ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues had everything going for them in their home opener against the Minnesota Wild for at least the first 40 minutes except for what mattered most: the scoreboard.
And all that became a moot point with the game in hand and then it happened: a goalie goal!
The Blues lost their home opener, 4-1 against the Minnesota Wild in a game that for 40 minutes resembled one in which they probably deserved to be ahead but were trailing 2-0 thanks to a power-play goal (Ryan Hartman) and shorthanded marker (Jakub Lauko).
But then with the game in hand, the 15th goalie in NHL history (18th goal) was scored by Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, who launched the puck high down the ice into the empty net at 19:51, a power-play goal with Philip Broberg in the box for the Blues with a four-minute high-sticking infraction.
It capped off that kind of night for the Wild (2-0-2), who haven’t lost in four regulation games to begin the season while dropping the Blues to 2-2-0 after their second straight loss.
But going to the play, the Blues called a time out with 33.6 left in the game and down 3-1 when Pavel Buchnevich sent a wrist shot from just outside the blue line right at Gustavsson, who caught the puck, dropped it, dropped to a knee and launched the puck the length of the ice into the net to make it 4-1.
“They took a time out there with 30 seconds left or something and ‘Flower’ [Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury] looked up that the board and said, ‘You should probably try it if you get the chance,” Gustavsson said. “‘You’re shooting, right?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe I should.’
“Coaches usually get mad if you try it with a one-goal lead and it becomes icing if you miss it, so up (3-1), if I get the chance, I’ll try it.”
Fifteen NHL goalies have been credited with a total of 18 goals (16 in the regular season, two in the Stanley Cup Playoffs). The last was Tristan Jarry with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 30, 2023 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Wild coach Jon Hynes was coach of the Nashville Predators when Pekka Rinne scored a goalie goal against the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 9, 2020.
“It was one of my first couple games in Nashville,” Hynes said. “It was almost very similar to Gus’s. It was a 6-on-5 situation and they kind of dumped it in on the goalie and he had time to do it. Both guys, you could tell they were going for it. Great to see.”
There was plenty of good to see from the Wild, who were shorthanded for the game playing without forwards Joel Eriksson…