Simek Scores First NHL Goal

On December 10 against the New Jersey Devils, NHL rookie defenseman Radim Simek scored his first career NHL goal in his fifth career NHL game.

The play begins with Brent Burns shooting the puck from the point, accidentally hitting Lukas Radil. Radil takes the puck, bringing it to the boards. After working off the boards for several seconds, he sends a sauce pass to Radim Simek at the opposite point. Simek skates along the blue line, before getting off a bomb of a shot that manages to get through a mass of people in front of the net and beats Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid.

And like with Lukas Radil's first NHL goal in the game prior, Simek's goal also served as the eventual game-winner. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the second time that a Sharks player's first NHL goal was the game winner in back-to-back games. Previously, it happened in 2013 with Matt Nieto and Matt Pelech.
Simek was a free agent signing out of the Czech Republic by the San Jose Sharks in the 2017 offseason. A native of the Czech Republic, Simek spent the previous season with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL, where he had 7 goals and 20 points in 67 games in his first season in North America.