This article is about ice hockey goaltenders who have scored a goal in an NHL game. For the similar feat in association football, see List of goalscoring goalkeepers.
In 1979, Billy Smith became the first NHL goaltender in history to be credited with a goal.In 1987, Ron Hextall became the first goaltender to score via a direct shot on goal, and later became the first with a short-handed goal. Hextall is the only goalie to have scored more than once with a direct shot on goal.Martin Brodeur is the only goaltender to be credited with three goals, two in the regular season and one in the playoffs. He is also the only goaltender credited with a game-winning goal.After a seven-year lull, Chris Osgood was the first goaltender to directly shoot a goal since Ron Hextall did so in the 1989 playoffs.Jose Theodore, then playing for the Montreal Canadiens, scored a goal and shutout in a 3–0 game against the New York Islanders.Evgeni Nabokov was the first non-North American goaltender to directly shoot a goal.Mike Smith was the first goaltender in over 11 years, since Nabokov, to directly shoot a goal.
Fourteen goaltenders have scored a total of seventeen goals in National Hockey League (NHL) games. A goalkeeper can score by either shooting the puck into the net, or being awarded the goal as the last player on his team to touch the puck when an opponent scored an own goal. A goal scored by shooting the puck is particularly challenging as the goaltender has to aim for a 6 feet (1.8 metres) wide net that is close to 180 feet (55 metres) away, while avoiding opposing defensemen; in the case of own goals, the combined circumstance of the own goal itself in addition to the goaltender being the last player to touch the puck makes it a very rare occurrence. Of the seventeen goals, ten were scored by shooting the puck and seven were the result of own goals.
Goaltenders have participated in the offence, albeit in a limited way, since the earliest days of the sport. Before the creation of the NHL in 1917, there were some instances recorded of goaltenders rushing down the ice to participate in the play, occasionally scoring a goal. This practice fell out of favour with goalies and coaches as goaltending training and equipment became more specialized, greatly reducing the goalie's ability to effectively participate in offensive play, and was eventually outlawed (goalies are not allowed to cross the centre red line to play the puck) after the Toronto Maple Leafs' Gary Smith was injured on such a rush in the 1966–67 NHL season. During the history of the league, there had been some near-misses by goaltenders, including attempts by Chuck Rayner by aiming at the empty net, or joining the attack. In 1977, Rogatien Vachon briefly became the first goaltender to score a goal after being credited following an own goal by the opponent, before it was given instead to a teammate by later video review.
Billy Smith of the New York Islanders became the first goaltender to score an NHL goal on November 28, 1979, when he was given credit following an own goal by the Colorado Rockies. Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers became the second goalkeeper to score, and the first to score by taking a shot. Martin Brodeur has scored the most NHL goals by a goaltender, with two in the regular season and one in the playoffs.
Under modern rules, the only realistic chance for the goaltender to score exists when the opposing goaltender is pulled for an extra attacker, leaving the six-foot-wide net at the other end of the rink empty. It is assumed that the opposing goaltender, if in net, would not commit a blunder. Furthermore, the goaltender is not allowed to cross the centre red line in order to participate in a play, where the position of the puck is prescribed as the "determining factor" by Rule 27 of the Official NHL Rule Book.[1] The result is that the goaltender cannot participate in play in the opponent's zone, and must take a shot from his side of the rink. Coaches generally discourage any player from shooting at an empty net from their own side of the red line because if the shot goes wide, it results in an icing infraction (unless the team is short-handed, in which case they are allowed to ice the puck). This brings the face off back in the defensive zone and prohibits the offending team from making any substitutions. In practice, a shot from the goaltender is taken from the side of his net, because further travel risks turning the puck over. Due to the distance between the two nets, the puck has to be shot with a trajectory and speed that prevents the opposing team from stopping it while it travels. All NHL goaltenders who have scored a goal by shooting the puck have done so with an empty net; the goals credited to goaltenders that did not shoot the puck were all the result of own goals by the opposing team who had their crease vacated.
A goalie attempting to score on an empty net is not without risk, as doing so will often put the goalie out of position and make it easier for the opposition to score should the goalie's shot be intercepted. As such, goalies typically will only attempt to score if their team is leading by two or more goals. Of the ten NHL goals scored by goalies directly, only three were scored by goalies with only a one-goal lead: Chris Osgood, Linus Ullmark and Tristan Jarry. Perhaps uncoincidentally, both Osgood's 1995–96 Detroit Red Wings and Ullmark's 2022–23 Boston Bruins were in the latter stages of dominant Presidents' Trophy-winning seasons when their goals were scored.
