Linus Ullmark has been one of the best in the NHL at preventing goals this season. He showed on Saturday he can score them, too.
Late in a one-goal game against the Canucks in Vancouver, an errant pass from Conor Garland to Brock Boeser found its way down the ice to Ullmark. The Bruins goalie noticed he had time, angled himself toward the Canucks' empty net and flipped it high over the ice down toward the other end.
Sure enough, the shot landed in the Canucks' zone and slid untouched into the empty net to ice the game for the Bruins in their 3-1 victory.
🚨 LINUS ULLMARK 🚨
— NHL (@NHL) February 26, 2023
WE HAVE A GOALIE GOAL. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ym7OLU0jlU
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Ullmark is having an outstanding campaign in his second season in net for the Bruins. He leads the league with a 1.86 goals-against average, a .938 save percentage and a 30-4-1 record. According to BetMGM, he is the runaway favorite for the Vezina Trophy at -200.
Ullmark joined exclusive company as a goalie who has scored a goal in an NHL game. Here's a look at the others who have done it.
NHL goalies with a goal
Some goalies have been credited with scoring a goal because they were the last player on their team to touch the puck before it went in the net. An opponent accidentally scored a goal on his own team in those instances. Then there are the goalies who shot the puck into the net.
In NHL history, 13 goalies have scored 16 goals total. Ullmark became just the eighth different goalie to shoot the puck directly into the net. The full list of those goalies:
| Goalie | Team | Date | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ron Hextall | Flyers | Dec. 8, 1987 | Bruins |
| Ron Hextall | Flyers | April 11, 1989 | Capitals |
| Chris Osgood | Red Wings | March 6, 1996 | Whalers |
| Martin Brodeur | Devils | April 17, 1997 | Canadiens |
| Jose Theodore | Canadiens | Jan. 2, 2001 | Islanders |
| Evgeni Nabokov | Sharks | March 10, 2002 | Canucks |
| Mike Smith | Coyotes | Oct. 19, 2013 | Red Wings |
| Pekka Rinne | Predators | Jan. 9, 2020 | Blackhawks |
| Linus Ullmark | Bruins | Feb. 25, 2023 | Canucks |
Hextall, the 1986-87 Vezina winner, was the first to shoot the puck down the ice and score a goal. He helped seal a 5-2 Flyers win over the Bruins after Boston pulled Rejean Lemelin. He is the only goalie to accomplish the feat twice. His second goal was the first to be scored by a goalie in the playoffs, and he also became the first goalie to score while his team was short-handed.
While Brodeur only once shot the puck down the ice for a goal, he was credited with two other goals. On Feb. 15, 2000, he received credit for a game-winning goal when the Flyers' Daymond Langkow scored into his own net with 9:43 remaining to give New Jersey a 3-1 lead. The Devils won the game 4-2. Brodeur also received credit for a goal against the Hurricanes on March 21, 2013, when Jordan Staal misfired on a pass that went toward an empty Carolina net after Dan Ellis had left his crease on a delayed penalty. Since Ellis was still on the ice heading to the bench, Brodeur was credited as having scored a goal against Ellis.
The first instance of an NHL goalie being credited with a goal occurred Nov. 28, 1979. The Islanders' Billy Smith was the last to touch the puck before the Rockies' Rob Ramage misfired on a pass that carried into an empty net on a delayed penalty. The Rockies won the game 7-4, and to this day, Smith is still the only goalie with a goal in a losing effort.
Four other goalies are credited with goals: The Senators' Damian Rhodes received credit against the Devils on Jan. 2, 1999, when Lyle Odelein scored an own goal; the Sabres' Mika Noronen tallied one on Feb. 14, 2004, after a missed pass from the Maple Leafs' Robert Reichel wound up in an empty net; the Predators' Chris Mason tallied one on April 15, 2006, when the Coyotes' Geoff Sanders put the puck in his own net on a delayed penalty; and the Hurricanes' Cam Ward was credited with a goal on Dec. 26, 2011, when a pass by the Devils' Ilya Kovalchuk's found an empty net.
No goalie has ever scored a goal and then gone on to win the Vezina Trophy in the same season. Ullmark is in a strong position to become the first to accomplish the feat.
