Today In NHL History - Ilya Kovalchuk's Own Goal

On December 26th in 2011, New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk fired an errant pass from the Carolina Hurricanes goal line past extra-attacker and intended recipient Adam Henrique and into the Devils empty net for an own goal, down 3-2 with 29 seconds to play.

Afterwards, the oft-maligned overpaid winger acknowledged "we were working hard, but a bad decision by me cost us the game." Compounding matters, it was Kovalchuk's mishandling of the puck in the first period that led to a shorthanded score by Carolina's Brandon Sutter.

Kovalchuk's own goal was awarded to Cam Ward making him the 10th NHL netminder to be credited with a goal and the first in Hurricanes history. Carolina beat New Jersey that night by a score of 4-2.

That's today in NHL history.