For those who have played the NHL video game series has experienced a goal where they take a star player going from one end of the rink to the other and scoring a highlight-reel goal. We haven’t seen goals like that in the NHL in quite a while but Friday night in Switzerland Linus Klasen managed to give us one of those goals.
Klasen plays for HC Lugano and his first period goal against SCL Tigers is something only seen in video games or squirt hockey. After gettting the puck near his net, he makes a move around the first defender at his own blue line. He then takes out a winger at the attacking blue line after skating through the neutral zone. He then switched forehand to backhand as he skated to his right around a defenseman. After faking to his right, he cut back to his left and shot the puck above the goaltenders blocker under the crossbar. Later in the game, he scored again to tie the game 2-2 in the third period as Lugano won 4-2.
He’s spent most of his junior and pro career in Europe, minus a 2004-05 stint in the USHL and the 2010-11 season split between Nashville and their affiliate in Milwaukee. He’s make only one appearance with the Sweden national team at the 2014 World Championships but he has played with the Swedish national inline team, winning three straight IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships.
With a highlight video like this, it’s only a matter of time before an NHL club could give him another call. He could command a sizable salary, considering he’s in the second year of a lucrative four-year deal with Lugano.