Midway through the third period of Wednesday night’s game between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals came a rare playoff occurrence – a postseason penalty shot.
New York winger Carl Hagelin was hooked by Washington defenseman Mike Green. Referee Chris Lee skated behind the net, immediately signaling for a penalty shot.
“We got caught a little flat-footed staring at the play,” said Capitals coach Barry Trotz. “Hagelin got through there and you’ve got to take that [penalty].”
GIF: Hagelin gets penalty shot pic.twitter.com/gQq2pSBem5
— Stephanie (@myregularface) May 7, 2015
Hagelin moved in with speed, first deking to his forehand before lifting a backhand shot right into Holtby’s glove.
“You’re going in there thinking you’re going to score,” Hagelin said. “I wanted to fake shot and then bring it to my backhand and he was in the split there and he made a good save.”
“We had a lot of confidence in Braden there,” said Trotz. “You talk about making saves at key moments in a game or in a series and we’ve been getting that.”
GIF: Holtby flashes the glove to rob Hagelin's penalty shot pic.twitter.com/qp7H0LMuIZ
— Stephanie (@myregularface) May 7, 2015
“I was trying to be patient,” said Holtby. “He’s a fast guy so I thought he would try to use his speed. You just try not to think too much — just react.”
Playoff Penalty Shots
That was the first penalty shot called this postseason through 62 games. In the regular season, 41 penalty shots were handed out, with shooters converting on just 14 of those attempts. Teams that scored penalty shot goals were 8-6 in the regular season.
| Date | Shooter | Team | Goaltender | Team | Goal | Score | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-21-22 | Babe Dye | TOR | Hugh Lehman | VAN | No | VAN 1 at TOR 2* | F |
| 3-25-37 | Lionel Conacher | MTM | Tiny Thompson | BOS | No | Mtl.M 0 at BOS 4 | QF |
| 4-15-37 | Alex Shibicky | NYR | Earl Robertson | DET | No | NYR 0 at DET 3 | F |
| 3-24-38 | Mush March | CHI | Wilf Cude | MTL | No | MTL 0 at CHI 4 | QF |
| 3-29-38 | Lorne Carr | NYA | Mike Karakas | CHI | No | CHI 1 at NYA 3 | SF |
| 4-10-38 | Art Wiebe | CHI | Turk Broda | TOR | No | TOR 1 at CHI 2 | F |
| 3-24-42 | Charlie Sands | MTL | Johnny Mowers | DET | No | DET 0 at MTL 5 | QF |
| 4-13-44 | Virgil Johnson | CHI | Bill Durnan | MTL | No | CHI 4 at MTL 5* | F |
| 4-09-68 | Wayne Connelly | MIN | Terry Sawchuk | LAK | Yes | LAK 5 at MIN 7 | QF |
| 4-27-68 | Jim Roberts | STL | Cesare Maniago | MIN | No | STL 4 at MIN 3 | SF |
| 5-16-71 | Frank Mahovlich | MTL | Tony Esposito | CHI | No | CHI 3 at MTL 4 | F |
| 5-07-75 | Bill Barber | PHI | Glenn Resch | NYI | No | PHI 3 at NYI 4* | SF |
| 4-20-79 | Mike Walton | CHI | Glenn Resch | NYI | No | NYI 4 at CHI 0 | QF |
| 4-09-81 | Peter McNab | BOS | Don Beaupre | MIN | No | MIN 5 at BOS 4* | PR |
| 4-17-81 | Anders Hedberg | NYR | Mike Liut | STL | Yes | NYR 6 at STL 4 | QF |
| 4-09-83 | Denis Potvin | NYI | Pat Riggin | WSH | No | NYI 6 at WSH 2 | DSF |
| 4-28-84 | Wayne Gretzky | EDM | Don Beaupre | MIN | Yes | EDM 8 at MIN 5 | CF |
| 5-01/84 | Mats Naslund | MTL | Billy Smith | NYI | No | MTL 1 at NYI 3 | CF |
| 4-14-85 | Bob Carpenter | WSH | Billy Smith | NYI | No | WSH 4 at NYI 6 | DF |
| 5-28-85 | Ron Sutter | PHI | Grant Fuhr | EDM | No | PHI 3 at EDM 5 | F |
| 5-30-85 | Dave Poulin | PHI | Grant Fuhr | EDM | No | PHI 3 at EDM 8 | F |
| 4-09-88 | John Tucker | BUF | Andy Moog | BOS | Yes | BOS 2 at BUF 6 | DSF |
| 4-09-88 | Petr Klima | DET | Allan Bester | TOR | Yes | DET 6 at TOR 3 | DSF |
| 4-08-89 | Neal Broten | MIN | Greg Millen | STL | Yes | STL 5 at MIN 3 | DSF |
| 4-04-90 | Al MacInnis | CGY | Kelly Hrudey | LAK | Yes | LAK 5 at CGY 3 | DSF |
| 4-05-90 | Randy Wood | NYI | Mike Richter | NYR | No | NYI 1 at NYR 2 | DSF |
