Jeremy Roenick wasn't even aiming at the net. He was just trying to fire the puck around the boards as the Sharks were entering the offensive zone.
But the puck took a freakish bounce off a stanchion and went skittering toward the net, where Phoenix goalie Alex Auld misplayed it and could only watch helplessly as it crossed the goal line.
The goal wasn't pretty - but it was Roenick's 500th in the NHL.
"I'll take them any way I can get them. It was a fortunate bounce," said Roenick, who became the 40th player - but only the third American - to reach that milestone. "I saw it go in and my heart kind of dropped down to my stomach. It's an unbelievable feeling."
The unassisted goal gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead and held up as the winner - Roenick's league-leading fourth of the season - as San Jose beat the Coyotes 4-1 to end its two-game losing streak.
It was the second historic goal at HP Pavilion in four nights. On Wednesday, Dallas veteran Mike Modano scored twice to tie, then break the NHL record for points by a U.S.-born player. Modano also has the most goals by an American, 511.
When the puck went into the net, Roenick immediately was mobbed by teammates. The standing ovation that followed became a roar of support as Roenick, 37, acknowledged the crowd by pumping his fists as he skated along the blue line near the opening to the Sharks' bench.
Cameras caught tears welling up in his eyes and when the image appeared on the videoboard, the crowd roared again.
Roenick's 500th goal came against the team he played for last season. It was a frustrating time and with only 11 goals in 70 games, he considered retiring. But a call from Sharks G.M. Doug Wilson - Roenick's first roommate when he entered the league with the Chicago Blackhawks - got him to reconsider.
Roenick had a surprise for Wilson after the game: the 500th-goal puck.
"It's a very special thing for me," said Roenick, who signed a one-year, $500,000 contract to play with the Sharks. "Without him offering me this opportunity, this wouldn't have happened. It's important to me that he has it and I hope he keeps it. I hope he doesn't give it back to my wife."
Roenick made the event a family affair, bringing his 10-year-old son, Brett, onto the ice with him in his postgame talk to the crowd.
"These fans have really embraced me since I've come here," he said. "It's great - especially when a lot of people around the country have left me out to the dogs, thinking I was done."
The Sharks fell behind 1-0 at 9:00 in the first period when Coyotes veteran Steven Reinprecht scored on Evgeni Nabokov from the high slot to cap a three-on-two rush.
But San Jose started to turn things around in the second period when rookie Devin Setoguchi pounced on a loose puck after a scramble in front of Auld and slid it past the Phoenix goalie at 3:11. Roenick's goal followed a little more than three minutes later.
The Sharks broke the game open in the third period on goals by rookie center Torrey Mitchell and veteran defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. It was Ozolinsh's first goal in his second tour with San Jose.
Sharks Coach Ron Wilson said Roenick, who could pass Joe Mullen and become the second-leading American goal scorer with three more goals, sets a fine example for the team.
"Just the joy he shows when he plays is kind of inspirational right now," Wilson said. "He's certainly somebody that a lot of people on our team need to get a read on and see that it's OK to be passionate. As a matter of fact, that's the only way you should be when you're playing a game like this."
Read David Pollak's Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/ sharks. Contact him at dpollak@mercurynews.com.