What did I just see?
An NHL Shooting Star?
Every so often, this league coughs up a moment that feels like a flash, a streak, a brilliant interruption in the grind of an 82‑game season. The kind of thing you miss if you’re busy checking line combinations or wondering why the power play still can’t enter the zone.
Tonight, Avery Hayes was the NHL flash.
He didn’t glide in with the polished glow of a first‑rounder or the smug certainty of a blue‑chip prospect. No, Hayes arrived the way shooting stars do: suddenly, unexpectedly, and with enough brilliance to make you wonder if you really saw what you think you saw.
His first NHL shot found the back of the net, a clean, seamless strike from a kid who’s spent more nights in minor‑league rinks than anyone cares to count. Nine minutes later, he buried another, and for a brief stretch of NHL hockey, the whole focus seemed to turn toward him. Not because he was supposed to be the story, but because he refused to let the moment pass without leaving a mark.
That’s the thing about shooting stars. They don’t ask permission. They don’t wait for the right circumstances. They explode because they have to, because the window is small and the sky is crowded and the universe doesn’t hand out second chances to be seen.
Maybe Hayes sticks. Maybe he fades back into the dark corners of the depth chart. The league is a machine that works that way. But here’s the part the old sportswriters never admit out loud: every once in a while, a shooting star doesn’t disappear. Every once in a while, it circles back, brighter the second time, proving it wasn’t a fluke, just the first glimpse of something taking shape.
Should young Avery Hayes light up the Penguins’ scoreboard again, make sure we don’t act surprised.
