In the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills Competition, Ilya Sorokin had to score and shoot a puck under the ice.
He became pathetic and joked that Igor Shesterkin led, his partner and best friend – he should have shot the puck.
Sorokin had his last laugh on Saturday.
At the end of a 7-4 victory over the island predators, Stephen Stankos missed the attempt pass to Brady Scuzzie after a save, and the pack slowly descended the ice and entered the empty net.
Sorokin stopped the puck from Jonathan Marquesau's shot, but praised his first career goal.
“I knew Igor would do that before,” Sorokin cracked afterwards.
He became the third goaltender to score in a game this season. Alex Nedelzikovich of Pittsburgh and Philip Gustafson of Minnesota are others.
Only the other 16 goalkeepers who scored in league history scored.
“It's part of my bucket list and I've scored goals in my career,” said Isles coach Patrick Roy. “…I think I'll post once. Scores. [when] There was no more time. But anyway, I don't think I was the best goaltender out of my net. It might have been good, but I didn't have that shot. ”
Of course, Sorokin is far from the league's best puck-handling goalkeeper. And Shesterkin has been trying to score for years, but this has fallen into more ridiculous luck than any skill.
“We don't think about the goals we score,” Sorokin said. “It's just a moment, [it] It happens. It's a hockey game. [Stuff] happen. ”
Sorokin, who stopped 23 of the 27 shots that weren't particularly strong performances before the goal, said he never scored in his KHL career. Now he has few other goalkeepers. Frame your first NHL goal pack.
“To be honest, I didn't know what my goal was,” Jean Gabriel Pago said. “We were asking that on the bench, he was the last guy to touch the pack, but we still didn't know if he was satisfied.
“We saw him not approaching shooting him in an All-Star competition a few years ago. I think it's a different way to score, but that's his first goal and we're very happy for him.”
Anthony Duclair was benched in the third season with an eight-minute stretch, and Roy said he was expecting more from him.
“He's fine,” Roy said. “I'm not happy with his play.”
