Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson saw a chance and took it.
He finished off the Wild’s 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues with a rare goal for a goalie. The 26-year-old caught a shot from Pavel Buchnevich at the blue line, dropped it to his stick, and lifted a shot into the air that sailed into an empty net with just 8.1 seconds remaining.
“They probably wanted me to get a whistle and stop the play in our zone, so they shot it right at me. I tried to drop it as quickly as I could,” Gustavsson said. “It just sat perfectly on the ice, and I shot as hard as I could.”
This was Gustavsson’s first goal at any level and also marked the first goalie goal in the history of the Wild.
Gustavsson considered taking a shot after a talk with teammate and fellow goalie Marc-Andre Fleury during a timeout with 34 seconds left.
“Flower looked at the scoreboard and said, ‘We’re up two goals, you should probably try it. If you get a chance, you’re going to shoot, right?’” Gustavsson recalled. “I thought, yeah, maybe I should.”
Gustavsson is now the 15th goalie to score in NHL history and the first since Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry did so on November 20, 2023, against Tampa Bay.
It was also only the third power-play goal scored by a goalie, following Evgeni Nabokov of San Jose (March 10, 2002) and Martin Brodeur of New Jersey (March 21, 2013).
Wild coach John Hynes had seen Pekka Rinne score a goalie goal while coaching the Predators on January 9, 2020.
“It was very similar to Gus, in a kind of six-on-five situation where the puck was dumped in on the goalie, and he had time to do it,” Hynes said. “You could tell both guys were really going for it. It’s great to see.”
Gustavsson celebrated with a flyby past the Wild bench.
“It was unbelievable,” said Wild center Jakub Lauko. “It was amazing. It would have been even nicer to be at home with a full crowd. But it’s an incredible moment, and I’m just happy for him.”
Gustavsson made 27 saves against the Blues and has started the season strong, improving to 2-0-1. He has stopped 91 of 96 shots for a .948 save percentage.
He’s been a big help for Minnesota, which is facing several key injuries while on a season-long seven-game road trip.
“I don’t think I’m doing anything special right now,” Gustavsson said. “I’m not flashy. Sure, I make some big saves, but that’s usually when I’m out of position. I just try to be in the right place most of the time and make routine saves. That’s been working well so far.”
