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Top First Goals In NHL History

Written by: Jesse Michael on 15th January 2010

Top First Goals In NHL History | read this item

Watching this amazing goal from Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Tyler Bozak in his first NHL regular season game last night got me thinking. What were some of the nicest first goals in NHL history?

Many think about the legends of hockey – Gretzky, Yzerman, Hull, Howe - and where theirs stack up in “unbelievable-ness”, when really, it’s the lesser knowns, like Bozak, that most of the time end up with the highlight reel goals.

The first NHL goal ever was – according to many sources – scored by Dave Ritchie of the Montreal Wanderers (vs. Ottawa) on December 19th, 1917. However, there all also reports that Joe Malone of the Canadiens (vs. Toronto) scored the first goal that same evening. The reports are misconstrued due to time keeping issues; there is no record of when the games started that night.

Regardless, one of these gentlemen scored the first goal ever, but something tells me that either weren’t as pretty as the ten in the following list.

With that, I present OIH’s Top Ten first goals in NHL history.

10) Alex Ovechkin – A sign of things to come from the Caps sniper

9) Artem Anisimov – Tic, Tac, Toe – finish.

8) James van Riemsdyk – Sweet move on the breakaway, backhand five-hole

7) Scott Niedermeyer – Great end-to-end, individual effort.

6) Matt Gilroy – Nice saucer pass leads to slick backhand finish from the rookie

5) Jonathan Toews – Fends off the defender for the breakaway, and roofs it.

4) Mario Lemieux – First goal, first shift, first NHL game. ‘Nuff said

3) Sean Bergenheim – A outside-inside, shorthanded dangle

2) Luc Robitaille – “Lucky Luc” with the first of an amazing career. Assisted by Marcel Dionne

1) Ville Leino – Spin’o'rama!
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Honorable Mentions

Brendan Shanahan – For the after-goal story

Nikolai Zherdev – Superman

Topics: Alex Ovechkin, Artem Anisimov, Best NHL goals, Brendan Shanahan, First NHL Goal, James Van Riemsdyk, Jonathan Toews, Luc Robitaille, Mario Lemieux, Matt Gilroy, Nikolai Zherdev, Scott Niedermeyer, Sean Bergenheim, top ten first NHL goals, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tyler Bozak, Ville Leino, Wayne Gretzky

Fred Jackson says:

January 15, 2010 at 9:18 am

This is obviously trending toward more recent years, but I would have to add Alexander Mogilny’s first goal in his first game, 89 seconds in (he was wearing #89) after defecting from Russia.
Jesse Michael says:

January 15, 2010 at 9:30 am

I know the goal you’re talking about. Just couldn’t find a video of it.
Brad says:

January 15, 2010 at 9:48 am

So where does Bozak’s goal fit in there? I think it’s better than most on that list, on par with Bergenheim’s first. I had no idea Robitaille scored such a beauty for his first, actually one of the best I’ve seen. Reminds me of the one OV scored from his back.
Jesse Michael says:

January 15, 2010 at 2:06 pm

His was definitely one of the best. I just felt since it was included at the top, I didn’t want to put it in the list.

And yeah, I went back and forth on Robitaille and Leino. They’re both spectacular.
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The Badger's Den says:

January 27, 2010 at 12:59 pm

I love the guy in the audience for Van Riemsdyk goal, zombie arms!