NHL empty-net goals may feel ‘sleazy,’ but they count all the same (2025)

It’s got to be a one-timer from the left circle, right? Probably on the power play. You can picture it so easily — down on one knee, getting all of it, blasting a hole in the back of the net. That’s how Alex Ovechkin gets No. 895. A breakaway could be fun, too. He doesn’t get as many of those these days, but back in the day, few things were more terrifying than Ovechkin hurtling through the neutral zone with a full head of steam. A rebound or a deflection would be a little less memorable, but Ovechkin’s done plenty of damage around the net in the last 20 years. It’s not ideal, not the kind of goal you put on a poster, but it could work.

Just not an empty-net goal, right? Anything but an empty-netter. So anticlimactic. So easy. So unworthy of the accomplishment. There’s just something about scoring when the opposing goalie is pulled, isn’t there? Like those goals shouldn’t count the same as a perfectly hit one-timer or a sweet forehand-to-backhand move on a daring drive to the net. Can you imagine Ovechkin throwing himself into the glass in a historic celebration after an empty-netter? Ugh. Even players look sheepish when they score them. Empty-netters? More like empty calories.

“Sometimes you get two in a game, or you get a couple points off them, and you feel kind of sleazy,” said the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, who has four of empty-netters this season. “But what are you supposed to do? You’re up by one, a minute left, you’ve got to put it in the net. It comes with being on a good team. You get leads, and then you get those. I get it, though. People don’t love it, I’m sure. But the whole point is just to end the game.”

End the game. Wait. Hang on a second. Think about that for a moment. Empty-netters end the game. They’re the true game-winning goals. Score one and you’ve assured victory. They end the tension, they deflate the opponent, they send the fans home. They’re huge. So what if Ovechkin is the NHL’s all-time leader in empty-net goals? So what if more than 7 percent of his career goal totals came without an opposing goaltender on the ice?

That means more than 7 percent of his goals guaranteed a Washington Capitals win. That’s not nothing. And look who’s next on the list — Wayne Gretzky, the man Ovechkin is chasing for the all-time goals record. Gretzky scored 56 empty-netters in his career. After that, it’s Marián Hossa (40), Brad Marchand (38), Sidney Crosby (36) and Mario Lemieux (33). Pretty good company.

No, there’s no shame in an empty-netter. In fact, there’s an art to it.

“We take a lot of pride in it,” said the Winnipeg Jets’ Kyle Connor, who has three empty-netters this year after scoring four last year. “When it’s six-on-five, you’ve got to be able to shut the game down, to end it. If you don’t finish it and they tie it and you go to overtime, you’re giving up points. Obviously, it doesn’t get the hype of a normal goal, but it’s a big factor in the game. They count all the same.”

Brock Boeser was hemming and hawing. The question posed to him was simple: When there’s an empty net at the other end of the ice, should you shoot for it the moment the puck touches your stick, no matter how deep you are in your own end?

“It depends on the situation,” the Vancouver Canucks right wing said. “Say your team’s up by two goals instead of one, then you might as well let it fly.”

At this point, a few minutes into the conversation, Boeser’s lockermate, Elias Pettersson, had heard enough.

“You let it fly every time!” Pettersson, a Canucks center, loudly interjected while laughing.

“No, not last time,” Boeser snootily corrected before returning to his questioner. “He’s a little upset with me on a couple of them.”

The follow-up is a little more complex. Has hockey protocol changed in recent years? Is it no longer gauche to fire 170-foot wrist shots at a yawning cage? Have NHL teams decided it’s worth risking an icing infraction to have a chance at the goal? Should Boeser have thrown his guy Pettersson a bone?

“I don’t know,” Boeser said before dramatically turning and offering Pettersson a hard stare worthy of Paddington Bear. “I’m just focused on winning.”

There’s no question that the stigma of shooting the puck the length of the ice is a thing of the past. Watch any one-goal game, and in the final two minutes, you’re bound to see a handful of icing calls as the team that’s up a goal turns and fires any chance it gets. That used to be a rarity in the NHL. Sure, if you have a clear path, you’ll carry the puck out of the zone and either rag the puck or pass it to an open teammate with a clean look at the goal. Or, if you’re under pressure and can’t get a shot off, you’ll try to lob the puck into the neutral zone or bank it off the boards. Anything to get another 10 seconds off the clock.

But if you have a chance, shoot. No matter where you are. That seems to be the league’s new empty-net etiquette.

“Guys have different opinions on it,” said the Calgary Flames’ Blake Coleman, who tied for the league lead with seven empty-netters last season (he has three this season). “But I’ve always been for it. If you have a chance to put the game away, you should take it. And guys are good enough in this league that they have a pretty good chance of hitting that net, even from far away.”

Teams do practice playing five-on-six and six-on-five. But you won’t see a lot of players working on full-rink shots in practices or at morning skates. In games, though, it’s becoming more and more of a reflex for players around the league. Sometimes, it’s easier to shoot from 150 feet than it is to skate up the ice and shoot from closer range. Because sometimes, your brain gets in the way.

“If we practiced it, we would pretty much make it every time,” Pettersson said. “In games, you have that moment to think, it’s like, ‘Oh, s—.’”

“There’s more pressure that way, yeah,” Boeser chimed in. “Once you think about it, there’s a little pressure. And if you get a couple stickhandles in, you’re definitely thinking about it. If the puck’s wobbling or bouncing, you’re like, ‘Don’t mess this up.’ It can be easier to just let it fly.”

