It took Abbotsford’s Derek Grant 92 games to score his first National Hockey League goal – his second goal was just 44 minutes later.
The Anaheim Ducks forward scored twice in his team’s 6-2 victory over the Montreal Canadians on Friday to enter the record books as an NHL goal scorer.
Grant has split his five-year NHL career between the Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators and has picked up seven assists but finally lit the lamp on Friday.
“It was a good feeling,” Grant told reporters after the game. “They weren’t the prettiest goals but I’ll take them.”
The 27-year-old signed with the Ducks back in July and was originally drafted by the Senators in the fourth round of the 2008 NHL Draft. He has recorded 181 points in 315 American Hockey League games, and also won the Calder Cup with the Binghamton Senators in 2011.
He played junior hockey with the Abbotsford Pilots and Langley Chiefs, before spending two years with the NCAA’s Michigan State Spartans.
Grant and the Ducks have a record of three wins, three losses and one overtime loss seven games into the season. Anahiem next visits Vancouver to take on the Canucks on Jan. 2, 2018.
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