Rule 27.7 was instituted in the 1966–67 season, after the Toronto Maple Leafs' Gary Smith had been knocked out by Montreal Canadiens defenceman J. C. Tremblay's bodycheck as the former was crossing the centre red line carrying the puck. Prior to the institution of the rule, the only recorded instances of goaltenders scoring goals involved them rushing to the other end of the rink, and they occurred generally in the early days of ice hockey, around 1900.[2] Furthermore, prior to 1931, empty-net situations did not arise as it was not customary to pull the goaltender late in the game for an extra attacker in an effort to tie the game up. This technique is credited to Art Ross, coach of the Boston Bruins, who pulled Tiny Thompson in game two of the semifinals playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens.[3] An instance of an attempted empty-net goal was recorded in 1947, when New York Rangers goaltender Chuck Rayner missed the net "by a whisper" which was vacated when the Toronto Maple Leafs had pulled Turk Broda.[2]
History
Billy Smith of the New York Islanders, in the 1979–80 season, was the first goaltender to be credited with a goal in the NHL when Rob Ramage of the Colorado Rockies put the puck into his own empty net.[4] Smith was the last Islander to have touched the puck, and by NHL rule 78.4, an unassisted goal is awarded to the last player on the scoring team who had contacted the puck, in the event of an own goal.[5]
However, the participation of goaltenders on offense began long before Billy Smith's goal. The first recorded goal in competitive play, scored by a goaltender, was in 1905. According to a Montreal Star report, poor officiating resulted in only the goaltenders left on the ice in a February 18 game between Montreal Westmount and the Quebec Bulldogs of Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL). Fred Brophy (Montreal) and Hall of FamerPaddy Moran (Quebec) exchanged scoring attempts, before Brophy beat Moran, while the latter and most of the spectators "convulsed in laughter".[6] Brophy repeated the feat a year later on March 7, 1906, by skating the length of the ice to score on goaltender Nathan Frye of the Montreal Victorias of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA).[2]
The first goaltender credited with an assist in the NHL was Georges Vezina in the 1917–18 season, after a puck rebounded off his leg pad to a teammate who skated the length of the ice to score.[7] In the 1935–36 season, Tiny Thompson became the first goaltender to gain an assist after making an intentional pass.[8] During the Second World War, while playing for the All-Star Canadian Army team, goaltender Chuck Rayner carried the puck down the ice and beat the opposing goaltender, Art Jones. In the NHL, he made numerous unsuccessful attempts to duplicate this feat;[9] as a member of the New York Rangers, Rayner attempted to score both by aiming at an empty net and by rushing down the rink. There are at least two recorded instances of him skating to the other side of the ice after making a save,[10] and he was experimentally used on the point during power-plays in late 1940s.[11]
In the 1976–77 season, Los Angeles Kings goaltender Rogie Vachon briefly became the first goaltender to be credited with a goal when the opposing New York Islanders scored on themselves during a delayed penalty; however, after video review, the goal was given to Vic Venasky as it was determined that he was the last Kings player to touch the puck before it went in the net.[12] A similar case occurred in 1987 when the Islanders' Brent Sutter scored on his own net during a delayed penalty; the cross-town rival Rangers' Bob Froese was credited with the goal, briefly becoming the second goaltender to have been credited with an NHL goal. Later video review concluded that Froese had not touched the puck at all, and the goal was awarded to David Shaw.[13]
The first goaltender to score a goal by intentionally shooting the puck into the opponent's net was the Philadelphia Flyers' Ron Hextall, who on December 8, 1987, scored on an empty net after Boston pulled their goaltender, Rejean Lemelin, for a sixth attacker late in the third period.[14] The most recent goaltender to have scored a goal by deliberately shooting the puck into his opponents' net was Tristan Jarry, on November 30, 2023.
