Scoring an empty net goal & losing the game

[Hockey Outsider]

There have been nine games in NHL history where a player scored an empty net goal, and his team didn't win. All nine instances were in the regular season:

April 5th, 1970 - this was surely one of the most ridiculous days in NHL history. It was the final day of the 1969-70 regular season. In the East (aka Original Six) division, two teams were fighting for the final playoff spot. The Habs had 92 points, and the Rangers had 90. Both had a final game to play. If Montreal lost, and the Rangers won, both teams would have 92 points, and both would have 38 wins. The next tiebreaker was most goals scored (Montreal was ahead 242-237).

The Rangers played first, and went for an all-out attack. They took 65 shots on poor Roger Crozier. This was by far the most shots they took during this season (the next closest game had 50 shots). The Rangers were up 9-3 late in the third period (Dave Balon had a hat trick, and Arnie Brown had a four point night). Despite having an insurmountable lead, the Rangers pulled their goalie anyway! Coach Emile Francis must have realized that, being up 9-3 with three minutes to go, they would definitely win. If Montreal lost, the tiebreaker would be most goals scored (they were now ahead, but it was still close). Thus, Ed Giacomin was pulled. (Any goals they scored would strengthen their grip on the tiebreaker, and any goals they allowed would essentially be meaningless, since they weren't going to blow a six goal lead in three minutes). Gordie Howe and Nick Libett both scored EN goals for the losing Red Wings during the final 2:30, ultimately cutting the lead to 9-5. The Rangers failed to score any more goals, but they were now tied with the Habs in points (92) and wins (38), and they were up 246-242 in the goals race.

Montreal played later that night. They had two paths to the playoffs - a win or tie, or scoring at least five goals. Unfortunately for the Habs, the first option wasn't looking likely, since they were losing badly midway through the third (down 5-2). Instead, they (rationally) focused on the goals scored tiebreaker. They pulled Rogie Vachon with around eight minutes left in the third period, still needing three goals to pass the Rangers' total. Chicago was brutal and scored five EN goals (the Habs didn't score any). This ended Montreal's streak of 21 consecutive playoff appearances. (Everything worked out as a rookie Ken Dryden helped Montreal win the Stanley Cup the next year). This day was a farce, as it involved two teams manipulating poorly-designed rules. The NHL quickly changed the tiebreaker from most goals scored to largest goal differential. LINK

October 25th, 1978 - early in the season, the Penguins (a solid team) played the Blues (who were terrible). The Penguins were up 5-4 late in the third goalie, and St. Louis pulled their goalie Doug Grant. George Ferguson (who had a solid NHL career spanning nearly 800 games) scored into the empty net with 61 seconds to go. The Blues mounted a furious comeback, with Brian Sutter and Bernie Federko scoring with 28 and 11 seconds left respectively, forcing overtime. The game ended in a tie (there was no overtime then). Federko had a five point night. LINK

November 28, 1979 - surprisingly, at this early stage of the 1979-80 season, the Islanders (who would go on to win the Stanley Cup that spring) were only slightly ahead of the weak Rockies in the standings. The Rockies were up 4-3 through two periods. Glen Resch was yanked with less than a minute left in the second period, and replaced by Billy Smith. On a delayed penalty, Rob Ramage scored into his team's open net, tying the game. The goal was credited to Smith; this was the first goal in NHL history credited to a goalie. Colorado scored three goals during the rest of the period, winning 7-4. (What bad luck for Smith! He gets credit for the first goal in NHL history from a goalie, he only allowed one goal against in 20 minutes of action - pretty good for the early 1980's - and still gets the loss. Resch allowed four goals on 21 shots, and gets no decision). LINK

