Today in NHL History, Dec 21th

1929: NHL implemented the new "offside" rule for the first time in league play. Forward passing would now be permitted inside all three zones, but not across the blue lines.

1933: Ottawa goalie Bill Beveridge and Rangers' Andy Aitkenhead dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in a game played at New York. It was the 9th career shutout for Beveridge and the 7th for Aitkenhead.

1937: Chicago's Paul Thompson became the first player in NHL history to score a goal against his brother, when he scored on Bruins' goalie Cecil "Tiny" Thompson, at 19:51 of the third period, in a 2-1 Black Hawks' loss at Boston Garden.

1938: Detroit Red Wings took the first charter flight in team history, when they flew from New York to Chicago for a game.

1943: Bill Cowley scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Bruins to an 8-5 win over Toronto.

1944: Flash Hollett scored his only hat trick with Detroit, and added two assists in the Red Wings 11-3 win over the visiting New York Rangers. The three goals set a Detroit team record for most goals in a game by a defenseman.

1948: Lynn Patrick was named as the new head coach of the New York Rangers, replacing Frank Boucher. Patrick became the third coach in Rangers' history.

1957: Detroit's Terry Sawchuk became just the fifth goaltender in NHL history to record 250 victories, as the Red Wings won 5-3 at Chicago.

1958: Montreal goalie Jacques Planted recorded his 40th career shutout in the Canadiens' 5-0 win at Boston.

1966: Yvan Cournoyer scored his first career NHL hat trick to lead Montreal to a 6-2 win against Toronto, at the Forum.

1968: Boston Bruins' goalie Gerry Cheevers and Canadiens' rookie Tony Esposito dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in a game played at Montreal. It was the 6th career shutout for Cheevers and the second for Esposito.

1972: Boston's Bobby Orr had an assist to set a new NHL record for career points (541) by a defenseman. It came in Orr's 423rd career NHL game, an 8-1 win over Detroit. Doug Harvey held the previous record, with 540 points in 1,113 games.

1974: Maple Leafs Swedish import Inge Hammarstrom scored the only hat trick of his NHL career, and added an assist in an 8-4 win against the Boston Bruins, at Maple Leaf Gardens.

1975: Rangers' goaltender John Davidson recorded his second career shutout in a 2-0 win over the visiting Minnesota North Stars, at Madison Square Garden.

1977: L.A.'s Butch Goring was given two minutes for slashing late in the first period, his only penalty of the entire season (80 games). Goring came back to get two assists in the Kings' 8-1 win over the Minnesota North Stars at the Forum.

1979: Garry Unger's NHL record for consecutive games played streak ended at 914, when Atlanta coach Al MacNeil benched him during a 5-1 Flames loss to the visiting St. Louis Blues. (The record was later upped to 964 games by Doug Jarvis.).....Vancouver traded its first 40 goal man Ron Sedlbauer to Chicago for defenseman Dave Logan and winger Harold Phillipoff.

1981: Colorado Rockies fired head coach Bert Marshall. Marshall Johnston was named as his replacement.

1982: Verdun Juniors' 17-year old Pat LaFontaine scored a goal in a game vs Longueuil to tie Guy Lafleur's record of scoring at least one point in 40 consecutives games, set in 1970-71 when Lafleur was with the Quebec Remparts.

1984: Rookie goaltender Kelly Hrudey recorded the first shutout of his NHL career in the New York Islanders' 1-0 win over the Whalers, at Hartford.

1987: Maple Leafs' goaltender Allan Bester and North Stars' goaltender Kari Takko recorded shutouts as Minnesota tied 0-0 at Toronto. It was the only shutout of Takko's NHL career and the 5th career shutout for Bester.

1988: Dave Taylor recorded his 900th career NHL point as the Kings won 8-6 over the Minnesota North Stars.....Mario Lemieux scored his 15th career hat trick to become the third 250 goal scorer in Penguins history. The milestone goal (along with two assists) came when Pittsburgh won 6-1 over the Maple Leafs at Toronto.....Capitals' Dave Christian scored his 250th NHL career goal as Washington won 4-3 at Chicago. Christian became the second U.S. born player to score 250 NHL goals.

1991: 29-year-old Lou Crawford, a forward in his 10th pro season, scored his first NHL goal to help the Bruins beat the Oilers 6-3, at Edmonton.....Buffalo's Alexander Mogilny tied an NHL record with a goal scored just five seconds into the game, to lead the Sabres to a 4-1 win over Toronto. The victory ended their team-record 12 game winless streak (0-8-4).....Kings' Wayne Gretzky scored his 732nd career NHL goal to move past Marcel Dionne and into the #2 spot all time behind Gordie Howe's 801 career goals. It came in a 5-2 loss to Detroit, at the Forum.....Goaltender Ron Hextall led the Flyers to a 3-0 win over the North Stars at Minnesota, his first shutout in five years, and the second of his career.

1993: Coach Eddie Johnston became Pittsburgh's winningest coach with his 96th career victory as the Penguins won 8-3 over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. Johnston passed Scotty Bowman with his career record of 96-135-42. Bryan Trottier had 3 assists.

1995: Florida goalie John Vanbiesbrouck recorded his 250th NHL career victory in the Panthers' 6-1 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Jets. Vanbiesbrouck became the 25th NHL goaltender to get 250 wins.

1996: Mats Sundin scored his 4th career hat trick (and his first with Toronto) and added an assist in the Maple Leafs' 6-2 win over the Avalanche, at Colorado.

1997: Buffalo's Dominik Hasek recorded his second consecutive shutout, and became the first European-trained goaltender in league history to record 25 NHL shutouts, in the Sabres' 2-0 win over the Rangers, at New York.

1999: Mike Eastwood scored his first career hat trick, Michal Handzus had three assists in the first period and Roman Turek recorded his 5th career shutout in the Blues 6-0 win at Phoenix.

2000: Joe Sakic scored his 10th career hat trick, including two on power plays as the Avalanche won 5-2 against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

2001: Carolina rookie Erik Cole completed his first career hat trick with the winning goal at 1:28 of overtime in the Hurricanes 5-4 win over the visiting Atlanta Thrashers.

2002: Scott Stevens became the New Jersey Devils all-time leader in assists by a defenseman, when he picked his 318th with the club in a 5-3 win over the visiting Dallas Stars. Stevens broke the mark of 317 held by Bruce Driver.


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