Peter DeBoer benched Barclay Goodrow in Sharks' Game 7 win vs. Vegas

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Former Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow will never forget his series-winning goal against the Vegas Golden Knights in last year's Stanley Cup playoffs.

The overtime marker to cap a stunning Sharks' rally in Game 7 of the first round unquestionably was the biggest goal of Goodrow's six-year NHL career.

But for a brief stretch during that thrilling game, Goodrow wasn't part of then-Sharks coach Peter DeBoer's rotation.

"Last year, Game 7 against Vegas, we were in San Jose and Barclay Goodrow, who plays for [Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper] now, he turned a puck over, missed an assignment in the middle of the second period and it cost us a goal," DeBoer said Thursday during a panel with The Athletic's Joe Smith. "I sat him for probably a period. I put him back out late in the third and overtime, he scored the double-overtime winner in Game 7 for us to advance."

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DeBoer, now the coach of Golden Knights, was trying to send a message to Goodrow.

"Yes, you have to discipline your players at different points for different things," DeBoer said. "But they have to know they’re going to get another chance to fix it. They also have to know if you’re doing it, if you’re sitting them for the entire game, an assistant has to sit down with them and go through video and show them how to fix the reason they’re out of the game. They have to know there’s an answer there, and then give them the opportunity to fix it."

Goodrow played just 7:26 of Game 7 against the Golden Knights, but he made it count.

While Goodrow was the hero on that night in San Jose, he didn't register a single point in any of the Sharks' next 13 playoff games against the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues.

[RELATED: Four Sharks-Knights Game 7 facts]

After tallying eight goals and 16 assists in 62 games this season, Goodrow was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 2020 third-round draft pick for 26-year-old forward Anthony Greco and a 2020 first-round pick.

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