Vasily Podkolzin scores his first goal as an Edmonton Oiler on a night that couldn’t have been better timed for the player and his family.
Vasily Podkolzin picked up his first goal as an Edmonton Oiler on Saturday night, a moment that was met with huge relief as he’d been working hard to put points on the board, but hadn’t been rewarded with a goal. When he finally scored, he had lifted the monkey off his back and his teammates were thrilled. Perhaps not as much as his parents, who were in Edmonton visiting and it was their final night in town.
“What’s really nice about tonight is that his parents have been here for about three weeks. Tonight was their last night here, they’re leaving tomorrow,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said regarding the Podkolzin goal.
TSN’s Ryan Rishaug had reported on Saturday that Podkolzin had been out well ahead of his teammates at the morning skate. It had become quite the habit, considering he was determined to keep working his way up the lineup, stay in the coach’s good books, and play with the best linemates so he find that elusive goal. Rishaug tweeted, “He’s been doing everything but finishing until tonight.”
To have that hard work pay off in a game that his parents got to see before they headed out was likely incredibly special.
Does This Podkolzin Goal Lead To More with the Oilers?
More than a few analysts wondered if this goal was the marker that opened the floodgates. If it does, his parents won’t be around to see it, but that won’t matter. He scored when it mattered and they got to see it. They and he know how well he’s fitting in with his new team, one that traded for him as a bit of an afterthought in the summer.
He’s become anything but an afterthought now.
