Ask the Stars: What’s the biggest goal you’ve scored?

If you’ve reached the NHL you’ve likely scored thousands of goals in your life.

Even those players that aren’t typically considered goal scorers in the NHL, you don’t reach the NHL without banking a few big goals in either minor or junior hockey.

But what’s the biggest goal you’ve ever scored? It could be a game-winner, it could be your first NHL goal, for some players it could have have been in international competition.

We asked each player that question, “What’s the biggest goal you’ve scored?” Here are their answers:

Dan Hamhuis

Oh geez, I don’t know if I’ve ever really had any big goals. My first year in Nashville we had a rivalry in Detroit all the time and we were a huge underdogs, and we took that game 0-0 into the third period. I think I came out of the penalty box with about seven minutes to go in the game got the puck. Took a shot from wide that went in on Curtis Joseph, it was the only goal and we won 1-0. I guess maybe that game, because we had tough time making the playoffs that year, and I think that goal, because we needed it more to make the playoffs, that would be my biggest goal. It’s not a great story, but it’s all I got.

Greg Pateryn

Actually against Nebraska Omaha in the (NCAA) quarters (while playing with the University of Michigan), can’t remember the exact round, but it was sometime during my junior year of college. We’re in double overtime or single overtime or something, and I shot a puck off the wall. Went off the goalie and he spun and the puck kind of trickled with his skate in. And it took like 15 minutes to review. They didn’t end up giving me the goal on paper, but after review our guy in front of the net never touched it. That allowed us to go to the semifinals or quarters of the NCAA tournament.

If you look it up, it’s not my goal. But everyone that was there knows I scored. Go look it up, it’s a wacky goal. Took like 20 minutes to review, but it’s mine.

I looked it up, Pateryn still doesn’t have credit for that goal in the record books. It still belongs to Kevin Lynch, while Pateryn is still credited with the the primary assist.

Esa Lindell

Probably so far I scored in the gold medal game in in Sweden in the under-20s World Championships, probably that one. It was first shift of the game, puck was bobbling I just shot it to the net, I think it fell flat on my stick and it went it in. We were really pumped to get the lead in Sweden against Sweden, so it was nice.

Jason Spezza

Probably my first playoff goal. Game 5 of the conference finals in Ottawa (in 2003). Team was in the conference finals, I was scratched for the start of the series scored, had a goal and an assist in Game 5, and we almost came back and won in Game 7. So Game 5 of the conference finals was probably my biggest goal.

Just the importance of being down 3-1 in a series, I was a young guy came in and you could feel the energy of the team shift, it almost gave us a little boost to come back.

Stephen Johns

I scored in overtime of the Nutcracker tournament when I was in squirts. That’s probably the biggest goal I’ve ever scored. That was with the North Pittsburgh Wildcats, might have been a tournament-winning goal. I scored a couple OT winners, that one in Rockford (against the Texas Stars), but let’s go with the Nutcracker when I was 10.

Tyler Pitlick

I don’t know. I’m trying to think, I really don’t know. My mom probably knows better than me. All I can really think of is my first NHL goal, which I’m sure a lot of guys say that or it’s cliche, but it wasn’t a pretty goal by any means. I was skating down the right wing and I tried to shoot and I fanned on it, and because I fanned on it the goalie was out of position and I whacked it and it trickled between his legs. It wasn’t that big of a goal. But it was big to me.

Julius Honka

That’s too hard of a question, like boom, out of the blue? I don’t know honestly, I can’t answer that. From what I can remember, maybe that goal last year in overtime. I guess I’m always thinking about the next one.

Remi Elie

That’s a hard one, I have to think about that one. It’s probably a game-winner of some sort, maybe when I was younger. It’s hard to remember because I scored a lot of game winners. Well lately it probably would have been my first NHL goal last year, that was an exciting one. I just remember getting the puck down low, trying to go five-hole and then I got my own rebound and put it in.

Gemel Smith

I would say mine would have to be U-18 (IIHF World Championships), I think it was in a medal game in U-18. I stole a spot on the team there and I was excited to be there and I wasn’t supposed to make it, and I think I scored the first goal of the semifinals against (the United States) and I was just a lot of emotions, that was the biggest at a high level. Back in back in school I scored in double overtime for the win in the finals, but that u-18 goal was probably the biggest one for me.

