A Second Swedish Goalie Goal!

It's hard to imagine Linus Ullmark not winning the Vezina Trophy this season after the incredible campaign he has. Take away the fact that the Bruins are far-and-away the best team in the NHL right now and have been all season, but Ullmark's numbers are quite jaw-dropping when you see how goods he's been. Currently sporting a 30-4-1 record after tonight's game against the Vancouver Canucks, Ullmark ranks first in save percentage at .937, first in goals-against average at 1.88, first in wins, and has only surrendered 67 goals in 37 appearances this season. With numbers like those, it's virtually his award to lose at this point, but Ullmark went ahead and added another statistical number to his season tonight that not many netminders can boast!

We head to the final minute of play in Vancouver between the Bruins and Canucks where Linus Ullmark makes his mark on this game!
Ullmark's goal with 48 seconds left is the first Boston Bruins' goalie goal in team history, and he becomes the 13th netminder to score in an NHL game. In total 16 NHL goals have been awarded to goaltenders with nine of those goals being shot into the vacant cage by the goaltender. Ullmark's goal is the second time that the Vancouver Canucks have been on the wrong side of a goalie goal - San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov scored on the Canucks on March 10, 2002!

More importantly for the Bruins, they won another game as they appear to on track to break all sorts of records this season. Ullmark recorded his 30th win of the season for the first time in his career, and, as shown above, his first professional hockey goal. With the 3-1 victory, Boston moves to 45-8-5 this season, 15 points clear of second-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division!

The list of NHL goalies who scored grows by one as shown below!

• Billy Smith (NYI) at Colorado Rockies - Nov 28, 1979
• Ron Hextall (PHI) vs Boston Bruins - Dec 8, 1987
• Ron Hextall (PHI) at Washington Capitals - Apr 11, 1989*¹
• Chris Osgood (DET) at Hartford Whalers - Mar 6, 1996
• Martin Brodeur (NJD) vs Montreal Canadiens - Apr 17, 1997*
• Damian Rhodes (OTT) vs New Jersey Devils - Jan 2, 1999
• Martin Brodeur (NJD) vs Philadelphia Flyers - Feb 15, 2000²
• Jose Theodore (MTL) at New York Islanders - Jan 2, 2001
• Evgeni Nabokov (SJS) at Vancouver Canucks - Mar 10, 2002³
• Mika Noronen (BUF) at Toronto Maple Leafs - Feb 14, 2004
• Chris Mason (NAS) vs Phoenix Coyotes - Apr 15, 2006
• Cam Ward (CAR) vs New Jersey Devils - Dec 26, 2011
• Martin Brodeur (NJD) at Carolina Hurricanes - Mar 21, 2013³
• Mike Smith (PHX) vs Detroit Red Wings - Oct 19, 2013
• Pekka Rinne (NAS) at Chicago Blackhawks - Jan 9, 2020
• Linus Ullmark (BOS) at Vancouver Canucks - Feb 25, 2023
  NOTES: * denotes a playoff goal, ¹ denotes a shorthanded goal, ² denotes a game-winning goal, and ³ denotes a power-play goal. Italicized names denote goalies who shot the puck into the empty net.

With Carl Lindbom scoring on Wednesday and Linus Ullmark tonight, the Swedes seem to be generating a lot of goals from the blue paint. Usually, we'd be talking about guys crashing the net in these cases, but it seems that the Swedes are giving their goaltenders the green light to fire at an open net if they have the chance. They're two-for-two this week, so maybe this is a trend we want to encourage!

One goalie goal won't win Ullmark any postseason awards, and there really is only one trophy he and his teammates want. If he ends up winning that one, the Vezina would be a nice addition to an already-incredible season for Ullmark. As it stands right now, Ullmark will have his name in the record books for hitting the empty net, but it's merely a footnote on this dominant chapter of his career.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!