Today in NHL History, Jan 8th

1929: Boston's Harry Oliver set an NHL record for fastest goal from the start of a game, when he scored ten seconds into a 5-2 win over Toronto. Oliver finished the game with three goals and an assist.

1931: Chicago's Chuck Gardiner got his first of four straight shutouts as the Black Hawks beat the Philadelphia Quakers, 4-0.

1942: Chicago's Red Hamill scored a hat trick to lead the Black Hawks to a 5-1 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1944: Toronto's Babe Pratt became the first defenseman in NHL history to get six assists in a game. They came as the Leafs beat Boston 12-3, at Maple Leaf Garden. George Boothman added his only career hat trick for the Leafs.....Ray Getliffe had a goal and three assists, and Murph Chamberlain picked up four assists as the Montreal Canadiens extended their team-record home winning streak to 13 straight games, with an 8-2 win over the New York Rangers.

1947: Toronto's forward Howie Meeker scored five times to set an NHL record for most goals in a game by a rookie, as the Maple Leafs beat Chicago 10-4. The record was tied in 1976 by Don Murdoch of the Rangers.

1958: Rangers' Camille Henry scored his second career hat trick and added an assist as New York tied 5-5 with the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

1959: Rudy Pilous signed on as the new head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks, while Tommy Ivan, who had been behind the bench, continued his duties as the Black Hawks' General Manager.

1961: Kenny Wharram scored a goal and added two assists as the Chicago Black Hawks won 5-1 over the visiting Maple Leafs to give them seven straight victories, a new team record. The old record of six straight wins had been set in 1930-31.....New York's Gump Worsley became the second goaltender in team history to record 150 victories as a member of the Rangers. The milestone came in a 4-2 win against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1971: Detroit Red Wings named coach Ned Harkness as the new G.M. of the team (replacing Sid Abel). Harkness gave up his duties behind the bench, naming Doug Barkley as the interim coach. Two days later, Barkley was officially named Head Coach.

1973: Montreal's rookie defenseman Larry Robinson made his NHL debut with the Canadiens, in a 3-3 tie against the visiting Minnesota North Stars.

1975: Chicago's Stan Mikita had a goal and two assists to become just the 5th player in NHL history to score 1,200 career points, in a 7-5 Black Hawks win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.....Butch Goring became the 4th player to score 100 career goals with the Kings, then added another goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over the North Stars. It was the Kings' first win after going 0-12-2 their previous five years in Minnesota.

1976: Defenseman Terry Harper led the scoring with two goals and two assists, and goaltender Jim Rutherford recorded his 3rd shutout in 9 days as the Red Wings beat the visiting Minnesota North Star 5-0. It was Rutherford's 10th career shutout.

1977: Gary Dornhoefer scored his 200th NHL goal to lead the Flyers to a 6-1 win against the Kings, at Spectrum

1980: Rookie goaltender Pat Riggin recorded his first NHL career shutout as the Atlanta Flames won 2-0 over the visiting Winnipeg Jets. Riggin became the second NHL goalie whose father (Dennis) also recorded one-or-more NHL shutouts.

1982: Bob MacMillan set a Colorado Rockies' team record for most goals in a game when he had four in a 7-1 win against the Blues, at Denver. It was MacMillan's 4th career hat trick.

1983: Darryl Sittler scored his 20th (and final) career hat trick and added an assist, and Ilkka Sinisalo had 2 goals and 3 assists as the Flyers extended their team-record road winning streak to 7 straight games, with a 7-4 win at Hartford.

1984: Washington's Bengt Gustafsson scored five goals on five shots, in a 7-1 Caps' win at Philadelphia. Gustafsson became the first Caps' player to score five goals in one game. It was the second (and final) career hat trick for Gustafsson.

