Kazakhstani Goalie Goal

If you're a reader of this blog, you know that any article I have prepared gets bumped for a goalie goal assuming there's video proof of said goal. I wasn't expecting a goalie goal mid-afternoon today, but the KHL decided to deliver in a big way as one netminder added his name to the record books in two ways. People likely don't know the Kazakhstani netminder to the left very well, but that's 28 year-old Nikita Boyarkin representing his home nation between the pipes. And Nikita Boyarkin is the reason why this article will bump the one I had ready to post to Friday.

Thanks to how time works, the KHL plays their evening games much earlier than games in North America. As such, their games usually start around noon in North America, allowing anyone with a stream to watch. I fully admit that I was working while today's historic moment happened, but the game between SKA St. Petersburg and Admiral Vladivostok is where we'll focus our attention as Boyarkin, acquired in the off-season by Admiral from Barys, was on his game today.

How on was he, you ask? Well, let's go to Boyarkin's historic highlight!
Boyarkin was credited with the goal at 13:32 of the third period when the pass from SKA's Nikolai Chebykin skipped over the stick of Danil Aimurzin, hitting the boards and sliding the distance of the ice into the vacated SKA net. As such, Boyarkin scored a shorthanded goal to make it 4-0 for the Admiral with 6:28 to play! Would he hold the fort?

39 saves later, the horn sounded on a 4-0 Admiral win over SKA St. Peterburg, giving Boyarkin the shutout as well! His goal officially made him the sixth KHL netminder to score, but he became just the second KHL netminder to score and record a shutout in the same game, joining Metallurg's Ilya Proskuryakov on January 25, 2009 as the only goalies to have accomplished that feat! That's awesome!

You know what I love most about the above highlight? All the coaches on Admiral's bench were immediately pointing towards Boyarkin as the last player who touched the puck for Admiral. That's so great to see! Yes, I know Russian hockey shouldn't be celebrated right now, but Boyarkin is a Kazakhstani-born goalie so I feel like an asterisk is needed. Boyarkin was undrafted, but is good enough to play.

As it stands, the list of KHL goalies who scored are:

• Ilya Proskuryakov (Magnitogorsk) - Jan. 25, 2009 vs. Kazan
• Edgars Masaļskis (Dinamo Riga) - Jan. 7, 2010 vs. Khabarovsk
• Vitali Yeremeyev (Astana) - Oct. 19 2013 vs. Novosibirsk
• Joni Ortio (Vityaz Podolsk) - Jan. 30, 2019 vs. Chelyabinsk
• Ilya Konovalov (Dynamo Moscow) - Jan. 17, 2023 vs. Novgorod
• Nikita Boyarkin (Vladivostok) - Nov. 4, 2026 vs St. Petersburg

We'll see if any other netminders add their names to the list this season, but we stand at six after Nikita Boyarkin's goal today. Congratulations to him on the goal and the shutout in helping Admiral Vladivostok to the 4-0 win over SKA St. Petersburg, and he'll look to lead his team to victory over his old team when they host Barys Astana on Friday. The fun part? Admiral, in eighth-place in the Eastern Conference, sits just two points back of third-place Astana in the standings! You don't think Boyarkin will be fired up for this one?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!