| 5-03-90 | Kelly Miller | WSH | Andy Moog | BOS | No | WSH 3 at BOS 5 | CF |
| 5-18-90 | Petr Klima | EDM | Reggie Lemelin | BOS | No | EDM 7 at BOS 2 | F |
| 4-06-91 | Basil McRae | MIN | Ed Belfour | CHI | Yes | MIN 2 at CHI 5 | DSF |
| 4-10-91 | Steve Duchesne | LAK | Kirk McLean | VAN | Yes | LAK 6 at VAN 1 | DSF |
| 5-11-92 | Jaromir Jagr | PIT | John Vanbiesbrouck | NYR | Yes | PIT 3 at NYR 2 | DF |
| 5-13-92 | Shawn McEachern | PIT | John Vanbiesbrouck | NYR | No | NYR 1 at PIT 5 | DF |
| 6-07-94 | Pavel Bure | VAN | Mike Richter | NYR | No | NYR 4 at VAN 2 | F |
| 5-09-95 | Patrick Poulin | CHI | Felix Potvin | TOR | No | TOR 3 at CHI 0 | CQF |
| 5-10-95 | Michal Pivonka | WSH | Tom Barrasso | PIT | No | PIT 2 at WSH 6 | CQF |
| 4-24-96 | Joe Juneau | WSH | Ken Wregget | PIT | No | PIT 3 at WSH 2** | CQF |
| 5-11-97 | Eric Lindros | PHI | Steve Shields | BUF | Yes | PHI 6 at BUF 3 | CSF |
| 4-23-98 | Aleksey Morozov | PIT | Andy Moog | MTL | No | MTL 3 at PIT 2** | CQF |
| 4-22-99 | Mats Sundin | TOR | John Vanbiesbrouck | PHI | No | PHI 3 at TOR 0 | CQF |
| 5-29-99 | Mats Sundin | TOR | Dominik Hasek | BUF | Yes | TOR 2 at BUF 5 | CF |
| 4-16-00 | Eric Desjardins | PHI | Dominik Hasek | BUF | No | PHI 2 at BUF 0 | CQF |
| 4-11-01 | Mark Recchi | PHI | Dominik Hasek | BUF | No | BUF 2 at PHI 1 | CQF |
| 5-02-01 | Martin Straka | PIT | Dominik Hasek | BUF | No | BUF 5 at PIT 2 | CSF |
| 5-12-01 | Joe Sakic | COL | Roman Turek | STL | Yes | STL 1 at COL 4 | CF |
| 4-21-02 | Todd Bertuzzi | VAN | Dominik Hasek | DET | No | DET 3 at VAN 1 | CQF |
| 4-24-02 | Shawn Bates | NYI | Curtis Joseph | TOR | Yes | TOR 3 at NYI 4 | CQF |
| 4-26-02 | Mike Johnson | PHX | Evgeni Nabokov | SJS | Yes | PHX 1 at SJS 4 | CQF |
| 4-15-03 | Dainius Zubrus | WSH | Nikolai Khabibulin | TBL | No | TBL 4 at WSH 3 | CQF |
| 4-21-03 | Robert Reichel | TOR | Roman Cechmanek | PHI | No | PHI 1 at TOR 2 | CQF |
| 4-07-07 | Steve Sullivan | NSH | Manny Legace | DET | No | NSH 1 at DET 3 | CQF |
| 4-28-06 | Derek Roy | BUF | Robert Esche | PHI | No | BUF 4 at PHI 5 | CQF |
| 6-05-06 | Chris Pronger | EDM | Cam Ward | CAR | Yes | EDM 4 at CAR 5 | F |
| 4-21-07 | Daniel Cleary | DET | Miikka Kiprusoff | CGY | Yes | CGY 1 at DET 5 | CQF |
| 6-06-07 | Antoine Vermette | OTT | J.S. Giguere | ANA | No | OTT 2 at ANA 6 | F |
| 4-09-08 | Ryan Smyth | COL | Niklas Backstrom | MIN | No | COL 3 at MIN 2 | CQF |
| 4-15-08 | Mike Richards | PHI | Cristobal Huet | WSH | Yes | WSH 3 at PHI 6 | CQF |
| 4-18-08 | John Madden | NJD | Henrik Lundqvist | NYR | No | NYR 5 at NJD 3 | CQF |
| 4-24-08 | Andrei Kostitsyn | MTL | Martin Biron | PHI | No | PHI 3 at MTL 4 | CSF |
| 4-29-08 | Niklas Hagman | DAL | Evgeni Nabokov | SJS | No | SJS 1 at DAL 2 | CSF |
| 5-01-08 | Evgeni Malkin | PIT | Henrik Lundqvist | NYR | No | PIT 0 at NYR 3 | CSF |
| 4-20-10 | Martin Erat | NSH | Antti Niemi | CHI | Yes | CHI 1 at NSH 4 | CQF |
| 5-04-10 | Henrik Zetterberg | DET | Evgeni Nabokov | SJS | No | SJS 4 at DET 3 | CSF |
| 5-08-10 | Joe Pavelski | SJS | Jimmy Howard | DET | No | SJS 2 at DET 1 | CSF |
| 5-12-10 | Ville Leino | PHI | Tuukka Rask | BOS | No | PHI 2 at BOS 1 | CSF |
| 4-24-11 | Michael Frolik | Chicago | Cory Schneider | VAN | Yes | VAN 3 at CHI 4 | CQF |
| 4-25-11 | Chris Connor | PIT | Dwayne Roloson | TBL | No | PIT 3 at TBL 4 | CQF |
| 4-26-11 | Alexandre Burrows | VAN | Corey Crawford | CHI | No | CHI 1 at VAN 2 | CQF |
| 4-18-12 | Dustin Brown | LAK | Cory Schneider | VAN | No | VAN 3 at LAK 1 | CQF |
| 5-27-13 | Michael Frolik | CHI | Jimmy Howard | DET | Yes | CHI 4 at DET 3 | CSF |
| 5-16-14 | Corey Perry | ANA | Jonathan Quick | LAK | No | LAK 6 at ANA 2 | SR |
| 5-07-15 | Carl Hagelin | NY Rangers | Braden Holtby | WSH | No | NYR 1 at WSH 2 | CSF |
