Today in NHL History, Dec 17th

1918: Ottawa Senators named Alf Smith as their new coach.

1921: Francis "King" Clancy played in the first game of his NHL career, as the Ottawa Senators beat Hamilton 3-2.

1924: Goalies Jake Forbes of the Hamilton Tigers and Alex Connell of the Ottawa Senators played in the first 0-0 tie in NHL history. It was the first scoreless game in eight seasons of NHL play. It was also the first shutout of Connell's rookie season.....Maroons' goaltender Clint Benedict recorded his 100th NHL career victory as Montreal won 6-2 over the visiting Boston Bruins.

1927: Canadiens' Aurel Joliat scored his first career hat trick and added an assist as Montreal won 5-1 against the visiting Boston Bruins.

1931: Goaltender George Hainsworth recorded his 65th career shutout (to extend his NHL all-time record) in the Canadiens' 1-0 win over the visiting New York Americans.

1932: Goaltender Lorne Chabot recorded his 51st career shutout in the Toronto Maple Leafs' 3-0 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

1933: Chicago's Chuck Gardiner became the first goaltender in franchise history to record 100 wins as a member of the Black Hawks. The milestone came in a 4-1 win against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1939: Reg 'Pep' Kelly scored his third (and final) career hat trick in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs won 4-1 against the Americans, at New York. NY Americans.....New York Rangers' goalie Dave Kerr and Red Wings' Tiny Thompson dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in a game played at Detroit. With the tie, the Rangers extended their team-record undefeated streak to nine straight games (4-0-5).

1940: Harvey "Busher" Jackson scored his 200th NHL goal when the New York Americans won 3-2 in overtime over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

1947: Sid Abel scored twice and had two assists while Gordie Howe added four assists in the Red Wings' 7-1 win against the Black Hawks, at Chicago.

1950: Kenny Mosdell scored a goal and added three assists to lead the Canadiens to a 7-3 win over the Black Hawks at Chicago.

1952: Rangers goalie Chuck Rayner recorded his 25th (and final) career shutout as New York won 5-0 over the visiting Boston Bruins. Rookie Neil Strain scored two goals and an assist and Wally Hergesheimer had three assists.

1955: Montreal's Bob Perreault became the 8th NHL goaltender to record a shutout in his first career game, in a 5-0 win over the visiting Black Hawks. Perreault played 6 career games with Montreal in 1955-56, with a record of 3-3-0 and a 2.00 GAA.

1957: Chicago Black Hawks traded Nick Mickoski, Jack McIntyre, Bob Bailey and Hec Lalonde to Detroit for Earl Reibel, Billy Dea, Bill Dineen and Lorne Ferguson. At the time it was the largest trade in NHL history.

1958: Ted Lindsay scored twice and added an assist to lead the Black Hawks to a 5-2 win over the Bruins, at Chicago Stadium. With the two goals Lindsay became the highest scoring left wing in NHL history, passing Aurel Joliat, who retired with 270.

1964: Montreal's Gilles Tremblay broke his leg when checked into the boards by Leafs' rookie Ron Ellis, and missed the remainder of the 1964-65 season. Montreal tied Toronto 2-2 at the Forum.

1969: Keith Allen was named the new General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, replacing Bud Poile. Allen became the second GM in Flyers history.

1972: Mickey Redmond scored a goal and three assists to lead the Red Wings to a 6-4 win over the Minnesota North Stars, at the Olympia.....Chicago goaltender Tony Esposito recorded a shutout to lead the Black Hawks to a 2-0 win over the visiting LA Kings. It was the 34th shutout of Esposito's NHL career.

1975: Syl Apps scored his second career hat trick and added two assists and Bob Kelly got his second (and final) career hat trick in the Penguins' 9-2 win over the Seals, at Oakland.

1977: Rookie defenseman Barry Beck scored his first career hat trick and added an assist in a 5-1 Colorado Rockies' win over the Minnesota North Stars. Beck set an NHL record for rookie defensemen, with a goal in his sixth straight game....Toronto's Darryl Sittler scored twice and added two assists as the Maple Leafs won 7-1 against the visiting Chicago Black Hawks.....Goaltender Bill Smith won his 11th straight game to set a new club record, as the Islanders won 4-1 over the visiting Boston Bruins.

1978: Buffalo rookie coach Billy Inglis improved his record to 5-0-2 when the Sabres beat the Canucks 6-3 in Buffalo. Inglis' 5-0-2 start was the 2nd best by a new coach in NHL history; in 1926-27 Ottawa's David Gill went 9-0-1 in his first 10 games.

1982: Edmonton's Jari Kurri scored his 4th career hat trick and added two assists, and Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey each had a goal and three assists as the Oilers won 10-4 over the visiting New Jersey Devils.....Montreal traded Dan Daoust to Toronto, in exchange for Toronto's 3rd round choice in the 1984 Amateur Draft. The Canadiens later traded the pick to the Minnesota North Stars, who used it to select Ken Hodge, Jr.

1983: In his 352nd career NHL game, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored a goal and added five assists to reach the 500 assist mark and the 800 career point mark in his NHL career. Oilers won 8-1 over the visiting Quebec Nordiques....New Jersey goaltender Glenn Resch made 42 saves for his 26th (and final) career shutout as the Devils posted their first road shutout, a 2-0 win over the North Stars at Minnesota. Don Lever scored both goals in the game.

1985: Brian Sutter picked up his 300th career NHL assist as the Blues won 8-6 over the Winnipeg Jets, in St. Louis.

1986: Buffalo's Mike Ramsey played in his 500th career NHL game when the Sabres lost 4-3 to the Whalers, at Hartford.

1988: Capitals' coach Bryan Murray won his 300th NHL game as Washington beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-3, at Landover, Maryland. Murray became the 17th coach in NHL history to win 300 games.

1989: Defenseman Doug Wilson scored a goal and had two assists in the first period to collect his 700th career NHL point as the Blackhawks won 6-5 over the Oilers, at Chicago Stadium.

1990: Buffalo Sabres traded their captain, Mike Foligno to the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Lou Franceschetti and Brian Curran.

1991: Pittsburgh Penguins set a team record with 8 second period goals, in a 10-2 win over the Sharks, at the Civic Arena. Joe Mullen had a goal and two assists to give him 800 career points.

1992: Penguins' Rick Tocchet scored twice to give him 250 goals in his NHL career, and added an assist as Pittsburgh won 5-4 in overtime, at Philadelphia.

1997: Phoenix' Craig Janney picked up his 700th career point, with an assist in a 5-1 loss to the visiting Vancouver Canucks.

1999: Rayond Bourque became just the third player in NHL history to score 1,100 assists, and Byron Dafoe recorded his 100th NHL victory in Boston's 3-1 win over the Thrashers, at Atlanta.

2001: Teemu Selanne scored twice as the Sharks tied a franchise record by extending their undefeated streak to nine straight games (8-0-1) with a 4-1 win over the Stars at Dallas.

2002: Eric Belanger scored his first career hat trick, and rookie Jared Aulin made his NHL debut in the Kings 6-2 win over the visiting St. Louis Blues.

2003: Minnesota's Sergei Zholtok scored his 100th NHL goal, the game winner, as the Wild won 3-2 for its first regular-season victory at Denver (after a winless streak of 0-7-1).


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