Shocking Revelation: Did Detroit News Photographer Secretly Help Red Wings Score Crucial Goal?
Sometimes, you just witness moments in sports that make you wonder if luck truly plays a bigger role than skill. Take last Thursday’s game at Little Caesars Arena: the Detroit Red Wings, trailing 3-2 with mere seconds left on the clock, managed to salvage a point thanks to Alex DeBrincat’s wild wrist shot. The puck didn’t just slip past the goalie—it ricocheted off a nearly forgotten camera opening, one that’s been part of the rink for decades, and into the net. I’m telling you, this wasn’t just any goal; it was the kind of bizarre play you might chalk up to a fluke, yet it changed the game’s entire complexion. DeBrincat himself called it a “lucky bounce,” and even longtime photographer Dave Guralnick admitted he was stunned when the puck found its way in. Beyond the oddity of the goal, the night was already charged—Patrick Kane setting a new NHL record for points by a U.S.-born player, adding another layer to an unforgettable evening. But as the dust settled on the 4-3 shootout loss to the Capitals, everyone’s buzzing about that one strange, serendipitous moment that kept Detroit’s playoff hopes alive. Just when you think you’ve seen it all—bam!—something like this pops up and reminds you why we love this game so much. LEARN MORE
Jan. 29, 2026Updated Jan. 30, 2026, 9:43 a.m. ET
Detroit Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat called it a “lucky bounce.”
Detroit News photographer Dave Guralnick said he was “shocked” the puck went in the net.
Down 3-2 with less than a minute remaining in the third period against the Washington Capitals at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night, DeBrincat’s wrist shot from outside the Washington blueline richocheted off a camera opening where Guralnick has been shooting photos of the Red Wings for nearly 30 years … and into the Washington goal.
DeBrincat’s flukey goal at 19:07 against Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren tied the game, 3-3, and earned the Red Wings a valuable point in the standings.
Detroit lost, 4-3, in a shootout but Guralnick’s role in the tying goal was the talk on social media on a night when Red Wings forward Patrick Kane recorded his 1,375th career point, which set an NHL record for most points by a U.S.-born player.
“This is a nothing play,” ESPN+ color analyst and former NHL defenseman Erik Johnson said on the broadcast about DeBrincat’s tying goal. “You’re throwing it in, hoping to get possession and poor Lindgren. He doesn’t even leave his crease. I mean he’s not cheating at all. It just hits him, right in the back of the leg and that’s a funny carom.
“You’re going to see that, maybe one out of 5,000 will take a bounce like that. Off the camera-man hole. Unbelievable. Bucci (John Buccigross, play-by-play announcer), you don’t see that.”
“No, you don’t Erik Johnson,” Buccigross said.
Capitals coach Spencer Carbery called DeBrincat’s goal an “obscure goal” and said he “doesn’t think you’ll ever see that again.”
“I’ve never seen that before,” Carbery said. “There’s a camera hole, for people who don’t know, that’s covered up with plexiglass in the corner so people can take a lot of pictures without the glass in the way. So, we have it in slo-mo, he or she opens the hole to put the camera through, then sees the puck getting rimmed around and goes, ‘Oh, oh.’
“The piece that slides in to close that hole, it hits right there and exploding behind the person. It goes right into the net. The league just said … I think the actual rule is if the camera is through and then it’s obstructing and goes in, they would call it back. But because it was just the glass opening or partially open, it’s a good goal.”
Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said it looked “pretty bleak for a while” when they trailed by two goals in the final three minutes until back-to-back goals by DeBrincat.
“The bounce, that reminds me of Joe Louis (Arena) sometimes when the boards would work in our favor,” McLellan said. “I don’t think we’ll see many more goals like that but we’ll take it.”
DeBrincat said they “were lucky to get one point” and remain in second place in the Atlantic Division with 70 points in 55 games, two points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I was just trying to rim it around,” DeBrincat said. “I’m not sure what it hit, maybe the dasher or whatever. But I saw it come off and kind of go in his stomach and I knew it had a chance to go in. I think those ones are pretty tricky but obviously a lucky bounce.”
The NHL has five photo requirements for photographers like Guralnick, who has been taking photos at Red Wings games since 1998-99.
▶ Photo hole covers (sliding covers or traditional photo plugs) are to be engaged when the photo hole is not actively in use (when a photographer is not present at the hole, must put the camera down, or step away from the hole).
▶ Sliding covers (sliders) are to be engaged when action or players come within 10 feet of the photo hole or when a player is advancing the puck along the boards or the glass in the direction of the photo hole.
▶ Traditional photo hole plugs are to be used at all other times when a photo hole is not in use, or a photographer cannot keep one hand on the sliding cover while it is engaged.
▶ Lens hoods are not permitted for use with photo holes.
▶ Photo lenses may not extend beyond one inch through the photo hole into the field of play.
Guralnick said DeBrincat’s shoot-in “caught me completely off guard” and he “didn’t know a goal had been scored until after I heard the arena erupt.”
“Don’t get the idea I’m celebrating this,” Guralnick said. “I was too shocked to really understand what just happened. I’ve been doing this a long time and that’s the first time the puck hit the hole square-on. The force of the puck knocked the glass into my lap. The puck just careened in a weird way which caught the goalie off guard and slipped under his pads.
“Someone on Washington was extremely angry, yelling at me that I needed to close the photo hole. It was closed. If it wasn’t closed, I would probably be on the way to the emergency room right now because it was hit with full force.”
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