The goalie goal is the holy grail. More than three times as rare in the history of the NHL as a five-goal game, there have been just 18 instances of a goalie scoring, by 15 different goalies. An intentional goalie goal—one where the goalie shoots the puck into an empty net, rather than being credited for being the last player to touch the puck before the other team scores an own goal—has happened just 11 times.
Welcome to the club, Filip Gustavsson.
The Minnesota Wild backstop halted 27 of 28 shots, and scored one of his own in a 4-1 victory in St. Louis on Tuesday. Many have tried; few have succeeded. Some goaltenders think about it all the time; others may not have it cross their mind. Gustavsson has historically been one of the latter guys, but backup Marc-Andre Fleury, citing the two-goal lead, suggested during a stoppage that he should give it a whack.
It's never an easy shot: The puck needs to be lifted high enough to clear the attacking skaters, but remain accurate enough to sail the 175 or so feet into a window 6 feet wide. So when one hits, they're entitled to brag. “I should be in the power-play meetings now," Gustavsson said afterward. His teammates were thrilled; look at their smiles in the clip. "Nice shot. Same [number of] goals [as] a lot of guys,” said Kirill Kaprizov, who, like Gustavsson, has one goal on the year.
Witnessing a goalie goal is basically my white whale. Last season, a game I attended was notable for being a shutout for my team, reversing a slump for them and for their goaltender specifically and leading to a deep playoff run. The one thing I remember from the game is my goalie missing a shot attempt by 15 feet. If only!
But for something so special, the goalie goal has a relatively short history. For one, teams didn't pull goalies when trailing late until the 1930s. Still, the first one wasn't scored until 1979, and that barely even counts. The New York Islanders' Billy Smith made a save on a delayed penalty right before the Colorado Rockies, attempting to pass the puck back out to the point, accidentally put one in their own open net. It remains the only goalie goal to be scored by a team that lost the game.
There had been close calls before that. Los Angeles's Rogie Vachon was briefly credited with a goal in 1977 on a play similar to Smith's, and "pandemonium broke out at the Forum" when it was announced to the crowd, but after video review, the official scorer ruled that another King had touched the puck after Vachon.
The closest to a "true" goalie goal was probably Chuck Rayner, who played nine seasons for the New York Americans and New York Rangers. During World War II, Rayner was playing on a Canadian Army all-star team when he skated out of his own crease, carried the puck down the ice Patrick Roy–style, and scored on the opposing goalie. (Goalies were banned from crossing center ice in the late '60s, with a rule in direct reaction to journeyman netminder Gary "Suitcase" Smith, who had made it his trademark, getting injured on one such rush.)
Rayner tried to recreate the feat several times back in the NHL, both by skating down the ice and by shooting the length of the rink, but missed or was blocked every time. Rayner took some shots even when there was a man in net—in that era, coaches were still working out optimal strategy, and the offensive-minded Chuck Rayner was occasionally used as an extra skater at the point on power plays. "Bonnie Prince Charlie" never achieved his goal, but his attempts were noted in his official biography when he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The first goalie goal on a direct shot had to wait until 1987, when notorious puck-player Ron Hextall shot the length of the ice to pot one for the Flyers against the Bruins. He clearly wanted it badly—he had made an attempt to clear just a few seconds earlier, leading the play-by-play announcer to tease it before it happened. "The first time they dumped it in, I didn't have much time, so I just cleared the zone," Hextall said. "The second time, I had a lot of time and I figured, 'What the heck, go for it.'"
It was a close thing: Hextall later admitted he thought he was going to hit the post. But in his post-game press conference, he made fun of his thin margin. "Before you say anything," he told reporters, "I was aiming for that corner."
Hextall said he wanted more in his career, and he'd get one, in the 1989 playoffs. Martin Brodeur would surpass him with three in his career. The two remain the only goalies with multiple goals.
In honor of Gustavsson's feat Tuesday night, the NHL put together video of every goalie goal in league history. It's a fun reel pairing brutal offensive own-goal gaffes with direct goalie shots that cause on-ice delirium. Maybe one day I'll see one of my own—Igor Shesterkin sure as hell wants one—but if not, I'll survive. They're rare enough that I can't expect it, and no matter how badly I want one, Chuck Rayner deserved one more than I do.
For as fun as they are for fans and teammates, they're most meaningful to the armor-clad, usually sedentary men who in one brief moment of Daedalusian chutzpah, let it rip. "It's one thing I'll talk about when I'm done hockey," Hextall once said.