Of the seventeen goals scored by NHL goaltenders, ten were shot into the opposing team's net by the goaltender. Two goaltenders have scored a goal and earned a shutout in the same game. Damian Rhodes, playing for the Ottawa Senators, was credited with a goal in a 6–0 win over the New Jersey Devils on January 2, 1999, and Jose Theodore, playing for the Montreal Canadiens, shot the puck into the New York Islanders' empty net in a 3–0 victory on January 2, 2001,[15] exactly two years later. Theodore's shot was the only backhand of the ten. He is also the most recent goaltender to have scored a goal by deliberately shooting the puck without kneeling on the ice. In addition to being the first goaltender to be credited with a goal, Billy Smith was the only goaltender to have scored in a game that he lost.[15]
Chris Mason, Damian Rhodes and Tristan Jarry are the only goalies to be credited with a goal in both the AHL and the NHL.[16] Of the 18 goals, the New Jersey Devils franchise has been involved in six of them, three goals for (highest total) and three goals against (highest total), including the first ever goaltender goal when scored on in their previous incarnation as the Colorado Rockies.
While both Ron Hextall and Martin Brodeur have scored more than one goal, Hextall is the only goaltender to score twice by directly shooting the puck into the opponent's net. Brodeur's second and third goals were own goals by the other team, where Brodeur received credit for touching the puck last. Brodeur's second goal is the only game-winning goal scored by a goaltender.[17] Hextall and Brodeur both scored in a playoff game as well as a regular season game.[15] Hextall's second goal is the only goal scored by a goaltender while his team was short handed,[18] and Evgeni Nabokov and Martin Brodeur are the only goalies who scored on a power play.[19] Martin Brodeur is the only goalie to score against another goalie, when he scored against Dan Ellis on his third career goal, although Ellis was on his way to the bench for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty call and failed to make it back to the net in time to prevent the puck from entering the goal. Brodeur is also the only goalie who has both scored an empty net goal while the opposing goalie was on the bench, as well as having been the goalie on the bench when another goalie was credited with a goal.
Mike Smith was the next goaltender to score a goal in the NHL, which he managed to do in a 5–2 victory of the Phoenix Coyotes over the Detroit Red Wings on October 19, 2013. He scored the goal with only 1/10 of a second left in the third period. He is the first goaltender to score a goal in the NHL with the Turco grip when the catching glove was overhand on the stick. He is also the only goaltender to be credited with a goal in both the NHL and the ECHL, having scored a goal as a member of the Lexington Men O' War on October 26, 2002, against the Dayton Bombers.[20]
Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators scored on a shot at an empty net during a 5–2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on January 9, 2020, making him the first NHL goaltender to score a goal in six years as well as the first to score during the 2020s.[21] Rinne's goal also made the Predators the only franchise with multiple goal-scoring goaltenders, after Chris Mason accomplished the feat for Nashville in 2006.
Scorers
Key
Symbol
Meaning
Goalie scored goal directly with an intentional Shot on Goal (SOG)
SOG
Shot on goal: puck was shot by the goaltender into the opponent's net
↑ Ellis had not yet reached the bench to be replaced by an extra attacker during an attempt to return to stop the puck. The goal was therefore credited as an official goal against Ellis instead of an empty-net goal.
↑ Replay footage confirmed that the goal was scored with 0.1 seconds remaining in the third period.
Martin Pierre Brodeur is a Canadian–American former professional ice hockey goaltender and current team executive. He played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), 21 of them for the New Jersey Devils, with whom he won three Stanley Cup championships and five Eastern Conference championships in 17 postseason campaigns. He also won two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada in the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games, as well as several other medals with Team Canada in other international competitions. Brodeur is widely regarded as one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. In 2017, he was named by the league as one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players", and the following year, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck entirely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to. Typically, a player on the team attempting to score shoots the puck with their stick towards the goal net opening, and a player on the opposing team called a goaltender tries to block the shot to prevent a goal from being scored against their team.
Defence or defense in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners. They were once called cover-point.
In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near the area in front of the net called the goal crease. Goaltenders tend to stay at or beyond the top of the crease to cut down on the angle of shots. In the modern age of goaltending there are two common styles, butterfly and hybrid. Because of the power of shots, the goaltender wears special equipment to protect the body from direct impact.
In ice hockey, a penalty shot is a type of penalty awarded when a team loses a clear scoring opportunity on a breakaway because of a foul committed by an opposing player. A player from the non-offending team is given an attempt to score a goal without opposition from any defending players except the goaltender. This is the same type of shot used in a shootout to decide games in some leagues.