1985: Edmonton's Andy Moog and Grant Fuhr shared the Oilers' first NHL road shutout, as the Oilers won 4-0 over the Nordiques at Quebec City.....Rookie Todd Bergen, in his first NHL game, scored twice, including the game winner as the Flyers beat Vancouver 5-3 at the Spectrum.

1986: Toronto's Miroslav Frycer scored four goals (including his 7th career hat trick) as the Leafs won 11-9 against the Edmonton Oilers, at Maple Leaf Gardens.

1988: Chicago's rookie goalie Darren Pang set a club record for goaltenders when he picked up his 5th assist of the season as the Blackhawks won 7-3 over Toronto, at Chicago Stadium.....Flames' rookie Brett Hull scored twice and added two assists as Calgary beat the Islanders 7-4, to extend their home undefeated streak against New York to 8 games (6-0-2).

1990: Mario Lemieux extended his point scoring streak to 31 straight games by scoring four goals to lead the Penguins to a 7-5 win against the Rangers, at New York. It was the 24th hat trick of Lemieux's NHL career.....Gary Leeman scored his third career hat trick to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to an 8-6 win over Washington. The win put the Leafs over the .500 mark (22-21-1) for the first time this late in a season since 1977-78.

1991: Minnesota goalie Brian Hayward recorded his 8th (and final) career shutout as the North Stars won 3-0 over the Islanders at New York.....Los Angeles defenseman Larry Robinson became the 13th player in NHL history to reach the 1,300 game milestone as the Kings beat the Hartford Whalers 4-3 in overtime at the Forum.

1992: Pat LaFontaine scored his 300th career NHL goal and added an assist to lead the Sabres to a 4-2 win over the Quebec Nordiques, at the Aud.

1993: Mark Howe earned his 1,200th career professional point in a 6-3 Red Wings' win over the Canucks, at Joe Louis Arena. Included were 696 NHL points and 504 WHA points, more than any other defenseman in pro hockey history.

1994: Dino Ciccarelli became the 19th player in NHL history to score 500 goals, and added an assist to lead the Red Wings to a 6-3 win over the Kings at Los Angeles.

1996: Dallas General Manager Bob Gainey gave up his coaching duties, and named Ken Hitchcock as the Stars' new head coach.

1998: Brian Savage scored four goals (his third career hat trick) and added two assists as Montreal won 8-2 over the Islanders, at Long Island. Canadiens sent the Islanders to its 9th consecutive loss.

2000: Larry Murphy picked up his 901st career assist to pass Bryan Trottier, giving him sole possession of 10th place on all-time in assists as the Red Wings won 5-3 over the visiting Anaheim Mighty Ducks.....Flyers scored three goals in a 3:22 span of the opening period and John Vanbiesbrouck recorded his 350th career victory as Philadelphia extended its home unbeaten streak to 15 straight games (12-0-3) with a 6-2 win over the visiting Penguins.

2002: Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire became the 32nd man in history to coach 600 NHL games, when the Wild beat the visiting Canadiens 4-2 for their first-ever victory over Montreal. Wes Walz led the scoring with two goals.....Owen Nolan scored a goal to give him 600 points in his NHL career. The milestone came during a 6-2 loss to the visiting St. Louis Blues.....Toronto's Mats Sundin scored twice in the final period to give him 25 goals on the year for the 10th time in his NHL career. The milestone came in a 4-3 Maple Leafs win over the visiting Nashville Predators

2003: Phoenix rookie Zac Bierk made 40 saves and Chicago rookie Mike Leighton made 31 saves in the Coyotes 0-0 tie at Chicago. It was the first time in NHL history that two goalies recorded their first career shutouts in the same game.

2004: Florida rookie Nathan Horton became the youngest player in NHL history to score on a penalty shot goal, in a 4-3 win in overtime at Philadelphia. Horton (18 years and 224 days old) broke the record set by Toronto's Jack Hamilton in 1944.....Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis scored two goals and added two assists for his first career four-point game as the Lightning won 4-1 over the Canadiens at Montreal.