St. Louis, Mo. (News Talk 830 WCCO/WGR Sports Radio 550) - Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson saw an opportunity, and he cashed in during Tuesday night's 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.
Gustavsson capped the victory with the rare goalie goal, as the 26-year-old gloved a Pavel Buchnevich shot from the blue line, dropped it to his stick and lifted a shot high into the air that stayed true and slid into an empty net with 8.1 seconds left.
It was Gustavsson’s first goal at any level of hockey, and the first goalie goal in Wild franchise history.
Gustavsson is the 15th goalie to score a goal in the regular season in NHL history, and the first since Tristan Jarry scored a goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 20, 2023 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It was also just the third power play goal by a goalie following San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov (March 10, 2002) and New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur (March 21, 2013).
Gustavsson, who made 27 saves against the Blues, has had a strong start to the season, improving to 2-0-1. He has stopped 91-of-96 shots he has faced for a .948 save percentage.