Today in NHL History, Feb 20th

1919: Ottawa goalie Clint Benedict led the Senators to a 9-3 win over Toronto, to finish the season with a 2.94 GAA, the lowest in the NHL's two year history. One year earlier, Benedict had a 5.18 GAA, the worst in the league (among regular goalies).

1924: Canadiens' fans waited two hours in the Mount Royal Arena for the Senators to arrive for their game. But they never showed! The team was stranded on a snowbound train 50 miles from Ottawa. The game was played the next night (a 3-0 Habs' win).

1926: Montreal Maroons' goalie Clint Benedict and Alex Connell dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in a game played at Ottawa. It was just the second scoreless tie in NHL history, the 27th career shutout for Benedict and the 19th for Connell.

1930: Montreal Maroons' goalie Clint Benedict became the first goalie to wear a mask in an NHL game, in a 3-3 tie against the New York Americans. Benedict wore the mask temporarily, during an injury.

1934: Only 1,500 fans appeared at a game in Boston as Detroit beat the Bruins 4-1. The poor attendance was due to a snowstorm that tied up traffic.

1936: Maroons' Reginald "Hooley" Smith scored a goal and added three assists (to give him 11 points in 3 games) as Montreal won 6-3 over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

1954: Montreal Canadiens' rookie goalie Jacques Plante recorded the first shutout of his 18-year NHL career, beating the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 at the Forum. Plante went on to compile 82 career shutouts, fourth on the all-time list.

1955: Montreal purchased Paul Ronty from the New York Rangers for $15,000.

1963: Boston's Tommy Williams (a native of Minnesota) became just the second U.S. born player to score more than 20 goals in a season, when he connected for his 21st of the year as the Bruins tied 3-3 against the Rangers at New York.

1971: Montreal's Jean Beliveau became just the second player in NHL history to score 1,200 career points, when his three assists (including the 700th of his career) came in a 7-1 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.....Gordie Howe scored a goal and added three assists, including his 1,800th career NHL point, in a 6-5 Red Wings' win over Buffalo in Detroit. It came in Howe's 1,670th game.....Phil Esposito scored his 50th goal of the season (on his 29th birthday), in a 5-4 Bruins' loss in Los Angeles. Esposito became just the fourth player in NHL history (and the first Boston Bruin) to get 50 goals in a season.....Bobby Orr picked up an assist for his 100th point of the season in a 5-4 Bruins' loss in Los Angeles. Orr became just the second player in NHL history to have two 100 point seasons -- Phil Esposito became the first to do so two weeks earlier.....Toronto goaltender Jacques Plante recorded his 400th NHL career victory to become the third NHL goaltender to do so when the Maple Leafs won 3-1 over the visiting St. Louis Blues. Dave Keon led the scoring with two goals.

1973: Bobby Clarke got four assists as the Flyers beat St. Louis, 5-3. The four points gave Clarke a season total of 83 -- the most ever (up to that time) by a player from a 1967 expansion club.

1975: Montreal Canadiens extended their NHL-record road undefeated streak to 20 straight games (12-0-8) with a 6-3 win over the Scouts, at Kansas City. Steve Shutt led the scoring with a goal and two assists.

1976: Gary Smith earned his 11th (and final) shutout as a Canuck (and the 25th of his NHL career) in a 7-0 win over Minnesota. Canucks outshot North Stars 50-16. Smith's 11 shutouts stood as the team record until '92-93 when Kirk McLean broke it.

1979: Terry O'Reilly scored a goal and added four assists to lead the Bruins to a 5-3 win against the Rockies, at Colorado.

1980: L.A. Kings' goalies Doug Keans and Mario Lessard combined to shut out Boston 3-0 in Los Angeles. Keans was injured with a minute to go in the first period, so Lessard came in as a relief goalie, and finished the game.

1981: Quebec rookies Peter Stastny and Anton Stastny each scored their first career hat tricks as the Nordiques won 9-3, at Vancouver. Peter also added three assists, and Anton picked up two assists.

1982: Defenseman Craig Hartsburg scored a goal and added three assists to lead the North Stars to a 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals in Minnesota.....Rick Kehoe had five assists to lead the Penguins to a 6-5 win over the Flyers in Pittsburgh. The victory ended a 9 game winless streak (0-7-2) for the Pens....NY Islanders set an NHL record (later broken) with their 15th consecutive victory, 3-2 over the Colorado Rockies. John Tonelli scored the winning goal with 47 seconds remaining in the game.

1983: Philadelphia Flyers' rookie goalie Bob Froese extended his record to 12-0-1 in his first 13 NHL games, with a 3-0 shutout over New Jersey. The win lowered Froese's GAA to 1.85. Froese's streak ended with a loss three days later

1985: Boston's Rick Middleton played in his 800th NHL game, and the Bruins won 3-2 over the North Stars at Minnesota.

1988: Clint Malarchuk picked up a shutout for the second night in a row (for the 8th of his career) as the Capitals won 3-0 over the North Stars at Minnesota. Larry Murphy led the scoring with a goal and two assists.

1990: Mark Messier scored his 100th point of the season for the 5th time in his career, when he picked up an assist for the Oilers, in a 4-2 win at Vancouver.

1993: Vancouver's Pat Quinn picked up his 300th career NHL coaching victory, with a 4-2 Canucks' win over the Winnipeg Jets.....NY Rangers' Eddie Olczyk picked up an assist in a game at San Jose to become the 10th U.S. born player to reach 600 points in his NHL career. Rangers won 6-4 over the Sharks.

1995: Detroit's Mike Ramsey became the 99th player in NHL history to appear in his 1,000th career regular season game as the Red Wings won 4-2, at Toronto.....Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy became the 31st goaltender in NHL history to appear in 500 games as the Canadiens won 3-2 in overtime over the Islanders.

1997: Boston's Adam Oates extended his consecutive point-scoring streak to 20 straight games in the Bruins 5-3 loss at Chicago. Oates had 7 goals and 21 assists for 28 points in the 20 game streak.....Devils' Martin Brodeur extended his team-record unbeaten streak to 14 straight games (8-0-6), when the Devils tied the Panthers 2-2 in Florida. The streak ended with a 3-1 loss in Tampa Bay two nights later.

1999: Steve Thomas scored at 3:48 of overtime and added an assist as Toronto won 3-2 against the visiting Montreal Canadiens, in the first game played at the Leafs' new home, the Air Canada Centre. It was Thomas 9th career regular season OT Goal.

2004: Dallas' Sergei Zubov had two assists to become the first Russian-born defenseman to get 600 career points (and the first Russian defenseman to have nine straight 30-assist seasons); the milestones came in a 5-1 win over the visiting Avalanche.....Florida's Roberto Luongo recorded his 20th career shutout as the Panthers handed the Penguins their 17th loss in a row, with a 2-0 victory at Pittsburgh.