Ilya Kovalchuk Scored A 180-Foot Own Goal, And They Credited It To Cam Ward

When I saw the scoresheet for yesterday's Devils/Hurricanes game, I mostly ran around in circles yelling "Goalie goal!" over and over again. For fans of novelty highlights, goalie goals are up there with unassisted triple plays as one of the rarest and most valuable sporting occurrences.

So you'll imagine my disappointment, quickly replaced by delight, when I saw the play that got Cam Ward only the 12th goal scored by a goalie since they began keeping track. Ward wasn't involved; down a goal late, the Devils pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Down low, Ilya Kovalchuk tried to slide it out to Adam Henrique at the point, but an errant pass traveled the length of the ice for an empty-netter. Because Ward had just made a save, and was the last Hurricane to touch the puck, he was credited with the goal.

So Ward joins the exclusive club, but not as one of the six goalscoring goalies who actually shot the puck. No one's done that since Evgeni Nabokov in 2002.

"A bad decision by me at the end cost us a game," Kovalchuk said.

"It would have been a lot cooler if I had shot the puck or did something like that," Ward said.