went coast to coast and sliced through the defense like a hot knife in butter. The Detroit Red Wings have a keeper in this one.

Auston Matthews takes Carolina by storm

Auston Matthews with an all-timer against the Carolina Hurricanes.

No words necessary to describe this one.

Thanks for playing, everyone. That's probably your winner right there.