December 30th, 1988 - this was the first of two consecutive games between the Blues and North Stars (both were weak playoff teams). Minnesota took a 4-0 lead in the first period. St. Louis scored three in the second, but couldn't equalize. The Blues pulled goalie Vincent Riendeau (who replaced starter Greg Millen) and Marc Habscheid scored into the empty net with just 33 seconds to go. You'd think that a 5-3 lead would be safe at that point. Todd Ewen scored with 18 seconds to go, and Brett Hull tied it with four seconds left in the period. The game ended in a tie after five minutes of scoreless overtime. LINK

January 12th, 2014 - the Blackhawks were facing the terrible Oilers (who were still a few years away from drafting McDavid). Chicago was up 2-1 midway through the second period. The Blackhawks pulled goalie Antti Raana on a delayed penalty call, and Patrick Kane made a blind pass towards the point, but nobody was there. The goal was credited to Edmonton's Boyd Gordon (tying the game). Chicago went on to win 5-3 (Kane had two assists). LINK - VIDEO OF GOAL

March 29th, 2014 - the Lightning were playing the Sabres. Tampa Bay was by far the better team, but it was tied 2-2 after the first period. Midway through the second, Steven Stamkos scored into his own net (the Lightning had pulled their goalie on a delayed penalty - Stamkos passed the puck back, but nobody was there). The goal was credited to Buffalo's Cory Conacher (no relation to HOF'ers Charlie, Lionel or Roy). Still, Stamkos redeemed himself. The Lightning won the game in overtime. Stamkos had a goal and an assist in regulation, and scored the OT winner. LINK - VIDEO OF GOAL

October 15th, 2016 - this was the first game of the season for the Canucks (so maybe you can excuse their sloppiness), and the third game for the Flames. The Canucks pulled Ryan Miller on a delayed penalty, and Loui Eriksson accidentally shot the puck into his own net (I couldn't find a video of this). Daniel Sedin tied the game for Vancouver with under four minutes left in the third. After five minutes of scoreless OT, Brandon Sutter (part of perhaps the most prolific family in NHL history) scored the only goal in the shootout. Eriksson's own-goal prevented Ryan Miller from getting a shutout (he stopped all 25 shots he faced in regulation/OT, and all four shooters in the shootout). LINK

January 5th, 2020 - as there were vague reports of a mysterious illness emerging in China, the Capitals played a much weaker Sharks team. After a scoreless first, San Jose took a 3-2 lead in the second. Washington pulled Braden Holtby, and Logan Couture scored into the empty net with exactly one minute remaining. The Capital launched a furious comeback, with Jakub Varana and TJ Oshie scoring with 47 and 15 seconds left in the third period to tie the game. In overtime, Lars Eller scored the winner. Thus the Capitals improbably earned two points after being down two goals with a minute to go. Erik Karlsson has a rough night (he was on the ice for four of Washington's five goals, including the tying goal with 15 seconds left, and the OT winner). Evander Kane has a hat trick in a losing cause. LINK - VIDEO OF COMEBACK

March 11th, 2020 - this was the final day of the 2019-20 regular season before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NHL to cancel the rest of the year (though the playoffs took place in August and September). According to the record books, Adam Henrique scored an EN goal in a loss, but that didn't really happen. St. Louis played Anaheim on February 11th, and Jay Bouwmeester collapsed from a heart attack. In that aborted game, Henrique scored a goal, so they gave him credit for one in this game (it was officially recorded as EN goal at 0:00 of the first period - this way Henrique still got credit for his goal, but the goalie wasn't penalized). So this one is just a technicality. (St. Louis also got credit for a goal from the previous game - so the match started 1-1, and the Blues outscored the Ducks 3-1 the rest of the way). LINK

SUMMARY - nine times in NHL history, a team has scored an EN goal, and didn't win the game. One was a farce due to the Red Wings trying to manipulate a dumb rule. One didn't actually feature an EN goal (it was a "bookkeeping entry"). Four games involved a playing scoring into his own net on a delayed penalty, and three involved a team allowing a comeback after scoring an EN goal (this category is the most exciting).

(EDIT - I missed Billy Smith's goal initially. This has been added).

