On Friday evening, Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic scored the 19th goalie goal in the history of the National Hockey League.
During a game against the struggling Buffalo Sabres, Nedeljkovic retrieved the puck behind his own net late in the third period.
The Sabres were down 4-2 and had pulled their goaltender at the time – bringing out a sixth skater while leaving their net empty.
Nedeljkovic saw his chance and shot the puck the length of the ice where it bounced, then slid right into the open goal.
He skated right over to the bench as he was mobbed by his teammates who celebrated the achievement. Pittsburgh won the game 5-2.
Nedeljkovic became the second Penguins goaltender to ever score a goal in an NHL game, joining Tristan Jarry – who was just placed on waivers by Pittsburgh earlier this week.
Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Alex Nedeljkovic scored the 19th goalie goal in NHL history
Nedeljkovic watches as a puck he shot trickles down the ice towards an empty net on Friday
Nedeljkovic (39) skates over to his bench to celebrate scoring the goal with his teammates
But there’s more records that were made by Nedeljkovic.
He’s the only goaltender in history to have scored a goal in the NHL as well as in the two minor hockey leagues: the AHL and the ECHL (the AHL is considered the highest-level minor league, with the ECHL a step below).
He scored his AHL goal with the Charlotte Checkers – an affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes at the time – in 2018.
His ECHL goal came in 2016 with the Florida Everblades.
Moreover, Nedeljkovic is the only goalie in the history of the NHL to score a goal and record an assist in the same game.
His assist came on Pittsburgh’s third goal of the night – a powerplay goal from Cody Glass that was assisted by forward Philip Tomasino and Nedeljkovic.
Only 16 goaltenders have scored goals in the National Hockey League – the first being Hall of Famer Billy Smith when he was with the New York Islanders.
Smith scored his goal after a player on the Colorado Rockies, Rob Ramage, scored an own-goal.
By NHL rules, in the case of an own-goal, the goal is awarded to the opposing player that touched it last. Of the 19 goalie goals in the NHL, seven of them have been own goals awarded to goalies who last touched the puck before it went in.
The first ever goal scored by a goalie intentionally shooting the puck came off the stick of Ron Hextall when he was with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Hextall is one of two goalies who have scored multiple goals in the NHL – the other being Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, who has three with the New Jersey Devils.
Hextall and Brodeur are also the only goaltenders who have ever scored goals in the playoffs.
Hextall scored his in Game 5 of the 1989 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Washington Capitals. The Flyers would go on to win the series and were eliminated in the division finals by the hated rival Penguins.
Nedeljkovic became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal and an assist in one game
Nedeljkovic may be the 16th goalie to ever score in the NHL, but he’s the only player to ever have scored goalie goals in the NHL as well as its two minor leagues: the AHL and the ECHL
Only two goalies have scored multiple goals: Ron Hextall (L) and Martin Brodeur (R)
Brodeur scored his in the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs – also in the first round. In Game 1, he scored a goal against the Montreal Canadiens. The Devils won that series, but lost the conference semifinals to their hated rivals, the New York Rangers.
Pittsburgh is one of only two teams to have goals scored by at least two different goaltenders.
The first team to do so was the Nashville Predators. Chris Mason scored the first in the 2005-06 season, with Pekka Rinne following him in the 2019-20 season.
Nedeljkovic’s goal is the second scored by a goalie this season. The first came from Minnesota Wild netminder Filip Gustavsson in a game back in October against the St. Louis Blues.
After a dry spell of goalie goals from 2013 to 2020, there have been four goalie goals scored within the last three seasons.
Pittsburgh currently sits fifth in the Metropolitan Division, but are just three points out of the final Wild Card spot.
