There might not ever be another goalie like Cam Ward in Carolina Hurricanes history. Sticking with the organization from 2005 to 2018, Ward owns just about every organizational record a goalie can hold. On December 26, 2011, Ward not only put himself in elite company in NHL history, he did something never done before by a Whaler or a Hurricane.
For this post-Christmas battle, the Hurricanes welcomed the New Jersey Devils to town to begin a back-to-back. Things were going very poorly for the group, sitting with the worst record in the Eastern Conference once Christmas rolled around. Paul Maurice had already been fired a month early, with Kirk Muller taking his place. The Devils were seventh in the conference, doing their best to remain in a playoff spot as 2012 approached.
The Canes would get on the board midway through the first period. While short-handed, a bouncing puck eluded Ilya Kovalchuk's stick, allowing Brandon Sutter and Patrick Dwyer to skate out on a 2-on-1. Sutter opted to take it himself, snapping his shot past Johan Hedberg to put the Canes ahead with his third short-handed goal of the season.
The second period was also kind to the Hurricanes. Tuomo Ruutu deposited a loose puck past Hedberg to make it 2-0 early in the frame. In the latter stages, Anthony Stewart found some room on the short side. Hedberg got a piece of it, but not enough to keep it out. The Devils had a big push in the third period, led by David Clarkson, Anton Volchenkov, and Adam Henrique. Clarkson started by clapping a shot past Ward to break the shutout, while Henrique put home a rebound with 2:20 left.
Hedberg would make his way to the bench as the Devils tried to find the tying goal in the final minute. For what would eventually happen to work out, you need a ton of luck. For this late Christmas miracle, Cam Ward got all of the luck in the world, giving us a gift that we didn't know we'd received until after the fact.
The play began with Ward making a pad stop on Patrik Elias from above the far circle. Ward pushed the puck into the boards for Kovalchuk to pick up. After playing catch with Zach Parise, Kovalchuk spun to create space before he tried to pass it to Henrique at the point, but the pass was behind him. Henrique couldn't get his stick on it as the puck slid down the ice into the empty net, cementing a 4-2 Hurricanes win.
The replays made it seem like Sutter might've gotten his stick on the pass, but one angle made it clear that he hadn't. Because Ward was the last Hurricane to touch the puck, the goal would be credited to him, marking the first-ever goalie goal in organization history and the 12th in league history. Ironically, the Canes would have something similar happen to them the following season against the Devils after Jordan Staal's pass went into the empty net, giving Martin Brodeur his third-career goal.
Goalie goals are rare enough that I can't say whether we'll ever see one again in Hurricanes history, though they have a goalie who very well could do it. Pyotr Kochetkov nearly had a chance to do it against the Rangers before Christmas this season. Instead, he opted for his second assist of the game. It wasn't the most glamorous goal ever scored. In fact, Ward never shot the puck. However, it will forever live in history as the first, and so far only, goalie goal by a Carolina Hurricane.