Alex Nedeljkovic had a historic performance in a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabers on Friday. Aside from making 40 saves on 42 shots, he scored a goal, and an assist. It was the 19th goalie goal ever in an NHL game, 17th in the regular season, and 12th where the goalie shot it in himself (Other 7 were from own goals where the goalie happened to touch it last), and was the 15th goalie to ever be credited with a goal. He is also the first goalie in NHL history to register a goal and an assist in the same game. Even though this was Nedeljkovic’s first NHL goal he has 4 in his professional career. He also has 2 in the American Hockey League (AHL) and one in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). He is the only goalie to ever score in all three of those leagues.
Goalie goals have become more of a trend in the past few seasons. This is the third season straight a goalie shot the puck and scored which has never happened before. It is also the first time since 2013 that it has happened multiple times in a season. Goalie goals started happening more frequently in the late 1990s. From 1996-2005 it happened 7 times (4 times intentional) before almost completely drying out. From 2006-2019 there were just 4 (one time intentional) goalie goals. Then recently they have become more common. Since 2020 there have been 5 (4 since the 2022-23 season) and all of them the goalie had shot in themselves.
What are the reasons for the drop off of goalie goals and the recent trend in more goalie goals happening? The 2004-05 season was canceled because of a dispute between the NHL players association (NHLPA) and the team owners. When NHL hockey came back there were multiple changes to the rules that played a role in the decrease in goalie goals. First of all, the trapezoid rule. Before the lockout season, goalkeepers had free range to play the puck in the corners. The trapezoid rule limited goalie’s to only playing the puck in the trapezoid area behind the net. In addition to the trapezoid rule the NHL nixed the two-line pass rule which did not allow players to make passes over two lines. The two-line pass rule being put to an end led to teams being able to break out of their own zone faster, giving goalie’s less opportunities to play the puck and shoot at the open net. Both rule changes were made to increase offensive chances but also made it harder for goalies to score. Recently I believe goalies are becoming more puck skilled. I also believe it is more on the goalie’s minds, so when they get the chance to, they go for the goalie goals more often than netminders used to. Unless new rules come out to minimize goalie goals, I think we will continue to see goalie goals happen most seasons.