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[tarheelhockey]

I'm surprised it's only legitimately happened 3 times. I feel like the game of hockey is more open to bizarre, miracle comebacks.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I'm surprised it's only legitimately happened 3 times. I feel like the game of hockey is more open to bizarre, miracle comebacks.

It's certainly possible I missed some instances, but I've checked several sources and, from what I can tell, this is it. (But happy to add anything to the list if I missed it).

 

[Big Phil]

It has happened often where a team gets an empty netter to make it 4-2 and the losing team scores a late goal to make it 4-3, but that's it. Therefore having the empty netter be the game winning goal. But yeah, I can see why a team that scores an empty netter wins 99.99999999% of the time.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It's certainly possible I missed some instances, but I've checked several sources and, from what I can tell, this is it. (But happy to add anything to the list if I missed it).

I think BP nailed why I feel like it should be more common (and why it really isn’t):

It has happened often where a team gets an empty netter to make it 4-2 and the losing team scores a late goal to make it 4-3, but that's it. Therefore having the empty netter be the game winning goal. But yeah, I can see why a team that scores an empty netter wins 99.99999999% of the time.

 

[TheStatican]

April 5th, 1970
Montreal played later that night. They had two paths to the playoffs - a win or tie, or scoring at least five goals. Unfortunately for the Habs, the first option wasn't looking likely, since they were losing badly midway through the third (down 5-2). Instead, they (rationally) focused on the goals scored tiebreaker. They pulled Rogie Vachon with around eight minutes left in the third period, still needing three goals to pass the Rangers' total. Chicago was brutal and scored five EN goals (the Habs didn't score any).

I'm a little curious now, I wonder what is the NHL record for empty net goals in a game is - by one and both teams. Probably safe to assume this game is it.

 

[The Panther]

December 30th, 1988 - this was the first of two consecutive games between the Blues and North Stars (both were weak playoff teams). Minnesota took a 4-0 lead in the first period. St. Louis scored three in the second, but couldn't equalize. The Blues pulled goalie Vincent Riendeau (who replaced starter Greg Millen) and Marc Habscheid scored into the empty net with just 33 seconds to go. You'd think that a 5-3 lead would be safe at that point. Todd Ewen scored with 18 seconds to go, and Brett Hull tied it with four seconds left in the period. The game ended in a tie after five minutes of scoreless overtime. LINK

I remember this one! (I was 12 years old.)

Awesome post, btw.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I'm a little curious now, I wonder what is the NHL record for empty net goals in a game is - by one and both teams. Probably safe to assume this game is it.

According to NHL.com, it's the record (for one team - there doesn't seem to be an easy way to find EN goals combined from both teams).

There have been more than 300 games (regular season and playoffs) where one team scored two EN goals, five games where one team scored three EN goals, and then that one game I mentioned above with five EN goals. It's unlikely we'll see that again in our lifetime.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

I swear there was a game in the 90's, I want to say it was between Dallas and Boston, and one team was up by like 3 with a minute left and I think lost in OT. I always remember there being an empty netter, but I could be wrong. This ring any bells for anyone else?

 

[Kyle McMahon]

I swear there was a game in the 90's, I want to say it was between Dallas and Boston, and one team was up by like 3 with a minute left and I think lost in OT. I always remember there being an empty netter, but I could be wrong. This ring any bells for anyone else?

Boston Bruins vs. Dallas Stars Box Score: October 14, 1995 | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the latest box score updates on the Boston Bruins vs. Dallas Stars game played on October 14, 1995 on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

I thought of this one too. Boston never scored an empty netter though, pulling ahead 5-3 early in the third period before surrendering three goals in the final 50 seconds to lose 6-5 in regulation time.

I actually expected this to have happened more frequently, since I can recall a few games where a trailing team forced OT after giving up an empty netter. But those teams evidently lost in OT in most of those instances.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Those three goals in the last 50 seconds, there is no player overlap between the goals. 7 different players got the points on those three goals. That's fairly interesting to me...

