On Monday night, two NHL players - Ottawa Senators rookie Curtis Lazar, and Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust - scored their first career NHL goals.
But which rookie had the better 'first career NHL goal face'? To figure it out, we'll have to host a first career NHL goal face-off...
First up is Rust, a 22-year-old winger and Notre Dame alum who is playing his first season of professional hockey. Rust was called up this weekend to fill in for injured Penguins grinder Zach Sill, and on Monday night he made his opportunity count, beating Evgeni Nabokov to give his team a early second period lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning:
(Courtesy: NHL.com)
How excited was Rust? Well considering it was a go-ahead goal in a key game, not that excited - or at least, not that outwardly excited:
(Courtesy: Root Sports)
Acting like you've been there before may earn you praise from Don Cherry, but it doesn't earn you points in a first career NHL goal face-off. For his stanch nonchalance, we award Rust three out of a possible 10 points on the foolproof, objective and hyper-scientific Tomas Hertl scale.
As for Lazar, he banged home a key game-tying goal early in the third period of Ottawa's game against the Buffalo Sabres for his first career NHL goal:
It wasn't a pretty goal, but it sure made Lazar's night:
This is a landslide. For his stunned, adorable smile we award Lazar six points out of 10 on the tried, tested and true Tomas Hertl scale. We also crown him the victor of Monday night's first career NHL goal face-off.