Has there ever been a hockey game, NHL or otherwise, where both goalies were pulled and both nets were simultaneously empty? What would a game situation be for this to occur?
I can’t for the life of me imagine why this would happen but something tells me it might have and I don’t follow hockey enough to be knowledgable about it.
I’m positive I’ve seen this when a team pulled with 2 minutes left and the other team then pulled on a delayed penalty call. I can’t remember the specifics though.
Pulling on a delayed penalty call doesn’t really count, since it’s impossible for the other team to score.
I can come up with one scenario where both teams need a goal at the end of a game - last game of the season, Team 1 from League Subdivision A is playing Team 2 from League Subdivision B. Team 1 needs to win the game to get into a tie for the last playoff spot in their division, and needs a 2 goal differential to win the tiebreaker. Team 2 needs just a tie to get the last playoff spot in their division. As the game winds down, Team 1 leads Team 2 by one goal. If no one scores, neither team makes the playoffs.
Not true. The penalized team can’t touch the puck. They can score and it has happened. The other team has to misplay the puck terribly to do so. Several years ago, Detroit was playing Anaheim and got whistled for something. Anaheim pulled their goalie and was passing the puck around when Adam Oates (iirc) sent the puck to the blue line. Problem was that there was nobody there for the pass. Puck went all the way down the ice and into the empty net. It counted, and I believe was attributed after much video review to Kirk Maltby since he was the last Detroit player to touch the puck before the penalty was called.
Even better. I found the video. God bless youtube. It was Brendan Shanahan that got credit for the goal.
yes, I have seen other videos with a player scoring in his own empty net by mistake.
Another question: what’s the earliest a goalie was ever pulled in an NHL game without it being a delayed penalty, or alternatively (or additionally), what’s the longest continuous time a team has played with an empty net?
I don’t know if it’s the record, but the Montreal Canadiens played without a goalie for the final 9:30 of a game against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 5, 1970. Montreal needed to win, tie, or score five goals to make the playoffs, so when Chicago went ahead 5-2, they pulled their goalie for the rest of the game.
It didn’t work. Montreal didn’t score any more, and the Hawks padded their stats with five empty-net goals.
I’m not a big fan of the “pull the goalie” tactic. I know theres a 10% chance of scoring, but hockey is such a random, crazy sport, I think the odds of the short handed team scoring on the empty net far outweigh the benefits. Id prefer to go 5 on 5 with 30 seconds left and let fate take its course. Plus, having a goailie in net allows someone way back to stop the puck and pass it to a defensemen to set up a last second play.
There was a hockey game between the Maple Leafs and New York. All the New Yorkers were hurt or in the penalty box leaving the goalie.
It was “The Lone Ranger and Toronto.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a couple games where the goalie was pulled with a couple of seconds left in the first and second periods and another defensemen was positioned at the center of the blue line in the zone of the other team. The idea was that the team with 6 skaters could win a clean draw and get a good shot off and if they lost the faceoff, the other team would not have enough time to get it cleanly and shoot at the empty net on the other side of the rink…IIRC, the optimal time was about 2-3 seconds left on the clock for this to be considered a safe play…and usually it was done by a team who was trailing in the game at that moment.
I do think they pull them a bit too early. But an EN goal with 15 seconds to go is unlikely to make it significantly more likely that they will lose anyway; so the goalie fields the puck, and tries to shoot it back-by the time they get set back up in the offensive zone (if they ever do), time will have run out anyway.
In fact, the first goal ever to be credited to a goaltender in the NHL resulted from a miscue by the other team. In a game in 1979, the New York Islanders were assessed a delayed penalty. The Colorado Rockies controlled the puck in the offensive zone when one of their players (Rob Ramage, IIRC) tried a pass to the blue line from behind the net. The puck sailed all the way into the Rockies’ net at the other end. Since goalie Billy Smith was the last Islander to touch the puck, he was awarded the goal. Video.
Alos, an article recounting the 1970 game Freddy the Pig mentioned.
I think that taking more chances in an elimination game is forgivable as well. Two of the more exciting games I’ve seen have involved goalies pulled for well over a minute at the end of the game, both being NCAA finals. In 2004, Denver defeated Maine 1-0 while weathering a 6-on-3 for the final 90 seconds of the game. In 2009, Boston U. played with 6 attackers for over 3:30 at the end of the game while down by two goals to Miami. BU scored two goals in the last minute to send it to OT, where they won.
I love the fact that this rule allows a player no longer on the ice to be credited with a goal.
I have a related question. The online NHL rules don’t seem to cover the following scenario: Team A cleanly wins a faceoff and then misplays the puck into their own net without any pressure from Team B. No one from Team B has touched the puck since play restarted. Who gets credited with the goal?
…and the Rangers won… 