 

[BigRangy]

Kind of crazy that it’s only happened once that a team that has actually scored a end-of-game goalie pulled empty netter has lost. And none of them have ever lost in regulation. I’m sure it will happen someday.

 

[MadLuke]

Kind of crazy that it’s only happened once that a team that has actually scored a end-of-game goalie pulled empty netter has lost. And none of them have ever lost in regulation. I’m sure it will happen someday.

For a while people did not pull goaltender and after they started to pull goaltender they stoped to have overtimes until the mid 80s, so a team would have needed to not just tie but win it before the end of the game

 

[MadLuke]

I feel like the game of hockey is more open to bizarre, miracle comebacks.

I thought a bit about that part and I wondered
Baseball not having a time limit and giant volume of game should make miracle comebacks common in terms of how many happened in history, but maybe that would make them never that bizarre by definition.
Football short kick-off, Hail Mary, interceptions, giant cost of a turn around of the ball, very long field goal
Basketball 90 last second that take 6 minute to play, fault, McGrady scoring 13 points in just 33s of clock play being possible

No idea for the others, but I wonder if hockey is specially open to bizarre miracle comebacks, maybe more than soccer where actual long controls of the ball seem necessary to score.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

I thought a bit about that part and I wondered
Baseball not having a time limit and giant volume of game should make miracle comebacks common in terms of how many happened in history, but maybe that would make them never that bizarre by definition.
Football short kick-off, Hail Mary, interceptions, giant cost of a turn around of the ball, very long field goal
Basketball 90 last second that take 6 minute to play, fault, McGrady scoring 13 points in just 33s of clock play being possible

No idea for the others, but I wonder if hockey is specially open to bizarre miracle comebacks, maybe more than soccer where actual long controls of the ball seem necessary to score.

This reminds of a game featuring the Indians/Guardians where they scored 11 runs in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and won.

 

[Hynh]

Here's the Louie Eriksson own goal

 

[jimmysheva]

Haha, Secret Base just posted this video right on cue.

 

[MS]

October 25th, 1978 - early in the season, the Penguins (a solid team) played the Blues (who were terrible). The Penguins were up 5-4 late in the third goalie, and St. Louis pulled their goalie Doug Grant. George Ferguson (who had a solid NHL career spanning nearly 800 games) scored into the empty net with 61 seconds to go. The Blues mounted a furious comeback, with Brian Sutter and Bernie Federko scoring with 28 and 11 seconds left respectively, forcing overtime. The game ended in a tie (there was no overtime then). Federko had a five point night. LINK

This one is especially interesting because it was a coming-out party of a player into stardom and a HHOF trajectory.

Federko was taken #7 overall but his first two seasons were pretty mediocre (64 points in 103 games). He was off to a pretty good start in his 3rd season and then this game happens and BOOM he carries it through to finishing 8th in NHL scoring that year.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Haha, Secret Base just posted this video right on cue.

I returned to this thread in order to post this one! Had this rule been highlighted somewhere else recently, was it merely a coincidence that HO and Secret Base researched this topic so close to each other, or were Secret Base inspired by HO's thread? Not sure how fast they're able to make those videos but it sure struck me as an odd coincidence.

That channel is quite an enjoyable one to follow, at any rate. They once made a video about the many rule changes inspired by Roger Neilson's creative exploitations of the rule book, such as telling his goalie to leave some gear in the crease when they pull him for an extra skater, continuously taking penalties in the last seconds of a game when they're up in order to destroy the momentum of the trailing team (which led to the delayed penalty rule), and replacing the goalie with a skater to defend penalty shots, who'd full speed rush towards the penalty taker.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Here's the Louie Eriksson own goal

Harbinger of things to come...

 

[DJ Man]

Haha, Secret Base just posted this video right on cue.

