VOORHEES, N.J. — Egor Zamula had only one thought when he watched Owen Tippett spin, shoot and score.
"Holy f---," Zamula said. "That's it, pretty much."
That's a pretty reasonable reaction.
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Tippett put on a show in the third period Thursday night, not only for the fans at the Wells Fargo Center, but also his teammates. He punctuated the Flyers' 5-1 win over the Stars with a jaw-dropping goal that quickly permeated social media platforms.
"I haven't seen a goal like that," head coach John Tortorella said afterward. "I've seen a lot of good goals; I haven't seen one of those in quite a while."
Charging down the wing with the puck, Tippett deked toward the middle and then spun to the outside before lacing a backhanded shot perfectly between the crossbar and post.
"Oh, it was unbelievable," Nick Seeler said Friday after practice. "To do that at that speed, not a lot of guys can do that."
NHL
Dallas defenseman Joel Hanley had no chance.
"As a defenseman, that's an unguardable play," Cam York said. "I feel bad for the guy. You can't defend that. It's impossible."
What makes it so tough?
"[Tippett] shows the puck to the middle," York said. "If [Hanley] goes stick on puck to the middle, as soon as [Tippett] turns around, you don't have time to get your stick to the outside. And it happens so fast. ... As a D, you don't have enough time to switch your stick position. It's in the back of the net before you know it.
"Kudos to Tip, that's an unbelievable play and I think all of us were pretty stoked for him."
Seeler, one of the Flyers' truest defenders, was on the ice for the goal. He and his teammates were elated as they converged on Tippett in celebration.
"I don't even remember what I was saying but it was like, 'Wow,'" Seeler said. "It was exciting and he was pumped, too, so that was fun."
Tippett is the unassuming type. The Flyers enjoyed seeing the 24-year-old smile after the goal.
"He's humble, I would say quieter," Seeler said. "It's certainly fun. I know the guys get a kick out of it when we watch him. Just his speed and his ability to create offense just by himself really — it was pretty special."
Zamula knows the difficulty of trying to stop such a move.
"It's tough to play because it's a spin-o-rama, you never know," the 23-year-old defenseman said. "Does he want to shoot forehand or backhand? It's tough to read, especially at a big speed, it's f---ing tough."
He gets a taste of it away from the bright lights of game action.
"When they do 1-on-1s in the practice, Tippett has such fast feet, he's such a good and strong forward," Zamula said. "So you need to play very fast and very strong against him. I'm not surprised by what Tip does."
York isn't either.
"I don't think any of us are really surprised," he said. "He's really skilled and with his speed, he's the fastest guy in the league. He used it there and he's such a threat.
"He doesn't show a ton of emotion all the time. But he can make plays like that."
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