We've reached a point in the top goals of the year list that any of the following entries could make a darn good argument for the No. 1 spot; where the following goals simply make you shake your head, and remember those executing said miracles are paid to play hockey for a reason. They're good at their jobs.

Corey Perry is one of the best at his job. The only players to have scored more goals than Perry since 2008 are some guys named Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos. Perry's main responsibility is to put the puck in the back of net, and he does that just as well as any player on the planet. And he can be quite creative in finding ways to beat goaltenders.

Eric Evelhoch, Anaheim Calling: Anaheim fans have seen for years that no matter the circumstance or spot on the ice in the offensive zone, Corey Perry is a threat to score.

Mark D, Lighthouse Hockey: Any goal featuring Anders Nilsson (or any Islanders goalie from last season for that matter) should be automatically disqualified.

Dan Saraceni, Lighthouse Hockey: If you don't follow the Islanders that closely (and really, no one would blame you if you didn't), you might not know that their seasons generally end in November, not April. Every year, the team goes on vacation at some point after Halloween, loses a bunch of games in a row and digs themselves into a hole they can't climb out of. The fact that they last made the playoffs in a season that didn't have a November has not been lost on us over at Lighthouse Hockey. Although it happened in December, the night Perry worked his magic was typical of the annual Woevember gauntlet.

Derek Satterfield, Anaheim Calling: It's not a typical Corey Perry shift unless No. 10 has either just vacated the penalty box, stickhandled through a defender as if he was being controlled by a 12-year-old with an Xbox controller, spent some quality time with his knees on the ice, or, of course, scored a goal. In this case, he's checked off all of those boxes.

The fourth-best goal of 2013-14

How it unfolded

Lois Y, Anaheim Calling: After an extremely frustrating and lackluster opening of the game, I along with all the other Duck fans in the stands just felt like punching someone (like the couple Islander fans jeering in front of me). And you know what? The words "frustrating and lackluster" didn't do my feelings justice. We were downright disgusted by how slow and confused the Ducks looked on home ice. And then in a matter of minutes, the Ducks started raining goals.

This was a 2-2 game late in the second period. Perry had gone to the box having taken an additional minor during a scrum with just over two minutes remaining. But on the Islanders' power play, it was the Ducks' Cam Fowler who scored, giving Anaheim its first lead of the night. On the ensuing faceoff, with only 16 seconds remaining on the Perry minor, the Islanders got the puck deep into the Ducks' end, only to turn it over just as Perry stepped out of the box.

But as Anaheim turned the play the other way, there were only 8.8 seconds remaining on the clock. Daniel Winnik was in possession, while Perry, in the bottom of the frame, began to join the rush.

Winnik hit the blue line, and dropped it for Perry. By continuing to crash the net, Winnik guaranteed he'd take at least one defenseman with him. Behind the play, Brock Nelson wasn't exactly hustling to get back.

Calvin de Haan attempted to reach and poke the puck away from Perry, but the offensively gifted forward went to the toe drag, maneuvering around de Haan's stick.

As Perry walked around de Haan, the Islanders defenseman swept his leg backwards, tripping Perry up.

For many players, this would have been good enough. Many would have been content to draw a penalty having just taken one themselves, and their team having taken a shorthanded lead. Anaheim could have entered the final 20 minutes of the game up a goal, and on the man advantage.

But it wasn't good enough for Perry.

Instead of just haplessly going down, Perry used his hands to steady his fall, allowing himself to get into a shooting position, while Travis Hamonic and Winnik were tied up.

The acumen and skill level of what Perry did next was a nod to those 200-plus goals he's scored over the past six seasons. Perry managed to get his shoulders around the puck and into a shooting position, which required a good deal of upper body strength, considering he was on his knees.

Lois Y, Anaheim Calling: He skated, made a move, tripped, fell -- all while keeping his eyes on the net, puck still on the tape of his stick.