Radek Faksa

To be honest I have no idea, I’ve never really thought about it. Probably some super big goal, I’m forgetting. I guess I would say the hat trick (against Vegas), so my first hat trick. The feeling was (that) I couldn’t believe that it when it happened.

Brett Ritchie

That’s a tough question, I scored a couple in World Juniors that were pretty big. I scored on New Years Eve against the USA. It wasn’t the game-winner, but that was a big game. I scored a couple in the Calder Cup final (with the Texas Stars), so probably one of those ones.

Devin Shore

I would have been 10 and we were playing in the all-Ontarios against the Toronto Marlies. They hadn’t lost in two years and I scored a three-on-five goal with five minutes left to tie it up. And then we scored to win.

I was playing for the Ajax Pickerington Raiders and that was the semifinal, and we went on to win the tournament. We were down 2-1 and I scored three-on-five, I remember that one well. I think I picked a pass off and then went in and scored on a break.

Antoine Roussel

My first NHL goal, and the winning goal when we (France) beat Russia in the (2013) World Championships was fun. And biggest goal for me wasn’t a goal I scored, it was a goal scored that Cody Eakin or Patrick Eaves scored when Jamie (Benn) won his Art Ross trophy. It was just awesome, that like was the best moment ever. It felt like we  won something, even thought we didn’t.

Martin Hanzal

It would be my overtime winner against Chicago in the (2012) playoffs. Everything about it sticks out, it was the first playoff game in a while and it was the first home game, opening game of the playoffs and it went to overtime. I just remember every single part.

Jamie Benn

The next one.

Ok, what if we think about goals you already scored?

The Olympic (semifinals against the United States) probably the biggest goal I ever scored. It was just good work by my linemates, (Jay) Bouwmeester made a good pass and I just went to the net and had my stick on the ice and fortunately it deflected in.

Tyler Seguin

I don’t have one. I had a couple that were big and I remember as big goals, but none that are like “woah.” OT winner in Washington in the playoffs in Boston. Two goals in the second period of the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa, those are the ones that come to mind.

John Klingberg

Either in the semifinal of the World Championships this year against Finland, the game winner. Or Game 2 of the semifinals in the Swedish playoffs. We ended up winning the championship that year, it was an overtime goal in Game 2.

(The goal against Finland) was a power play goal in the second period, we had struggled with the power play the whole tournament and then right after the face-off I made a move on the blue line and got some room to shoot the puck, that was the 2-1 goal and we ended winning 4-1.

On the other goal, we lost Game 1 at home and then were going to their rink (for Game 2) and went to overtime again and I scored six minutes into OT of the first OT period. That was big, we ended up just losing one game in that playoffs. So I think that was a huge to not be down 0-2 in the series, and we later won the championship. So those were probably the two biggest goals I’ve scored.

Alexander Radulov

I don’t have any yet. Nothing really sticks out, they are all just goals. You want to win, and it’s nice to score goals, but at the end of the day I’m not really that happy with a goal unless the team is winning.

Mattias Janmark

The biggest goal that probably counted for something in the end was an OT game-winner playing in Swedish championships back home to win Game 1, because we won the championship later. It was a best-of-three series and we won 2-0.

It was the first shift in overtime. I came from the bench jumped right in on a two-on-one and had an open net to score. I got a good pass and I just shot it.

Jason Dickinson

My biggest goal would probably be Game 1 of the OHL finals (with Guelph Storm against North Bay Battalion), Game 1 OT winner. That would be the biggest one for me. I remember I was dead tired at the end of my shift and I heard Zach Mitchell, he changed he was coming in on my shoulder, and all I was thinking was, ‘Get the puck on net, don’t turn it over,’ and it was kind of a seeing eye shot that found it’s way through and kind of set us up for a good series and we won a championship.

Marc Methot

Mine would have been in our first game in the (2005) Memorial Cup (with the London Knights), we were playing against Rimouski, (Sidney) Crosby’s team and I scored two goals, including the overtime winner in that game. That would be mine. It was a lot of fun afterwords.

Editor’s note: Marc Methot and Jason Dickinson were added to this story on Jan. 5. Dickinson wasn’t on the NHL roster when this story originally published and Methot was injured at that time. Kari Lehtonen and Ben Bishop have unfortunately not scored any goals in their careers.