Filip Gustavsson etched his name in NHL history on Tuesday night.
The Minnesota Wild netminder scored the 18th goalie goal in league history to seal a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues. It was also the first goal scored by a goaltender in Wild franchise history.
With the Wild on the power play in the dying seconds, and the Blues net empty, Gustavsson launched the puck the length of the ice and scored with nine seconds remaining in the third period. He made his way to the Wild bench to get some well-deserved glove taps from his teammates, as all goal scorers should.
They talk about a goaltender needing to be your team’s best penalty killer, but they don’t usually mention them contributing on the man advantage. Gustavsson did just that on Tuesday, and is now the 15th goaltender in NHL history to record a goal.
According to the Athletic’s Michael Russo, Gustavsson joked after the game he now wants to be included in power-play meetings going forward.
The 26-year-old Swede also gets in the 2024-25 goal column before stars such as Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews. Go figure.
Wild backup goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury also probably deserves an honourary assist on the goal. Fleury told Russo that he called a “quick goalie meeting” during a TV timeout and told Gustavsson to shoot for the open cage. The rest is history.
The last goal scored by a goalie came early in the 2023-24 season when Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry scored on Nov. 30 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
