Ilya Sorokin became the 20th goaltender in NHL history to record a goalie goal on Saturday afternoon. Sorokin’s marker, his first point of the season and fourth point of his career, came with 12 seconds remaining in the New York Islanders’ 7-4 victory over the Nashville Predators.
Sorokin’s first career goal came after an embarrassing gaffe from the Predators. With Nashville netminder Juuse Saros pulled for an extra attacker, Sorokin made two consecutive saves on Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. The rebound from Marchessault’s attempt rattled around to Stamkos on the left side boards, who fired a pass to the point intended for defenseman Brady Skjei.
Unfortunately for Stamkos, he missed Skjei and put enough pace on the puck for it to go all the way down the ice and into the Predators net. Sorokin was credited with the goal as the last Islanders player to touch the puck.
After the game, Sorokin threw a playful jab at his good friend and cross-town rival Igor Shesterkin.
“I knew I’d do it before Igor,” Sorokin told the New York Post’s Ethan Sears.
Shesterkin has attempted to score on an empty net several times during his career for the New York Rangers, recently having an attempt knocked out of the air by San Jose Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini. “He should be in school,” Shesterkin jokingly told The Athletic’s Arthur Staple in November.
Congratulations to Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders on scoring his first NHL goal. 1 down 893 to go… 😊#WeAreGoldStar! pic.twitter.com/SxSruWqQ4Y
— Dan Milstein (@HockeyAgent1) March 1, 2025
Sorokin is the first Islanders goalie to score a goal since Billy Smith became the first NHL netminder ever to be credited for a goal on November 28, 1979. Smith remains the only goalie to score in a loss, as New York fell 7-4 to the Colorado Rockies. His tally was also the result of an own goal aftter Colorado’s Rob Ramage scored on his empty net.
The 29-year-old Russian is also the first goaltender to score without shooting the puck towards the net since Martin Brodeur scored his third career goal for the New Jersey Devils against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 21, 2013.
Sorokin joins Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson and Pittsburgh’s Alex Nedeljkovic as masked scorers this season. There has never been a season with more than one goalie goal until this year.