A breakaway is a situation in ice hockey in which a player with the puck has no defending players, except for the goaltender, between himself and the opposing goal, leaving him free to skate in and shoot at will. A breakaway is considered a lapse on the part of the defending team. If a player's progress is illegally impeded by an opposing player or if the goalie throws his stick at the oncoming player, the breakaway player is awarded a penalty shot. If a player faces an empty net and is illegally impeded by an opposing player, he is automatically awarded a goal for his team instead of taking a penalty shot.
An extra attacker in ice hockey and ringette is a forward or, less commonly, a defenceman who has been substituted in place of the goaltender. The purpose of this substitution is to gain an offensive advantage to score a goal. The removal of the goaltender for an extra attacker is colloquially called pulling the goalie, resulting in an empty net. This article deals chiefly with situations which apply to the sport of ice hockey.
Christopher John Osgood is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently a Detroit Red Wings studio analyst and part-time color commentator for Bally Sports Detroit. He won three Stanley Cup championships in his career, all with the Red Wings, with two of them coming while he was starting goaltender. He is ranked 13th in wins in NHL regular season history with 401.
Ronald Jeffrey Hextall is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and executive. He was most recently the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hextall played 13 seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers, Quebec Nordiques, and New York Islanders. He served as assistant general manager for the Flyers for one season, and was promoted to general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, replacing Paul Holmgren on May 7, 2014. He held this position for four and a half seasons. Before this he served as assistant general manager for the Los Angeles Kings, who won the Stanley Cup in 2012.
The 1987–88 NHL season was the 71st season of the National Hockey League. It was an 80-game season with the top four teams in each division advancing to the Stanley Cup playoffs. This season would see the Edmonton Oilers win their fourth Stanley Cup in five years by sweeping the Boston Bruins 4–0 in the Stanley Cup Finals. In the process of their Cup win, Edmonton lost only two games, a record for the "16 wins" playoff format.
Frederick Hugh "Old Eagle Eyes" Lehman was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He started his ice hockey career playing for the Pembroke Lumber Kings and the Berlin Dutchmen. In 1911, Lehman joined the New Westminster Royals, playing for the Royals for three seasons, before joining the Vancouver Millionaires in 1914. Lehman played half of his 22-year professional career with Vancouver, winning his only Stanley Cup; he would be unsuccessful in seven other attempts. In 1926, he joined the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), playing a full season and splitting the second one as player and head coach. Although some ice hockey historians credit Jacques Plante for originating the practice, Lehman was the first goaltender to regularly pass the puck to his fellow forwards and defensemen; he even scored a goal by shooting the puck in the opponent's net while playing for the Professionals. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.
In ice hockey, butterfly style is a technique of goaltending distinguished by the goaltender guarding the lower part of the net by dropping to the knees to block attempts to score. The butterfly style derives its name from the resemblance of the spread goal pads and hands to a butterfly's wings. The butterfly style is contrasted with stand-up style, where most shots on a goal are stopped with the goaltender on his feet.
The National Hockey League rules are the rules governing the play of the National Hockey League (NHL), a professional ice hockey organization. Infractions of the rules, such as offside and icing, lead to a stoppage of play and subsequent face-offs, while more serious infractions lead to penalties being assessed to the offending team. The league also determines the specifications for playing equipment used in its games.
Darcy Wakaluk is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League from 1988 to 1997.
This is a list of common terms used in the sport of ice hockey along with the definitions of these terms.
The 2008 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on January 27, 2008 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, home of the Atlanta Thrashers. It was the only time the All-Star Game was held in Atlanta, as the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg in 2011 as the new Winnipeg Jets.
An empty net goal, abbreviated as EN or ENG and colloquially called an empty netter, occurs in several team sports when a team scores a goal into a net with no goaltender (goalie) present.
William John Smith is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He won four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and was the first goalie to be credited with a goal in the NHL. In 2017 Smith was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
The National Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition, officially the NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition during certain past years, is an event on the night preceding the National Hockey League All-Star Game. Started at the 41st National Hockey League All-Star Game in Pittsburgh in 1990, the NHL uses the event to showcase the talents of its all-star participants. The All-Star teams select representatives for each event, with points awarded to the winning team.
Tristan Seth Michael Jarry is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Jarry was selected by the Penguins in the second round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. During the 2023-24 season, Jarry scored an empty net goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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