Smiles For The Isles

I rarely need a reason to post a New York Islanders player in the Fisherman jersey, but I'll opt for it even if it wasn't worn while doing something newsworthy. Such is the case tonight as the goaltender in the picture, Ilya Sorokin, added his name to the NHL history books with a little help. As you know, this blog will bump stories to a later date if there's a significant event that has happened, and the New York Islanders and Nashville Predators were witness to one of those events in their game today! One of the rarer sights in hockey is the goalie goal, and we were treated to one today thanks to Ilya Sorokin getting a little help from a guy who has scored a lot of goals in his career. Let's take a look at the 20th goalie goal in NHL history and second goalie goal this season!

Late in the game with the Nashville Predators trailing 6-4 on the road, the opted to pull netminder Juuse Saros for the extra attacker. Nashville had a couple of chances, but were stopped by Sorokin as he maintained the Islanders' two-goal lead. Off a rebound that came to Steven Stamkos, he passed the puck back to the point where he believed Brady Skjei was standing, and then this happened.
Stamkos' errant pass missed Skjei, slid down the ice, and came to rest inside the Nashville net with 11.6 seconds to play as the New York Islanders took a 7-4 lead in the game. As seen on the video above, the last Islanders player to touch the puck was Ilya Sorokin after making the save on Tommy Novak, and he gets credit for an unassisted first goal as the man wearing the pads!

Officially, Sorokin becomes the 17th goaltender to be credited with scoring a goal, and he becomes the second New York Islanders goaltender to accomplish feat as he joins Billy Smith on the "goalie goals" list. He's also the third goaltender to score a goal this season after Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic scored on January 17 2025 while Minnesota Wild netminder Filip Gustavsson scored on October 15, 2024. Sorokin also becomes the second Russian goalie to score a goal as he joins Evgeni Nabokov on the list!

Despite Stamkos technically scoring his 18th goal of the season, Sorokin adds his name to the list of goaltenders who have been credited with or a scored a goal in NHL history:

• Billy Smith, NY Islanders – Nov. 28, 1979 at Colorado
• Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Dec. 8, 1987 vs. Boston
• Ron Hextall, Philadelphia – Apr. 11, 1989 at Washington*
• Chris Osgood, Detroit – Mar. 6, 1996 at Hartford
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Apr. 17, 1997 vs. Montreal
• Damian Rhodes, Ottawa – Jan 2, 1999 vs. New Jersey
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Feb. 15, 2000 vs. Philadelphia**
• Jose Theodore, Montreal – Jan. 2, 2001 at NY Islanders
• Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose – Mar. 10, 2002 at Vancouver***
• Mika Noronen, Buffalo – Feb. 14, 2004 at Toronto
• Chris Mason, Nashville – Apr. 15, 2006 vs Phoenix
• Cam Ward, Carolina – Dec. 26, 2011 vs. New Jersey
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – Mar. 21, 2013 at Carolina***
• Mike Smith, Phoenix – Oct. 19, 2013 vs. Detroit
• Pekka Rinne, Nashville - Jan. 9, 2020 at Chicago
• Linus Ullmark, Boston - Feb. 25, 2023 at Vancouver
• Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh - Nov. 30, 2023 at Tampa Bay
• Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota - Oct. 15, 2024 at St. Louis***
• Alex Nedeljkovic, Pittsburgh - January 17, 2025 at Buffalo
• Ilya Sorokin, NY Islanders - March 1, 2025 vs Nashville

Some quick notes: the italicized goals above were scored in the playoffs. The single asterisk denotes a shorthanded goal, the double-asterisk goal denotes a game-winning goal, and the triple-asterisk goals were scored on the power-play. The New York Islanders join Pittsburgh and Nashville as the only teams who have had two different goalies score for them in NHL history.

For the record, Sorokin made 24 saves for New York as they claimed the 7-4 win, improving his record to 22-18-4 with a 2.79 GAA and a .904 save percentage. Sorokin's goal is the first goalie goal surrendered by Nashville despite them having two goalies goals to their credit, and it marks the first time that three NHL goalies have scored in the same season. Pretty cool history, right?

Sorokin, to his credit, didn't even seem to believe he was credited with the goal, telling Stefan Rosner of NHL.com, "If I shot this goal, I think it would have been a different emotion. It's just luck. It was a good save before. I remember that I touched the puck, but I'm not sure if I was last one."

Knowing he's good friends with New York Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin who has tried to score by shooting the puck down the ice a number of times, Sorokin took the time to make a joke with Arthur Staple of The Athletic, saying, "I knew I'd do it before Igor."

Ilya Sorokin is now part of NHL lore after adding his name to the "goalie goal" list, and no one can take that away from him. There haven't been a lot of bright spots on Long Island as the Islanders have struggled to score goals this season in being the lowest-scoring Eastern Conference team, but it seems they found a little offence from an unlikely source: between the pipes. Personally, I wouldn't have Sorokin on the power-play if I were Patrick Roy, but finding some offence from the crease helped in at least one game!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!