WATCH: Pekka Rinne pulls off rarity with epic goalie goal

The Nashville Predators got a win under their belt for new coach John Hynes Thursday night, but goalie Pekka Rinne had the highlight of the night.

The Nashville Predators lost John Hynes’ first game behind the bench by a decisive margin earlier this week, which was not a good thing heading into Thursday night against a Chicago Blackhawks’ team that had won six of the previous nine games. Goalie Pekka Rinne did his primary job well enough, as he has generally done over 14 seasons and 650 career games now, stopping 29 of 31 shots in what would be a 5-2 victory for the Predators.

But with less than 30 seconds to go in the game, with Chicago having pulled goaltender Corey Crawford again for some reason down 4-2 with no realistic shot to tie the game anymore, Rinne had a rare opportunity to add himself to a noteworthy list.

Rinne collected the puck cleanly along the end boards after the Blackhawks dumped it in. Apparently with some urging from the Predators’ bench, according to NBCSN on-ice reporter Pierre McGuire, he took a shot toward the opposite goal.

https://twitter.com/NHLonNBCSports/status/1215484381470642176?s=20

Rinne is now the 12th goaltender in NHL history to be credited with a goal, and the first since Mike Smith on Oct. 19, 2013. He’s also just the seventh of those 12 goalies to score by directly shooting the puck into the net. The others were merely credited with a goal after being the last to touch the puck on an opponent’s own goal.

Rinne is also the second-oldest goaltender to score a regular-season goal, trailing only a nearly 41-year old Martin Brodeur in 2013.

Any resurgence for Nashville will be keyed by better play between the pipes. Rinne may or may not be up to that task as the aging No. 1 guy, but he had a memorable shining moment at the end of a much-needed win on Thursday night.