Goaltender - Goalies Credited With Goals

Goalies Credited With Goals

A goalie scoring a goal in an NHL game is a very rare feat, having occurred only twelve times in the history of the National Hockey League, the first time occurring in 1979 after the league had been in existence for six decades. NHL rules forbid goaltenders from participating in play past the center line, so a goal by a goalie is possible only under unusual circumstances.

Seven of those twelve goals resulted from the goalie shooting into an empty net. The remaining five goals were not actually shot into the net by the goalie; rather the goalie was awarded the goal because he was the last player on his team to touch the puck before the opposition scored on themselves. Ron Hextall and Martin Brodeur are the only NHL goalies to be credited with two career goals (each scoring once in the regular season and once in the playoffs), though only Hextall has scored two goals by shooting the puck into an empty net. Damian Rhodes and José Théodore are the only goalies in NHL history to score a goal in which they also had a shutout game. Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks was the first Russian goaltender to score a goal and the first goaltender to score a power play goal. Chris Osgood also scored a goal against the Hartford Whalers.