Shesterkin goalie goal with Rangers stirs memories for Hextall

Igor Shesterkin became the 12th goalie to shoot and score a goal in an NHL game Thursday, and one of the many fans cheering for him was the first to do it.

It was nearly 40 years ago that Ron Hextall became the first goalie to shoot the puck for a goal when he scored into an empty net for the Philadelphia Flyers against the Boston Bruins on Dec. 8, 1987.

"I'm happy for guys when they do it," Hextall said Friday. "The Rangers' reaction last night was pretty cool for Shesterkin, so it's a neat thing. It brings a little bit of highlights for SportsCenter and whatnot, so it's kind of a neat thing for sure."

Hextall said what stood out to him was how a few of Shesterkin's New York Rangers teammates jumped off the bench to celebrate with him. It reminded him of how his Flyers teammates reacted when he scored.

"It was like everybody came off the bench," Hextall said. "I specifically remember 'Tocc' (Rick Tocchet) and I think it was Scotty Mellanby yelling and screaming. I knew it was something, but I didn't think it was that big a deal. But I've said many times over the years, the way my teammates reacted to it kind of really made it a neat thing because they were so excited. They might have been more excited than I was. So it was really special for me how they reacted to it."

The way their teammates reacted wasn't the only similarity. Shesterkin's goal came when he played a rolling puck off the boards to his left and flipped it nearly the length of the ice from his own crease into an empty net. The goal was the last for the Rangers in a 5-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Hextall played a Bruins cross-ice dump-in to his left, settled the puck and shot it down into an empty net to finish a 5-2 Flyers victory.

Shesterkin had said several times during his eight-season NHL career that he was hoping to score a goal. 

That's a sentiment Hextall understands.

"I'm not trying to be arrogant or whatever, but I knew with the right opportunity, that I would have a chance to score," he said.

Hextall, who played 13 NHL seasons from 1986-99 with the Flyers, Quebec Nordiques and New York Islanders, is the only goalie to shoot and score a goal in the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. On April 11, 1989, he capped the Flyers' 8-5 victory at the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of the Patrick Division Semifinals by scoring into an empty net.

"Honestly, it wasn't high in my priority list but my teammates kept pushing me," Hextall said. "Back then, as soon as I'd get the puck and it's an empty net the fans would all start chanting, ‘Shoot.’ There's a few times where I passed it up because the opportunity wasn't right, whether the forechecking was coming down too hard on me, or we were up by one goal in a big game or something. I always felt like it had to be the right opportunity."

Hextall watched plenty of Shesterkin during his time as general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, and said he's a fan.

"He's obviously very good, and I think one of the biggest things about him is he's got that swagger, he's got the confident swagger that teams look at, and they believe in you too, when you've got that type of swagger," Hextall said. "He's got the swagger, he's got the ability. He's not the biggest guy (6-foot-1, 198 pounds), and some teams, guys like that, they don't want to draft them, right? ‘Oh, he's too small,’ which I don't necessarily agree with. ... He's got good mobility, he reads the play well, handles the puck well. And he's got that confident swagger that you like to have in a goalie."

Shesterkin is the latest of the 18 NHL goalies to score a total of 21 goals (19 in the regular season, two in the playoffs), but Hextall said the advances in sticks and the way goalies train to play the puck means he won't be the last.

"Kids are so much more well-schooled now than they were in our day, in terms of their positioning, the butterfly, everything," he said. "Including handling the puck."