Matt Greene gets offensive

Matt Greene knows he’s not kidding anyone on the ice. He’s neither the swiftest skater nor the deftest puck-handler. Greene makes his money with physical, stay-at-home play, but last night, Greene made a big impact in the offensive zone. With the game tied 1-1, with about seven minutes remaining in the second period, Greene had the puck in the neutral zone and saw an opening. He skated the puck deep and pushed it toward the net. Columbus goalie Mathieu Garon mishandled the puck, and it found Greene’s stick again, behind the net. Greene flipped a blind, backhand centering pass that ended up on the stick of Andrei Loktionov, who scored. Terry Murray grinned when asked about Greene’s offensive prowess.

MURRAY: “He made that whole play happen. I was surprised by it, that he was in around the net with that play. He has that ability to do that, but it surprised me. … It’s good to see, from a defensive defenseman. It might take the opposition off-guard, a little bit.”

I asked Greene if he considered volunteering for shootout duty as well…

GREENE: “No. I gave up on that, I think, when I was 10.”