It's difficult to say whether what Perry did next was intentional or not. "I knew what I wanted to do," Perry said after the game, although there's no way of knowing if Perry realized just how little time was left. Meanwhile, with Hamonic still playing Winnik tight, the forward wasn't exactly concerned with leaving his five-hole open.

From the penalty box, to center ice, to his knees and finally, the back of the net, in a matter of seconds.

Ben Nierengarten, Anaheim Calling: In the more recent NHL games by EA Sports, if your player is tripped on a breakaway, sometimes they'll fall to their knees and you can still throw a couple of dekes until they run out of momentum. If you're good, you can light the lamp before you crash into the boards/goalie, but by no means is it something you expect to see in the real version of the league ... with the exception of that Dec. 9 game between the Ducks and Islanders. Corey Perry literally scored a video game goal.

Lois Y, Anaheim Calling: I don't think it really registered until it happened. Literally the arena faded to black and grew silent, with one lone spotlight on Corey Perry. The red lights flash. Beer spills, everyone on their feet, crowd roars, high-fives and hugs all around. Everyone's eyes went straight to the Jumbotron to confirm what we all just witnessed. *cue Bro Hymn*

Dan Saraceni, Lighthouse Hockey: To be honest, I'm not even sure I saw the Perry goal happen in real time. By then, the Ducks owned the game, the Islanders looked lost and I figured the period was over. I was gearing up for an intermission speech about "Battle Level" and "compete," so I wasn't really paying attention. Perry's ice ballet effort to stick with the puck is extraordinary, but that goal has all the hallmarks of a typical Islanders swoon. Defenders spun around helplessly, the puck sitting in open space just long enough for a star to get to it, a well-placed shot that nonetheless bounces off an Islander's skate and past an out-of-position and overmatched goalie, all happening at the most painful possible time. The loss was the Islanders' 10th straight -- the cherry on top of a Kick In The Nuts sundae. It's the kind of goal an All-Star scores against a team on a double-digit losing streak.

Eric Evelhoch, Anaheim Calling: That game was the sixth in a stretch of seven straight games Perry scored a goal (he had eight during the stretch), with five of the opponents in the span (SJS, LAK, CHI, STL, MIN) eventually being playoff teams. Just as easily as he'll score snapping a shot far post on a breakaway, he'll also take a beating in front of the net and still be able to convert rebounds and deflections. When you have the kind of hands he does, as well as ability and more importantly comfort moving quickly in tight spaces, it creates opportunities for some truly sublime scoring that few on the planet can pull off.

Dan Saraceni, Lighthouse Hockey: The Islanders would actually break their slump the next night in San Jose, a shootout win mostly attributed to an unreal performance by goalie Kevin Poulin. They would lose their next three games before straightening themselves out for the rest of the season, which was, baring a miracle, done. There was no miracle.

Derek Satterfield, Anaheim Calling: A big part of what makes this goal so impressive is that he was able to get a good shot off from such a disadvantageous position on the ice, but what caught my eye was the fact that the puck was on edge right before he shot it, probably making it easier to elevate and therefore score. As is best seen in the third replay of the Anaheim broadcast (the low angle looking toward the Islanders' zone from the Ducks' zone), the puck is flat on the ice throughout the entirety of Perry's undressing of Calvin de Haan and doesn't in fact go on edge until Perry moves it from his backhand to his forehand while on his knees. My initial assumption is that he accidentally did that to the puck and it worked out for him, but what if I'm wrong? Is it possible that, during that fraction of a fraction of a second, he realized he needed the puck to be on edge in order to elevate it, and he made it happen on purpose? If that is the case, this goal is even more spectacular than it appears.

Eric Evelhoch, Anaheim Calling: I fully understand why the rest of the league hates Perry so much. To have a player who is a grade-A agitator that also has world scoring touch is almost unfair. It's as if the Ducks have a reincarnation of Claude Lemieux who plays the regular season as if it were the playoffs, though Perry hasn't consistently found that next level of play in the postseason of yet. Still, to have a scorer so unafraid to get himself dirty while at the same time being able to single-handedly create and convert chances, one can't help but marvel.