One of NHL fans’ favorite things that could happen in the league is goalies scoring goals. It’s not a common thing, and throughout history, only 15 regular-season goals have been scored by goalies. But on Tuesday, goal No. 16 came from Swedish goalie Filip Gustavsson, who made history by scoring the Minnesota Wild’s first goalie goal in franchise history.
It was, unsurprisingly, Gustavsson’s first NHL goal and only the 18th in league history, counting both the regular season and playoffs. It also happened to be a powerplay goal, meaning the goalie has more powerplay goals this season than the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Buffalo Sabres.
He’s also scored more goals than players like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Alex Ovechkin.
READ MORE: Fans loved Brad Marchand’s words about Florida targeting ‘Pasta’
Postgame, he had a hilarious quote about scoring on a powerplay, saying he needs to be more involved in the team’s special teams going forward.
”I should be on the powerplay meetings now,” Gustavsson told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan postgame.
Minnesota was up 3-1 entering the final 20 seconds of the game against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, when Pavel Buchnevich fired a shot right at Gustavsson. Instead of waiting for a whistle, he dropped the puck to the ice and took the opportunity.
Blues’ Robert Thomas tried jumping to stop the puck, but he and other Blues players missed the puck, which skipped into the empty net.
READ MORE: Insider calls out the New York Rangers over Matt Rempe treatment
His teammates swarmed Gustavsson for big hugs, and he even made his way to the bench for high fives.
”It’s a perfect dump there to the goal,” Gustavsson said postgame.
”I just catch it, just trying to put it down as soon as possible. I didn’t know I could shoot that far in the air – it’s great I got it in there.”
It’s the third season in a row that a goalie scores a goal in the NHL, tied for the longest run ever. Tristan Jarry scored in November last year, and Linus Ullmark scored during the 2022-23 season.
