Today in NHL History, Jan 1st

1909: Former NHL forward Doc Romnes born in White Bear, Minnesota. Romnes played in the NHL 1930-31 through 1939-40 with Chicago, Toronto and the New York Americans.

1926: Montreal Canadiens beat the Pirates 2-1 in a penalty-free game played at Pittsburgh. There were none called against either team for the entire game. It was just the third penalty free game in NHL history.

1927: Goaltender Lorne Chabot recorded the third shutout of his rookie season to lead the Rangers to a 4-0 win at Chicago.....Montreal Maroons' goalie Clint Benedict recorded his 33rd career shutout in a 3-0 victory over the St. Pats at Toronto.

1929: Boston goalie Cecil "Tiny" Thompson recorded the 4th shutout of his rookie season as the Bruins won 3-0 over the visiting Ottawa Senators.

1930: Boston Bruins tied an NHL record with their 11th straight win, 5-2 over the NY Americans, at Boston Garden.

1931: Frank Ingram scored four goals, including the only hat trick of his NHL career in the Black Hawks' 10-3 win against the visiting Philadelphia Quakers.....Goaltender Lorne Chabot recorded his 44th career shutout and Joe Primeau picked up two assists in the Toronto Maple Leafs' 2-0 win over the visiting New York Americans.....New York Rangers purchased Cecil Dillon from Springfield (CAHL).

1932: John Roach became the first goaltender to record 25 career shutouts as a member of the New York Rangers, with a 3-0 win against the visiting Detroit Falcons.

1940: Chicago goaltender Paul Goodman recorded the first shutout of his rookie season in the Black Hawks' 1-0 win against the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

1943: Chicago defeated the Rangers 6-5 as the Black Hawks introduced a new brother act. Max and Doug were joined by Reggie, to make a trio of Bentleys, the first three brother combo on the same team in NHL history.

1944: Buddy O'Connor had three assists and rookie goaltender Bill Durnan recorded his second career shutout as the Canadiens beat the Black Hawks 4-0, in Chicago.

1946: Bruin goaltender Paul Bibeault picked up a 4-0 victory over the Red Wings (his 9th career shutout) at Boston Garden. It was the Bruins' first win against Detroit in 22 games, dating back to December 28, 1943.

1952: Maurice Richard scored a penalty shot goal 12 seconds into the game, and goaltender Gerry McNeil recorded his 8th career shutout as the Canadiens won 3-0 over the Black Hawks at Chicago.

1957: Montreal's Jean Beliveau scored three goals and added an assist as the Canadiens won 6-2 at Chicago.

1961; Boston rookie Willie O'Ree, the first black player in NHL history, scored his first career goal (the game winner) as the Bruins beat Montreal, 3-2 in Boston.....Goaltender Glenn Hall recorded his 37th career shutout (the second in two days) as the Black Hawks won 3-0 over the Red Wings, in Chicago.

1969: L.A.'s rookie goalie Gerry Desjardins and Blues' veteran Jacques Plante got shutouts as the Kings and St. Louis battled to a scoreless tie, at the Forum. It was the 68th career shutout for Plante and the second of Desjardins' career.....Toronto's Ron Ellis scored his 100th career NHL goal and added an assist as the Maple Leafs won 7-3 over the visiting Oakland Seals.

1971: Boston's Fred Stanfield scored two goals and added three assists, and John Bucyk picked up four assists as the Bruins won 9-4, at Buffalo.

1973: Boston's Bobby Orr tied an NHL record for defensemen with six assists in an 8-2 Bruins win at Vancouver. Orr tied the record set by Babe Pratt in 1944 and tied by Pat Stapleton in 1969.....Boston's John Bucyk became the first player in franchise history to score 400 goals as a member of the Bruins. The milestone came in an 8-2 win at Vancouver.

1983: Rangers' Robbie Ftorek picked up four assists when New York won 7-2 at Washington.

1987: Mike Gartner scored two goals, including the winner at 1:30 of overtime, and added an assist to lead the Capitals to a 4-3 win against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

1989: Montreal's Bob Gainey scored a goal to give him 500 career NHL points, as the Canadiens won 4-0, at Vancouver. Patrick Roy recorded his 8th career shutout.....Calgary's Joe Nieuwendyk scored five goals in a 7-1 Flames win over Los Angeles.

1992: Islanders' Pierre Turgeon had two goals and three assists and Derek King scored his 4th career hat trick as New York lost 8-5 to the Capitals at Washington.

1994: Bernie Nicholls scored his 15th career hat trick (and his only one with New Jersey) in the Devils' 7-1 win at Ottawa.

1997: Anaheim's Guy Hebert recorded his 13th career shutout and Brian Bellows scored his 450th NHL career goal in the Mighty Ducks' 3-0 win at Florida.....The Senators beat Boston 3-2, in Ottawa, for their first win over the Bruins since entering the NHL in 1992. The Senators had been 0-20-2 against the Bruins, the final remaining NHL team that the Senators had never defeated.

1999: Teemu Selanne scored his 15th career hat trick and added two assists, Steve Rucchin had two goals and two assists and Fredrik Olausson tied his career high with four assists in the Mighty Ducks' 7-2 win at Buffalo.

2000: Pavel Bure scored four goals (his 14th career hat trick) and goalie Mike Vernon made a victorius Florida debut as the Panthers won 7-5 against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. The Panthers set or tied 7 different team records in the game.

2001: Joel Quenneville became the St. Louis Blues all-time leader in games coached, when he went behind the bench for his 321st game with the team (a 5-2 win over the visiting Oilers). Quenneville passed Brian Sutter, who had coached 320 games.

2003: Peter Forsberg scored and goal and added five assists, and Milan Hejduk had two goals and three assists as the Avalanche won 7-3 over the Predators at Nashville.

2004; Joel Quenneville became the first coach to win 300 games with the St. Louis Blues, in a 5-4 win against the visiting New York Rangers.....Columbus Blue Jackets General Manager Doug MacLean announed that he was relinquishing head coaching duties for the club and named Gerard Gallant as the interim head coach.


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