Today in NHL History, Dec 7th

1897: Hall of Famer Ivan "Ching" Johnson born in Winnipeg, Man. Johnson played in the NHL 1926-27 through 1937-38 with the New York Rangers and the New York Americans.

1919: Toronto "Arenas" changed their team name to "St. Patricks". They remained the St. Pats until 1926-27 when they changed their named once again -- this time to the "Maple Leafs".

1929: Canadiens' goalie George Hainsworth became the third NHL goaltender to record 50 career shutouts, as Montreal won 1-0 at Toronto.

1933: Montreal Canadiens' goalie Lorne Chabot and Rangers' Andy Aitkenhead dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in a game played at New York. It was the 58th career shutout for Chabot and the 6th for Aitkenhead.

1940: Toronto's Turk Broda became the second goaltender in franchise history to record 100 victories as a member of the Maple Leafs. The milestone came in a 3-2 win over the visiting Boston Bruins.

1947: Frankie Brimsek's 33rd career shutout led the Bruins to a 1-0 win over Montreal in Boston. Brimsek made just 19 saves, as the Bruins snapped an 0-3-4 winless streak.

1948: New York Rangers snapped a five game losing streak, with a 2-2 tie against the Bruins at MSG. Before the game NHL President Campbell presented Ranger Buddy O'Connor with both the Hart and Lady Byng trophies, for the 1947-48 season.

1950: Goaltender Jack Gelineau recorded his 5th career shutout in the Bruins' 3-0 win over the Canadiens at Montreal.

1952: Goaltender Harry Lumley recorded his 32nd career shutout (and his first with Toronto) in the Maple Leafs' 2-0 win over the Black Hawks at Chicago.

1960: Montreal's Bernie Geoffrion scored the 270th and 271st goals of his NHL career to become the fifth highest goal scorer in NHL history, and added an assist as the Canadiens won 6-2 at Toronto.

1961: Jean Beliveau wore the "C" on his Montreal sweater for the first time in his career, when he played his first game of the season in a 4-1 win over Toronto, at the Forum.

1963: Goaltender Don Simmons recorded his second consecutive shutout (for the 19th of his career) in the Maple Leafs' 3-0 win over the Black Hawks, in Toronto.

1966: Vic Hadfield picked up three assists, and Jean Ratelle rejoined the Rangers for the first time since his spinal fusion surgery the previous April, as the Rangers won 4-2 over the Bruins, at MSG.....Montreal's Henri Richard became the 7th player in franchise history to score 250 goals as the Canadiens won 6-3 over the visiting Maple Leafs

1967: John Bucyk scored twice to become the Boston Bruins all-time leading scorer with his 576th career point. Bucyk passed Milt Schmidt's record of 575 points as the Bruins won the game, 3-1 over New York, at Boston Garden.

1968: Detroit's Gordie Howe received a minor penalty for hooking in game at Boston to raise his career penalty minute total 1,501. Red Wings lost to the Bruins, 4-1....Norm Ullman scored his 12th career hat trick (and his first with Toronto) and added an assist in the Maple Leafs' 5-2 win against the visiting NY Rangers.

1972: Philadelphia's Bobby Clarke scored a goal and added three assists to lead the Flyers to a 6-2 win over the Minnesota North Stars, at the Spectrum.

1973: Atlanta goalie Dan Bouchard recorded his 5th career shutout in the Flames' 2-0 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks.

1974: Goaltender Michel Belhumeur set a franchise record with 52 saves in the Capitals 8-2 loss against the Blues at St. Louis.

1975: Orest Kindrachuk and Rick MacLeish each had three assists to lead the Flyers to a 6-1 win over the Minnesota North Stars at the Spectrum.....Bruins' captain John Bucyk scored his 507th career goal to tie him with Jean Beliveau for 6th place among the all-time NHL scorers. Boston tied 2-2 with the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1977: New England Whalers' Gordie Howe scored his 1,000th professional goal (counting the NHL and WHA) in a WHA Whalers' game against Birmingham.....Washington Capitals ended a 20-game winless streak, as Bob Sirois scored twice to beat the Cleveland Barons, 5-3.

1978: Bryan Trottier scored twice and added three assists, and Mike Bossy got his second career hat trick as the Islanders won 7-1 over the visiting St. Louis Blues, to extend their team-record home undefeated streak to 12 games (9-0-3).

1979: Ron Greschner and Don Maloney scored second period goals 11 seconds apart, as the Rangers scored 6 straight goals for a 7-4 win against the Whalers, at Hartford.

1980: Philadelphia Flyers extended their unbeaten streak at the Spectrum to 14 straight games, with a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.

1982: Wayne Gretzky extended his NHL-record point scoring streak to 30 straight games as Edmonton won 3-2 over the visiting St. Louis Blues. Gretzky scored 24 goals and 52 assists for 76 points during the 30 game streak.

1985: Edmonton's Glenn Anderson scored two goals and added four assists, Wayne Gretzky had a goal and four assists and Jari Kurri scored his 15th career hat trick as the Oilers won 8-4 against the visiting Minnesota North Stars.....Marcel Dionne became the first player to score 500 goals as a member of the Los Angeles Kings. The milestone came in a 3-2 win over the Jets, in Winnipeg.

1988: New York Islanders, off to their worst start in 15 years, fired Coach Terry Simpson and replaced him with Al Arbour, who had coached the team to four straight Stanley Cups in the early '80s.

1991: Bill Dineen won his first game as the Philadelphia Flyers head coach, 5-3 at Boston, to end the team's eight game winless streak. It came in Dineen's second game behind the Flyers' bench.

1993: Mike Ridley became the second player in Washington history to score 200 goals in a Capitals uniform. The team milestone came during a 6-1 loss to the visiting Hartford Whalers.

1997: San Jose Sharks obtained John MacLean and Ken Sutton from the New Jersey Devils, in exchange for Doug Bodger and Dody Wood.

1999: Al MacInnis became the highest goal-scoring defenseman in St. Louis Blues' history (and added an assist) in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. MacInnis' 81st goal with the Blues moved him one ahead of Jeff Brown.

2000: Mike Vernon became the first goaltender in Calgary Flames' history to win 250 career games, when he led the team to a 3-0 win over the visiting Nashville Predators. It was also Vernon's 25th career shutout.

2002: Minnesota's Marian Gaborik became just the fourth player in NHL history to score five career hat tricks before age 21, when he scored three times in a 4-2 win over the Canucks, in Vancouver.....Rookie goalie Jussi Markkanen recorded his third career shutout, and Mike York scored the 7,000th all-time goal in Edmonton Oilers history, in a 4-0 win against the Panthers at Florida.


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