Welcome to NHL99, The Athletic’s countdown of the best 100 players in modern NHL history. We’re ranking 100 players but calling it 99 because we all know who’s No. 1 — it’s the 99 spots ...

The Hall of Fame goalie who backstopped the Islanders to ... Fortunately, his former teammates have plenty of “Battlin’ ” Billy Smith stories. “It was comforting to know that you had ...

“He’d miss the other guy and hit me.” But it was all just part of Smith's overall demeanor. UNIONDALE, NY - CIRCA 1980: Goaltender Billy Smith #31 of the New York Islanders defends his goal ...

Islanders icon Billy Smith was a superb goalie and four-time Stanley Cup winner. But he was also a fantastic interview. And in this story Smith wrote for THN, he was in peak form. Amazing ...

Edmonton Oilers and NHL legend Wayne Gretzky named a four-time Stanley Cup winning goaltender as the toughest netminder he ...

It's not every day that an NHL goaltender scores a goal, and that's what makes it so special. On November 28, 1979, New York Islanders netminder Billy Smith made NHL history. After Rob Ramage of ...

Billy Smith also scored a goal for the Islanders and was the first goalie in NHL history to ever be credited with one. Like Sorokin's goal, it was also the result of an own goal. Of the 20 goalie ...

Sorokin joins Hockey Hall of Famer Billy Smith as the second Islanders netminder to ever record a goal. Smith has the distinction of being the first goalie in NHL history to be credited with a ...

He shot it the length of the ice into an empty net after Boston pulled goalie Rejean Lemelin, capping a 5-2 victory at the Spectrum. Smith became the first goalie to be credited with a goal when ...

Advertisement In fact, we’ve now had four goalie goals in less than two years ... Please don’t come to my house and hack my ankles, Billy Smith. As it turns out, we have an even dozen to ...