Today in NHL History, December 3rd

1924: Boston Bruins played their first road game in team history, a 5-3 loss at Toronto.

1927: Montreal Maroons' goaltender Clint Benedict recorded his 150th NHL career victory in a 2-1 victry at Toronto.....Montreal's George Hainsworth recorded his 16th career shutout and Howie Morenz scored his second career hat trick in the Canadiens' 4-0 win against the visiting New York Americans.

1929: Boston Bruins began an NHL-record 14 game winning streak (and an NHL-record 22 game home winning streak) with a 3-1 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1939: Boston beat NY Americans 6-2 in a penalty-free game played in New York. There were none called against either team for the entire game.

1947: Many former Rangers were on hand as New York lost to Toronto, 4-1, on "Lester Patrick Night". The game was preceded by a special tribute to Patrick, who received a scroll testifying his admission to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

1949: Rookie George Armstrong played in his first NHL game as the Maple Leafs won 2-0 over the visiting NY Rangers. Turk Broda picked up his 51st career shutout.

1960: Former NHL defenseman Mike Ramsey born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ramsey played in the NHL 1979-80 thru 1996-97 with Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.....Former NHL center Igor Larionov born in Voskresensk, Soviet Union. Larionov played in the NHL 1989-90 through 2003-04 with Vancouver, San Jose, Detroit, Florida and New Jersey.

1961: Red Wings' Norm Ullman scored his third career hat trick as Detroit beat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1.

1969: Ray Cullen scored his first career NHL hat trick, and added an assist as the Minnesota North Stars tied 5-5 with Toronto, at the Met Center.

1970: Detroit's Frank Mahovlich became the 6th player in NHL history to score 400 career goals as the Red Wings tied 4-4 with the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

1972: Buffalo's low scoring defenseman Larry Hillman had three assists to lead the Sabres to a 7-4 win over the Minnesota North Stars, at the Aud, as the Sabres improved their home unbeaten streak to 10-0-3.....Toronto goaltender Jacques Plante got a shutout in the Maple Leafs' 3-0 win at Detroit. It was the 80th career shutout for Plante.

1974: Buffalo Sabres played their first game ever in Washington, and beat the Capitals, 5-3. Rick Martin scored 4 of the Sabres' goals, including the 8th hat trick of his NHL career. The win increased the Sabres' undefeated streak to 9 games (7-0-2).

1975: Wilf Paiement scored his first career hat trick in the Kansas City Scouts' 6-5 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1978: Chicago's Tony Esposito became the seventh goaltender in NHL history to record 300 career victories. The 300th win milestone came in a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.

1983: Darcy Rota scored his 20th goal (in his 27th game of the season), as the Canucks tied the Maple Leafs 5-5, at Toronto.

1984: New York Islanders won the 500th game in club history, 5-4 over the Canucks at Vancouver. The Isles won #500 in 980 games, the second fastest in NHL history at that time (Boston did it in 976 games).

1987: After a pre-game ceremony in which the Boston Bruins retired Phil Esposito's uniform #7, the Rangers (with Esposito as their General Manager) lost to the Bruins, 4-3 in Boston Garden.

1988: Bob Brooke assisted on three shorthanded goals in the second period (including two by Neal Broten in 2:10) as the Minnesota North Stars won 4-2 against the Whalers, at Hartford.....Steve Yzerman scored a goal in his eighth consecutive game to tie team record set by Howe in 1951-52 season. It came in a 6-4 Red Wings' loss to the Nordiques, at Quebec City.

1989: Steve Yzerman scored two power play goals and assisted on another to become the 5th player in Red Wings' history to reach 600 points, in a 4-3 win over the Blackhawks at Chicago.

1990: Kevin Dineen set a franchise record for fastest goal from the start of a game, when he scored just 10 seconds into the first period, to help the Hartford Whalers to a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

1991: Brian Mullen scored at :22 of overtime to give the Sharks their first ever OT victory, 3-2 over the Kings, at the Cow Palace. The win stretched the Sharks' unbeaten streak to 3-0-1.

1992: Rookie defenseman Alex Zhitnik had three assists as the Kings set a team record with their 11th straight win at home, a 5-3 win over the Penguins.....oronto goalie Grant Fuhr played in his 500th career NHL game as the Maple Leafs lost 4-3 at Chicago.

1995: Mario Lemieux picked up four assists as Pittsburgh won 5-4 at Tampa Bay.

1996: Toronto's Mats Sundin scored a goal and an assist in the first period for his 500th career NHL point when the Maple Leafs won 2-0 over the visiting St. Louis Blues. Rookie Marcel Cousineau and Felix Potvin shared the shutout for the Leafs.

1999: Ottawa's Kevin Dineen picked up a misconduct penalty to become the fifth player in league history to get 300 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes in his NHL career. The milestone came during a 7-4 Senators loss at New Jersey.

2001: Florida Panthers named Mike Keenan as their new head coach and Cliff Fletcher as the new interim General Manager. The announcment came one day after the club fired GM Bill Torrey and head coach Duane Sutter.

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