The 26-year-old Swede made 27 of 28 shots at home in the winning match, but eight seconds before the end of regulation time he distinguished himself with an accurate shot, becoming the first “Wild” goaltender to score in an NHL match.
Overall, in the history of the NHL, Gustafsons became the 15th goalkeeper who managed to score a goal and the tenth who sent the puck into the opponent’s goal himself (the other goalkeepers were the last ones from their team to touch the puck before it entered the goal).
Marko Rossi, Ryan Hartman and Jakub Lauko also marked the winners with accurate shots, while Kirill Kaprizov provided two assists. Mathieu Josephs scored the only goal for the home team “Blues”.
In another match, last season’s Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton “Oilers” celebrated their first win of the season, defeating Philadelphia “Flyers” at home 4:3 (0:2, 2:1, 1:0, 1:0) in overtime.
Leon Draisaitl scored the winning goal in the 56th second of overtime after a pass from Connor McDavid.
Adam Henriques, Connor Brown and Evan Bouchard scored goals in the regular time for the Edmonton team, while for the “Flyers” Matvei Michkov scored twice and Bobby Brink once.
Meanwhile, the Calgary “Flames” and Dallas “Stars” teams continue the regular championship without losses, which won their fourth in four games played on Tuesday.
“Flames” beat the Chicago “Blackhawks” 3-1 (1-1, 1-0, 1-0) at home, Matt Coronato scoring two goals. Andrey Kuzmenko had another accurate shot, but goaltender Dustin Wolf stopped 31 of 32 shots from the opposition, surrendering the only time on a Nick Folino feed.
On the other hand, “Stars” defeated the hockey players of San Jose “Sharks” on their field with 3:2 (0:0, 2:2, 0:0, 0:0, 3:1) in the postgame shootout.
Matt Duchene and Rope Hintz stood out for the Dallas team with accurate shots in regular time, but Wyatt Johnston scored the winning goal. Tyler Toffoli and Ty Dellandrea scored for the Sharks.
It has already been reported that on Tuesday the mutual matches were played by clubs represented by Latvians – the Columbus “Blue Jackets” with goalkeeper Elvi Merzlikinas lost at home with the score 3:4 (0:0, 2:3, 1:1) to the Florida “Panthers” team, in which they played Latvian defender Uvis Balinskis, but Tampa Bay “Lightning” and forward Zemgus Girgensons won 4:1 (1:0, 1:0, 2:1) at home against the Vancouver “Canucks” team, in which Latvian goalkeeper Artūrs Šilovs and Latvian forward Teodors played Blüger.