Today in NHL History, Dec 27th

1897: In the only Stanley Cup challenge of the season, the defending champion Montreal Victorias turned back the Ottawa Capitals 15-2 to retain their champion status.

1919: Ottawa Senators became the first team in NHL history to open a season with two straight shutouts, when Clint Benedict got the 5th of his career, in a 2-0 win over the Canadiens, in Montreal.....Playing in his second game, Toronto's Babe Dye scored his first career NHL goal, in a 7-4 win over Quebec.

1924: Montreal Canadiens played the Maroons for the first time at the Forum and tied 1-1 after 20 minutes of overtime.

1927: Montreal Canadiens goalie George Hainsworth and Alex Connell dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in a game played at Ottawa. It was the 12th scoreless tie in NHL history and the first for the Montreal Canadiens.

1932: Boston goalie Tiny Thompson made 32 saves for his 32nd career shutout in the Bruins' 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

1938: Woody Dumart scored twice and added two assists in the Bruins' 8-2 win against Toronto.

1942: Montreal Canadiens defeated Boston 4-2 in Montreal, but lost rookie Maurice Richard, who suffered a broken leg just above the right ankle. His leg broke when he toppled after a check from Bruins' Jack Crawford.

1958: Kevin Constantine born in International Falls, Minnesota. Constantine coached beginning in 1993-94 with San Jose, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey.....Chicago announced Rudy Pilous would take over as the team's new head coach. Pilous signed a contract Jan. 8, 1959, and took over for Tommy Ivan, who remained as the Black Hawks' General Manager.

1959: Boston's Bronco Horvath began an NHL-record 22 game point-scoring streak in the Bruins' 6-1 loss at Chicago.....Canadiens' Henri Richard scored his 100th career NHL goal and added an assist as Montreal won 3-1 at Detroit.

1962: Andy Bathgate had a goal and four assists as the Rangers beat Boston 9-3 at MSG. The game was held up for 20 minutes in the final period when Bruin goalie Ed Johnston needed stitches after being hit on the nose with a puck.

1966: Detroit Red Wings ended their team-record 14 game road losing streak with a 4-4 tie at Boston.

1967: Pittsburgh Penguins' rookie Les Binkley and Seals' rookie goalie Gary Smith recorded the first 0-0 tie in Penguins' history, in a game against Oakland at the Civic Arena. It was the third career shutout for Binkley and the 1st for Gary Smith.

1969: Rookie goaltender Tony Esposito recorded his seventh shutout of the season (and the 9th of his career) as the Black Hawks won 3-0 over the Penguins at Pittsburgh. Esposito finished the 1969-70 season with 15 shutouts, an NHL record for rookies.

1972: Garry Unger scored twice and added three assists as the Blues won 5-3, at Chicago.

1974: Oakland Seals' rookie Charlie Simmer scored the first goal of his NHL career, and added an assist in his first career NHL game, a 5-2 win over the visiting Boston Bruins.....Brad Park had two assists to tie Harry Howell's Ranger record for most career points by a defenseman (345) as New York won 9-5 over Buffalo, at MSG. Howell picked up his points in 17 seasons, Park only in seven seasons.

1979: The first NHL game was played at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. St. Louis Blues won 3-2 over the Red Wings, with Bernie Federko scoring a goal and two assists.

1980: Guy Lafleur picked up four assists as the Canadiens won 7-4 over the Capitals, at the Forum.

1981: Playing in his 197th career game, Wayne Gretzky scored four goals for his 10th career hat trick and added an assist, to give him 400 career NHL points. Also in his 38th game of the season, Gretzky recorded the fastest 100 points in NHL history. The milestone's came in a 10-3 Oilers' win over the Kings in Edmonton. Gretzky later improved his record with 100 points in 34 games.

1982: Philadelphia's Bobby Clarke scored the 5th (and final) hat trick of his NHL career and added two assists, leading the Flyers past the Red Wings, 8-4 at Detroit.

1986: John Ogrodnick scored a goal and added three assists, and Steve Yzerman picked up four assists as the Red Wings tied 5-5 at Toronto.....Reed Larson became the first American born player in NHL history to score 600 career points. The Boston defenseman set the new mark with an assist in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Kings.

1989: Mario Lemieux scored twice and added three assists in a 7-4 Penguins' win against the Rangers at the Civic Arena, to extend his scoring streak to 26 games.....Jimmy Carson scored his 7th career hat trick with three power play goals in the third period (for his first three goal game with Detroit), in the Red Wings' 7-7 tie at Toronto. Red Wings had trailed 7-3 after two periods.....Wayne Gretzky was honored as The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Decade. He received 307 votes by panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Second was NFL's Joe Montana with 85 votes and Magic Johnson finished third with 59 votes.

1990: Edmonton Oilers recorded their 500th all time NHL victory, 4-1 over the Flames, in Edmonton. The win gave the Oilers a lifetime record of 500-295-120, for a winning percentage of .612, the best of any NHL team.

1992: Rookie Alexei Kovalev's third goal of the game with 36 seconds left ended a four-goal rally in the final seven minutes and gave the Rangers a 6-5 win over Boston in New York. It was Kovalev's first NHL hat trick.....Vancouver's Petr Nedved extended his team-record point scoring streak to 15 straight games in the Canucks' 5-2 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens. Nedved scored 15 goals, 9 assists for a total of 24 points during the 15 game streak.

1993: Guy Carbonneau scored a hat trick and added an assist and Benoit Brunet picked up 4 assists to lead the Canadiens to a 5-2 win at St. Louis. It was Carbonneau's second career hat trick, and it came 10 years after his first hat trick.

1995: Calgary goalie Trevor Kidd, playing in his 100th NHL game, recorded his fourth career shutout as the Flames won 4-0 over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the first shutout by the Flames over Toronto in 18 years.

1996: Brian Leetch picked up two assists to become the highest scoring defenseman in NY Rangers' history, passing Ron Greschner (who scored 610 points) as the Rangers won 3-2 over the visiting Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

1997: Radek Dvorak's two goals triggered a five-goal outburst in the second period, and John Vanbiesbrouck became the second U.S. born goalie to record 300 NHL victories, as Florida won 6-2 over the Islanders, at Long Island.

1999: Joe Sakic picked up an assist for his 1,000th career point as the Avalanche won 5-1 against the visiting St. Louis Blues. Sakic became the 56th NHL player to score 1,000 points, and just the 14th to do so with one franchise.....Flyers' Mark Recchi scored his 350th career NHL goal as Philadelphia won 5-1 at Calgary.

2000: Mario Lemieux returned from a 3-1/2 year layoff, and picked up a point on his first shift, finishing the night with with a goal and two assists in the Penguins 5-0 win against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs. Garth Snow got the shutout.....Edmonton's Doug Weight scored his 600th career NHL point, with an assist in a 3-2 Oilers' loss at Colorado.

2001: Brendan Shanahan scored his 20th goal of the season for the 14th time in his NHL career, in the Red Wings 5-1 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

2002: Ron Tugnutt recorded his 22nd career shutout (and his first with Dallas) in the Stars 4-0 win against the Panthers at Florida.


Be sure to log onto WWW.THESTITCH.US