I remember that season's finish. Due to the Rangers' afternoon win, the Canadiens had to work to beat them for the final playoff spot. In that night’s game against Chicago, Montreal had to either (1) win or at least tie the game. Failing that, they had to (2) score at least five goals in losing.

Therefore, losing by 6-5 would be enough. Or losing 7-5. Or 10-5. Or 15-5. But how likely are any of those outcomes? Bah!

However, with a win, even 1-0, they’re in. With a tie, even 0-0, they’re in. Thus, the primary focus should be, as always, try to outplay these guys and win (or tie) the game. A 5-4 win or 5-5 tie would do nicely.

Soon, however, Les Habs found themselves trailing. When the score reached 5-2, then – sacre bleu! – their disparate objectives merged and simplified. They could no longer even tie without scoring five goals, so five goals became the quest, and the game result no longer mattered.

From that point on, Montreal pulled their goalie and tried to use six skaters, hoping to pick up three (3) more lousy goals. They failed. The Hawks used the empty net to run the score up to 10-2. The Canadiens missed the playoffs, for the first time since the Titanic sank, something like that. I think that this was the first all-U.S. playoff field since the invention of ice (as Toronto also failed to qualify).

One wonders if the dual objectives might have been a distraction. Maybe had they decided to forego defense entirely and set out to score five goals no matter what the opponents did, they might have made it.

 

[Doctor No]

Was doing data entry just now, and noticed that this occurred over the weekend in the American Hockey League - Manitoba went up 5-3 on an Alex Limoges empty-net goal at 58:07. Then, Texas scored at 58:58 (Mavrik Bourque) and 59:50 (Will Butcher) before Jacob Peterson scored at 63:49 for the overtime win.

Game summary: TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League

 

[Hockey Outsider]

There's a lot of talk on the main boards about how Ovechkin is racking up empty-net goals, and whether that should or shouldn't count against him. (My take? Obviously the Capitals are giving him every opportunity to reach #894, but EN goals are unquestionably a good thing, and since Gretzky has more EN goals than Ovechkin anyway, this is a moot point).

But I noticed how few EN goals were scored during the Original Six era. During the span of Gordie Howe's career (excluding 1980), just 12 of his 786 goals were into an empty net. The leader was Bobby Hull, with 13 EN goals. Mahovlich and Beliveau also had 12, and Pulford and Provost had 10.

Since the lockout, Ovechkin has 51 EN goals. Marchand is at 32, and Staal is at 31. Crosby, Hossa, Praise, Wheeler, Bergeron and Kane are all in the mid/high 20's. This supports the notion that teams are pulling their goalies earlier and more often (all the analysis I've seen on EN goals suggests that coaches are too conservative in pulling their goalies). It also likely reflects more parity (there would be fewer opportunities for EN goals when the league was unbalanced, as it was for much of Howe's career - the Rangers/Bruins weren't going to be in a position to pull their goalie against the much stronger Habs/Wings most of the time).

 

[Michael Farkas]

Over the last three seasons, the top two empty net goal getters (Ovechkin and Guentzel) are absolute zeroes defensively...I wonder if that's evolved over time.

I've seen a number of games this year with teams pulling goalies down 3 with 4, 5, 6 minutes left. At the level that I coach at, goal diff in losses has such a higher weight on the ranking algorithm vs the NHL (tiebreaking procedure) that I don't get to exercise that as much...if it were up to me, it wouldn't be like that...I'd spend many minutes with the net empty, because we'd spend so much more time practicing 6v5 situations...but...

 

[tarheelhockey]

Over the last three seasons, the top two empty net goal getters (Ovechkin and Guentzel) are absolute zeroes defensively...I wonder if that's evolved over time.

Current theory is to treat the EN situation as an offensive opportunity. Any shot at an EN is better than any attempt to clear or possess the puck. You want shooters on the ice who can convert those chances. The logic is pretty simple -- your chances of hitting that net are better than the other team's chances of scoring if they get the puck back, and even if they succeed you're still left with a 50% chance of winning.