What’s your favorite random Bruins goal of all time?

The offseason is time for random content, and everyone loves nostalgia and random highlights.

For this post, we’ll be taking a look at our favorite “random” Bruins goals. We encourage you to post your own in the comments, and include a story as to why you like it.

We chose “random” because others would be too easy: Patrice Bergeron in Game 7 in 2013, Nathan Horton in Game 7 in 2011, etc.

Instead, the rules are:

• No playoff OT winners
• Nothing from the 2011 Stanley Cup Final

And that’s it! Give us your shootout winners, your regular season OT strikes, your favorite shorthanded goals...let’s hear it!

Here’s what our writers chose, and why.

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Dennis Wideman and the trailing rocket goal

When: 2010 ECQF vs. Buffalo, Game 3

BIG MONEY WIDES. I have always had a soft spot for Dennis Wideman. Why? I’m not sure, but it’s probably because he was so disliked that I wanted to be contrarian. I do think Wideman got a bit of an unfairly bad rap here, but I digress.

In Game 3 of the 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal vs. Buffalo, the Bruins were coming off of a road win and heading home with a little momentum. However, the Sabres struck first on an early goal from Mike Grier.

I was at this game in the end of the Garden where the Bruins shot once, so I was watching this play develop from behind. The Bruins had a developing 3-on-2, with Wideman jumping up in the play.

A friend of mine, probably just to bust my chops, yelled something to the effect of “FEED BIG MONEY WIDES!”

Vladimir Sobotka, obviously hearing this bellow from the balcony, listened, and Wideman absolutely smoked it.

The shock of the goal, the “thud” of the puck hitting the back of the net on the VS broadcast, the roar of the crowd, and the glorious victory lap for Wideman...it was beautiful.

The goal tied the game for the Bruins, and Patrice Bergeron scored in the third (after Mark Recchi got away with blatant interference) to give the Bruins a 3-1 series lead.

The “Miro the Hero” game came just a few nights later, and the Bruins danced onto the Eastern Conference Semifinal for the second year in a row.

- Dan Ryan/@bruinshockeynow

Brad Marchand punks Matt Cooke all the way out, scores a goal

When: 2013 ECF vs, Pittsburgh, Game 2

I had an honest dealing with myself on whether or not the “harbinger of pasta goals to come in Tampa” or this goal won out, and it eventually went down to one very important category:

What does the lizard part of my brain say? The instinctual creature?

And the lizard part of my brain said Matt Cooke is human garbage and watching him be bad makes you feel an evil chuckle in your throat.

So this won out.

Like anyone during this time, I was mostly running on what could be called cautious optimism during this playoff series. The Pens were a juggernaut. The Bruins played them that year like they were caught in the Jaguar pit at the Stone Zoo. One could make the argument that this series had a little luck behind it with the first game in spite of the 3-0 score. This game started pretty squirrelly to begin with...and then Matt Cooke decided he wanted to go and be a big bad man to Brad Marchand. Brad Marchand does not play that. He proceeds to divert Cooke’s attention and slightly drift past him...then hits the jets, beats him by a mile, scores on MAF, and then turns to him and jaws at him. Priceless.

It’s one of those few moments that in the moment just look so good and was just a sliver of the comeuppance that Bruins fans had been begging for regarding Cooke. If he was gonna sit there and try and take another player, he had another thing coming when it came to the Little Ball of Hate. This also happened to be the series that finally began to show how useless a player Matt Cooke was, and thus possibly contributed to his quiet downfall. It also was part of a 3 goal explosion that pretty firmly let you know who was winning this series by the end of it, icing on a cake of hatin’.

- Sky/@SkyonAir_

The Johnny Rocket: Boychuk unleashes a bomb

When: 2013 SCF vs Chicago Blackhawks: Game 4

Raise your hands if you think trading Johnny Boychuk was the right move? OK, no hands are raised? Cool. Despite his hefty contract, moving Boychuk was one of the top three largest and most criticized deals of the Peter Chiarelli era in Boston (Seguin ranks top, flip-flop between Boychuk and Hamilton). His “Johnny Rocket” as it was dubbed was, well, a rocket, a laser beam that if on net, zipped past defenders and goaltenders alike. It was a thing to be feared, to be loved, reviled. Simply put, his shot was a beaut.

Now I could have picked any Johnny Rocket: his bomb off the face-off against the Flyers in 2011, a game-tying tally past Carey Price in 2014, a multitude of regular season blasts. So why this one?

It was no secret going into that game that the Bruins were absolutely decimating Corey Crawford’s glove side. Every goal before this one, Rich Peverley, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron (x2), all had taken advantage of the catching side of Crow. I had actually debated using Bergeron’s second, an absolutely silky sequence of cycling and give-and-go passes with Jaromir Jagr culminating in the goal. However, the Johnny Rocket takes the cake. Good battle on the boards for the Lucic-Krejci-Horton line to get the puck, Krejci a soft touch to Horton. Horton with a no-look backhand dish to Boychuk, who was wide open because Dave Bolland pinched in on Horton, and then the goal. Step into the puck, grip it, rip it, and where else but glove side on Corey Crawford. The simple one-knee glide to the cell on the glass is also highly underrated.

- Jake Reiser/@JakeReiser

Shawn “Silky Mitts” Thornton: The Penalty Shot

When: 1/10/2012 vs. Winnipeg Jets

This wasn’t a pivotal goal, it didn’t save or prolong a season and it certainly wasn’t the most skillful, but when I started thinking of memorable Bruins goals, this one instantly jumped into my head. There’s something about the swagger and do or die confidence Thorty has as he pushes towards the net, the iconic leg kick, the deke and finally the backhander past Pavelec for his first and only penalty shot goal. Maybe it was a moment of sharing a little pride for a player who gave his all every night. Or maybe it was Two’s always being a great representation of the city and it’s workmanlike attitude. Either way, it made for a great Bruins moment.

- @cbeswick