Goalie goals are already a rare feat. But on Saturday afternoon, New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin buried the first goal of his career with a little bit of help from the Nashville Predators.
Trailing 6-4 with under 20 seconds remaining and their net empty, the Predators were pressuring the Islanders in the offensive zone when Sorokin kicked aside a shot from Jonathan Marchessault.
The rebound found its way to Steven Stamkos in the corner, who tried to send a pass back to the blue line, but misjudged where Brady Skjei was standing. The puck ended up travelling the length of the ice and into Nashville’s open net.
Since Sorokin was the last Islander to touch the puck, he was credited with the goal.
New York ended up with a 7-4 win over the Predators, as Sorokin finished the game with 23 saves and a spot in the NHL history books with the 20th goalie goal.
The 29-year-old becomes the second Islanders goalie to score — joining Billy Smith, who found the back of the net on Nov. 28, 1979 — and the third goalie to score in the NHL this season.
Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild scored on Oct. 15, 2024, and Alex Nedeljkovic made history with a goal and assist in a Pittsburgh Penguins win on Jan. 17.
The 2024-25 NHL season was already the first campaign in which multiple goalie goals had been scored in one NHL calendar year, so Sorokin only added to the historic goal-scoring pace for netminders across the league.
