Capturing the perfect sports photograph is an incredibly difficult task. You have to be in the right place at the right time, snapping at the perfect moment, with the perfect framing.
It's why Ray Lussier's famous shot of Bobby Orr's Stanley Cup-winning goal in 1970 for the Boston Record-American remains the gold standard. It has it all: Orr at peak flight, arms out, stick up, mouth open, Noel Picard's stick still in his skates, goalie Glenn Hall dejectedly hanging onto his crossbar, and the crowd in the background just rising to its feet in celebration.
Bobby Orr pic.twitter.com/ypEqQJplVg
— Sport & Betting History (@CDCHistory) August 16, 2020When Jake DeBrusk went flying through the air Monday night as he scored the goal that launched the Bruins' furious third-period comeback, the search for that perfect photo was on. Sure, it wasn't a Cup-winning goal, and DeBrusk isn't Orr, but when a Bruin scores and goes flying through the air, we all think the same thing.
-- Jake DeBrusk2-1 #TakeWarning pic.twitter.com/sD7dZbPiHL
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) August 18, 2020But finding that iconic photo in 2020 is an even tougher task than usual. With the NHL trying to limit the number of people in their playoff bubbles and in the arenas during games, photographers are among those whose numbers have been reduced. There are two league photographers at ice level for each game and a few others sprinkled throughout the arena from services like Getty, USA Today Sports/Imagn and the Associated Press/Canadian Press. No newspaper photographers and no double- or triple-team efforts from those other companies.
The result is fewer photos from fewer photographers from fewer different angles. Here at WEEI, we have subscriptions to Getty and USA Today Sports/Imagn. This photo from USA Today Sports' Dan Hamilton is the best we could find, and a quick tour of various sports media sites suggests it's also the one being used the most.
It's a good photo, but Hamilton was also shooting from a tough angle, and one where it would've been very difficult to capture both the collision and the puck going into the net. Usually USA Today Sports would have two or three photographers at a playoff game, including one at ice level. The NHL itself was the only one with a photographer at ice level at that end of the ice, and browsing through their gallery of 233 photos from the game, it appears they didn't quite capture the moment DeBrusk was at peak flight.
So what are we left with? How about a screenshot pulled from the TV broadcast?
Jeez. pic.twitter.com/jkelHOEuR8
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) August 18, 2020Orr explained on Dale and Keefe a few months ago that he first saw the famous Lussier photo when his dad opened up the Record-American at breakfast the next morning. Maybe DeBrusk saw this screenshot while scrolling Twitter at breakfast on Tuesday. Welcome to 2020.
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