Another hockey taboo is being selfish. Rookie snipers always seem to defer to older players, turning up shots and forcing passes. Same thing goes for empty-netters. As MacKinnon said, it can feel “sleazy” to get a cheapie, so players often try to reward their teammates with empty-net goals. If a player has scored two goals in a game, you can be sure the coach will put him out there if the opposing net is empty, and all of his teammates will be trying to put the puck on his stick so he can get the hat trick.

But being selfish is important. It’s necessary. Vegas learned that the hard way earlier this month in a game against the Buffalo Sabres. Up 3-2 in the final minute, the Golden Knights’ Tomáš Hertl had the game on his stick when he picked Ryan McLeod’s pocket and headed up ice toward the empty net. But rather than simply shoot the puck into the net, he looked over his shoulder, saw Jack Eichel joining the rush, and tried an unnecessary and overly fancy drop pass to hook up his teammate. Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin broke up the pass, then scored the equalizer 14 seconds later.

Sometimes the well-lubricated fans in the 300 level are right: Just shoot the dang puck.

“That’s more of a locker-room thing —you want to be a good guy and help teammates out getting their points or their accolades,” Coleman said. “But if the opportunity is there, you want to take it. You don’t want to risk not winning the game.”

“There’s a time and a place,” Connor said. “If you’re on a two-on-one, you’re burying that 100 percent. But if a guy makes a good play going up the ice, or he’s going for a hat trick, you want to tap it over to him. Guys are always looking for someone to finish it off.”

The selfish play is almost always the right play in these situations. Everyone understands that. But that doesn’t mean you won’t catch any grief from your teammates after you take the freebie.

“Everybody’s always open when the net’s empty,” Coleman said with a laugh.

Jets forward Brandon Tanev isn’t exactly a goal scorer. His career high is 16 in 2022-23 with the Seattle Kraken. In 542 career games, he’s scored 84 times. But 14 of those goals — nearly 17 percent! — have been empty-netters. He had five in that career season alone.

For every Ovechkin who’s out there in the dying minutes, lingering near the blue line, hoping for an outlet pass that will lead to a game-clinching empty-netter, there are a couple of Tanev types — gritty, defensive-minded players just trying to hold onto a lead against a team loading up for the tying tally. An empty-netter can be a perk for that type of player.

“Those goals are nice to come by when they do happen,” Tanev said. “It’s a hidden reward for doing the job at the end of the game. Guys are more concerned about the two points (in the standings for a win). But if something does happen like that, it’s a good bonus.”

The final minute of a one- or two-goal game is prime NHL real estate. Every player wants to be on the ice when the game is on the line, every player wants to be trusted to close a game out against the other team’s top players, and, yes, every player wants a crack at that empty net.

Being able to score from 150 feet away is a good selling point. But having a coach’s trust is a bigger one. Tanev has always had his coaches’ trust. Even in college. Yes, he scored the NCAA championship-winning goal for Providence College in 2015, firing the puck into the net over Boston University goalie Matt O’Connor’s left shoulder. But before that, he also scored empty-netters that sealed the regional semifinal against Miami University and the regional final against Denver University that same spring. Late in a close game? That’s Tanev time.

“If you’re on the ice five-on-six, your coaches have a trust in you to get done what needs to be done,” Tanev said. “And if there’s an opportunity to push for an empty net and close the game out, guys have an understanding — a read, or just the vision —of the situation. Guys like me aren’t really pushing to score that goal. But if the opportunity presents itself, we’re all for it.”

Coleman is the perfect five-on-six player — a guy who’s a proven scorer but also has a reliable two-way mindset. For that same reason, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Brandon Hagel — a very gifted, very fast but very responsible player on a very good team — is a modern empty-net master, with a league-high 18 ENGs over the past three seasons.

Some players (Ovechkin and Gretzky included) are thinking about scoring the game-ending goal the moment the opposing goalie leaves the crease. But the Colemans and Tanevs and Hagels of the world are thinking the opposite.

“It’s defense. You’re thinking defense,” Coleman said. “I view it as I would a penalty kill. If the opportunity (to score) is there, you take it. And if it’s not, you play it safe and get the puck out. That’s the mindset.”

There is some nuance, of course. If you’re holding a two-goal lead, you’re more likely to chuck it and risk the icing. If you’re playing with a center who’s strong on faceoffs, you’re also more likely to risk the icing, knowing he can win the defensive-zone draw if you miss the net. If the clock is down to the last 10 or 15 seconds, the smart play is to just loft the puck out of your zone or skate it out, because once you cross the blue line, the opponent’s pretty much out of time. If there are sticks and bodies in the way, a high chip or a bank off the boards is a better choice than risking a turnover with a shot attempt.

But there’s never anything wrong with trying to score. Ovechkin knows it. Gretzky knew it. Goals are good. Empty-net goals are great. They’re game-enders, after all.

“They’re adding it to his goal count, I’m sure,” MacKinnon said of Ovechkin’s unrivaled empty-net prowess. “They’re not going to take those away. It’s like in the NBA, you have free-throw merchants and things like that. (Garbage time) in the NFL. Stat padders. In every sport, there’s some sort of parallel.”

And you know what? They all count the same.

“At the end of the day,” Connor said, “they don’t ask how. They ask how many.”

(Photo of Alex Ovechkin: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)