The Nashville Predators’ season has been a disaster, but even in times of darkness, there are rays of sunshine.

For instance, on Tuesday, former Capitals draft pick Filip Forsberg may have invented a new strategy — albeit unintentionally — to try and win a shootout.

Forsberg, who had an assist and was a minus-2 during regulation, shot second in the skills competition after Ryan O’ Reilly scored to put the Predators up 1-0. The Swedish forward, after veering wide, skated back toward the center of the ice, where he tried to score on a forehand-backhand move.

As Scott Wedgewood made the save with his outstretched right leg, Forsberg crashed hard into the Colorado Avalanche goaltender in the crease. The force of the hit collision caused the back of Wedgewood’s masked head to slam hard into the ice.

Forsberg immediately reached down to a stunned Wedgewood to see if he was okay and waved over trainers from the bench. As Wedgewood got up, Forsberg put his arm around him and appeared to apologize.

Wedgewood, who was making his first start in a week since suffering back tightness, ultimately felt good enough to stay in the game and would stop Steven Stamkos’s attempt in the third round. But then, a curveball arrived. Officials skated over to Wedgewood and forced him to leave the game for concussion protocol.

“(It was) the spotter from the collision, I guess,” Avalance head coach Jared Bednar said after the game. “Their call. I have nothing to do with it. If they see something they think is fishy, they call down for the safety of the players.”

He added, “They just tell you he’s going to come out, and he comes out.”

Avs backup MacKenzie Blackwood then replaced Wedgewood in net, but ultimately did not have to face a shot, as Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog could not force the shootout to extras, giving the Predators a 4-3 (SO) victory.

“I don’t even know what happened,” Blackwood said, per the Denver Post. “You shouldn’t crash into him like that in the shootout… It was definitely weird.”

Forsberg did not meet with press after the game.

The mustachio’d goal-scorer though may have found an odd — or one could say brilliant — loophole in the NHL rulebook, as, unless I missed something, there’s nothing really preventing a skater from running an opposing goaltender during their shootout attempt, no matter how ridiculous that may sound.

A skater could be issued a misconduct from officials. If they scored on the shootout attempt where they tried to level the goaltender, the play could be reviewed and the goal could be waved off. And the league could certainly level a suspension if they determined the player’s actions were egregious enough. But there’s nothing much officials can do mid-game if a skater intentionally or non-intentionally crashes into the opposing goalie — let’s say a hot goalie that the team has struggle to beat all night — to try and force a goalie change.

Sure, maybe the crashed-into-goalie chooses to remain in the game. But, if you hit them hard enough, like in the Forsberg example, a concussion spotter might get involved, making things hairier and forcing a goaltender off the ice, even if they feel fine.

Now the player who chooses to do this — let’s make up a name like Porey Cerry — may be ridiculed in the media for 24 hours — I guess there’s a personal and emotional cost there — but if the goalie change leads to a victory and an extra standings point, a player could decide this bold strategy might be worth the anguish, possibly making the difference between a middling team making the playoffs or not.

So, Filip Forsberg, congrats. Like the Zack Galafianakis “Calculation” GIF — you sir, have found the answer — a new way to hockey. Now the question becomes whether anyone would dare try this strategy out for real.

[Editor’s note: To be clear, this article is intentionally dumb. If you’re an NHL player reading this, don’t try to give opposing goaltenders concussions. That’d be bad, so please don’t do that. We’re just pointing out a very odd loophole in the NHL rulebook.]