During Tuesday night’s NHL game, goaltender Filip Gustavsson scored the first goalie goal in team history, leading St. Louis Wild to a 4-1 win over the Blues. Gustavsson managed to catch a 79-foot shot with his trapper, drop it into his crease, then aim and shoot for a perfect goal. It was an unexpected move that stunned both the goalie coach Freddy Chabot and general manager Bill Guerin; the latter highlighted the rarity of goalie goals. The game also saw Gustavsson take advice from future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury, donning his black Wild baseball cap backward, who encouraged him to try for a goal if the chance arose.
With just 34 seconds remaining in the Blues’ home opener, Drew Bannister, the St. Louis coach, attempted a double minor time out to pull for a win. However, Fleury had his plans, as he joked about having a quick goalie meeting, ending with encouraging Gustavsson to shoot if he got a chance. Gustavsson, who never before scored a goal in any level of hockey, got his opportunity, catching the puck shot by Pavel Buchnevich and quickly aimed and fired it, making a perfect shot.
Wild’s goalie coach, Chabot, is known for conducting fun drill sessions with his goaltenders, with goalie goals being one of them. So far, only former Wild goalie Kaapo Kahkonen and current Wild prospect Jesper Wallstedt, both from Gustavsson’s Sweden, have scored goalie goals. Shockingly, Tuesday’s goal came as a surprise as Gustavsson had never shot the puck up high before.
According to ESPN, Gustavsson’s goal is the third power-play goal by a goalie in NHL history. The other two were Evgeni Nabokov (2002) and Martin Brodeur (2013). He is also the second Swede to score a goalie goal, following Linus Ullmark (2023). The power-play goal was ironically upped by the Wild from 20% to 30.8%, with Gustavsson joking that he should be included in the power play meetings.
John Hynes, Wild’s coach, said he had previously seen a goalie goal while coaching Nashville when Pekka Rinne scored one in Chicago. Interestingly, Kirill Kaprizov, despite not playing a shot, spent the second-most duration in his NHL career on the ice that day. Kaprizov remains humble yet optimistic about scoring more goals and continued on to have two beautiful assists on goals.
The Wild season prospects indicate that Gustavsson is likely to get the most playing time due to his current brilliant form. His practice and playing patterns have dramatically improved, and he displays significant consistency with his saving resilience. He will be pivotal in propelling the team further into the playoffs.
