Today in NHL History, Dec 14th

1926: Ottawa's David Gill extended his NHL record for best start by a rookie coach to 9-0-1, when the Senators beat the Americans 2-0 in New York. The record ended with a loss two days later in Ottawa. Alex Connell recorded his 24th career shutout.

1929: Montreal's Pit Lepine scored five goals (including his second career hat trick), and added an assist, to lead the Canadiens to a 6-4 win against Ottawa.....Toronto's Harold "Baldy" Cotton scored two goals in overtime as the Leafs won 7-6 over the visiting New York Rangers, who had become the first team in NHL history to travel by air (via a charter flight) to face an opponent.

1933: Lorne Chabot recorded his 59th career shutout as the Canadiens beat Toronto 2-0 in a penalty-free game played in Montreal. Also in that game, Montreal's Howie Morenz became the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer, when the 247th of his career moved him ahead of Cy Denneny. The milestone came in a 2-0 Canadiens' win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

1934: New York Rangers purchased goaltender Davey Kerr from the Montreal Maroons.....Boston Bruins traded Hap Emms and Orville Heximer to the New York Americans, in exchange for Walter "Red" Jackson.

1952: Red Wings extended their team-record undefeated streak to 9 straight games (6-0-3) with a 0-0 tie against the visiting Montreal Canadiens. It was the 28th career shutout for Wings' Terry Sawchuk and the second shutout in two days for Gerry McNeil.

1966: Toronto's Eddie Shack scored his 100th career NHL goal as the Maple Leafs beat Boston 2-1.

1967: Doug Mohns scored twice as the Black Hawks improved their team-record road unbeaten streak to 11 games (6-0-5), with a 3-1 win over the Red Wings at Detroit.

1968: Montreal rookie goaltender Tony Esposito recorded his first career NHL shutout to lead the Canadiens to a 1-0 win over the Flyers in Montreal.....Boston's Bobby Orr recorded his first career NHL hat trick and added two assists in a 10-5 win over Chicago, at Boston Garden.

1969: Rookie Cliff Koroll scored his first NHL hat trick, and Stan Mikita added three assists to lead the Black Hawks to a 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers, at Chicago Stadium.

1974: New York Rangers' Greg Polis set a team record with 33 penalty minutes in one game as the Rangers lost to the Blues, 6-2. The two teams totaled 256 penalty minutes, including 196 in the final period.....Houston's Gordie Howe scored two goals for the 900th and 901st of his pro career, as the Aeros won 5-3 over the Winnipeg Jets. The 901 goals included 70 goals in the playoffs with the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL and the Aeros of the WHA.

1975: Larry Romanchych set an Atlanta Flames team record with three straight goals in the third period of a 7-4 Flames' win at Buffalo. It was Romanchych's first career hat trick.

1976: Sabres' Rick Martin became the first player in franchise history to score 250 goals. The milestone goal (along with an assist) came as Buffalo won 6-3 at Vancouver.

1978: Defenseman Jim Schoenfeld set up two goals in two minutes midway through the third period to lead the Sabres to a 3-2 win against the Black Hawks, at the Aud.

1980: Philadelphia's Rick MacLeish became the second player in franchise history to score 300 goals as a member of the Flyers. The milestone came in a 5-4 win against the visiting St. Louis Blues.

1982: Marcel Dionne scored twice to become the 9th player in NHL history to score 500 career NHL goals, as the Kings lost at Washington 7-2.

1983: Winnipeg's Dale Hawerchuk tied a team record for most points in a game, with three goals and three assists, for six points in an 8-4 Jets' win at Toronto. It was the 6th career hat trick for Hawerchuk.

1984: Minnesota North Stars traded Brent Ashton along with Brad Maxwell to the Quebec Nordiques, in exchange for Tony McKegney and Bo Berglund.

1985: Ron Wicks officiated his 1,034th regular season game, in Minnesota, to pass Bruce Hood as the all time leader in NHL games officiated by a referee. North Stars tied 6-6 with Toronto.....Quebec's Michel Goulet scored 4 goals (including his 8th career hat trick) and added an assist, Peter Stastny had a goal and 4 assists and Brent Ashton collected his third career hat trick as the Nordiques won 9-3 against the visiting NJ Devils.

1986: Stan Smyl scored his 6th career hat trick to lead Vancouver to a 7-3 win in Chicago. Smyl's third goal was the 551st point of his NHL career and moved him past Thomas Gradin as the Canucks' all-time leading scorer.

1988: John Ogrodnick and Brian Mullen scored goals :32 seconds apart in the second period as the Rangers won 2-1 over the Islanders.

1991: Chicago's John Tonelli played in his 1,000th career NHL game as the Blackhawks tied 1-1 with the Flyers at Philadelphia.

1995: Boston's Adam Oates scored four goals for his 6th career hat trick and added an assist as the Bruins won 6-4 over the Panthers, at the FleetCenter.

1996: Philadelphia goalie Garth Snow recorded his first NHL career shutout as the Flyers won 4-0 against the Whalers, at Hartford. It was the first of four straight shutouts for the Flyers.

1997: Teppo Numminen became the Coyotes' franchise all-time leader in assists by a defenseman, when he picked up the 250th of his career in a 3-3 tie against the Red Wings, in Phoenix. Numminen broke the mark of 249 set by Fredrik Olausson. Also in that game, Phoenix' Mike Gartner scored twice to become the 5th player in NHL history to get 700 career goals.

1998: Calgary's Theoren Fleury became the first player in franchise history to score 350 goals as a member of the Flames. The milestone came in a 5-2 loss to the Rangers,at New York.

2000: Claude Lemieux scored two goals and added an assist for his 700th career point as Phoenix won 3-2 against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. The milestone came in Lemieux's third game as a Coyote.....Mighty Ducks of Anaheim fired head coach Craig Hartsburg, and named assistant coach Guy Charron to replace him. Charron became the fourth head coach in franchise history.

2001: Evgeni Nabokov set a franchise record for career shutouts with his 11th as a Shark, breaking the record he shared with Steve Shields (10). The record came in a 3-0 win over the Avalanche at Colorado.

2002: Minnesota's Andrew Brunette scored the 100th goal of his NHL career in a 3-1 loss at Nashville.


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