Today in NHL History, Feb 21th

1920: Ottawa Senators set a new NHL record for most wins by a team in one season, with their 14th of the year, a 5-3 victory at Toronto. The Senators broke the old record of 13 wins, set by Montreal and Toronto in 1917-18, the NHL's inaugural season.

1928: Toronto goalie John Roach and Canadiens' George Hainsworth dueled to a 0-0 scoreless tie, in a game played at Montreal. It was the 23rd career shutout for Hainsworth and the 13th for Roach.

1929: Detroit Cougars clinched their first ever playoff berth, as Clarence "Dolly" Dolson recorded the 8th shutout of his rookie season, in a 1-0 win over the Rangers, in New York. It was the first of three straight shutouts for Dolson.

1931: Montreal's Howie Morenz scored two goals and added two assists in the Canadiens' 6-4 win over the visiting New York Americans.

1933: Chicago's Tommy Cook scored twice in a 2-2 tie against the Rangers at New York. Cook's brothers Fred "Bun" Cook and Bill Cook (who played for the Rangers) scored New York's goals.....Marty Barry scored a hat trick and added two assists, Dit Clapper had two goals and two assists and Tiny Thompson made 23 saves for his 36th career shutout as the Bruins recorded a 10-0 win over the Canadiens, at Boston Garden.

1935: Montreal Maroons signed Hector "Toe" Blake.

1939: Bruins' rookie Roy Conacher scored four goals and Bill Cowley picked up four assists in an 8-2 win against Chicago, at Boston Garden.

1942: Toronto's Syl Apps scored his 100th NHL goal in the Maple Leafs' 4-3 win against the visiting Brooklyn Americans.

1946: A previously rumored dramatic announcement was made when Lester Patrick resigned as GM of the New York Rangers. He was succeeded by coach Frank Boucher. Patrick continued as a VP of Madison Square Garden.....Former NHL left winger Danny Grant born in Fredericton, N.B. Grant played in the NHL 1965-66 through 1978-79 with Montreal, Detroit, Minnesota and Los Angeles.

1948: Boston's Frank Brimsek became the second goaltender in franchise history (and the 7th in the NHL) to record 200 victories when the Bruins won 3-1 over the Canadiens at Montreal.

1960: Chicago's Bobby Hull scored four goals (his 4th career hat trick) and added an assist to lead the Black Hawks to a 7-5 win over Toronto. It was Hull's first four-goal game.

1968: Chicago's rookie goaltender Dave Dryden recorded his first NHL career shutout to lead the Black Hawks to a 1-0 win against the Seals at Oakland.

1970: Detroit's Gordie Howe picked up an assist to become the first player in NHL history to score 50 or more points in a season 21 times during his career; the milestone came in a 7-5 win at Toronto.....Chicago's Bobby Hull became the third player in NHL history (after Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe) to get 500 career goals, in a 4-2 Black Hawks' win over the NY Rangers.

1971: Bobby Hull scored three goals (plus two assists) to set an NHL record with his 27th career hat trick as the Black Hawks won 7-5 against the visiting Los Angeles Kings. Hull broke the record of 26 career three goal games set by Maurice Richard.....Michel Plasse became pro hockey's first goaltender to score a goal, during a Central Hockey League game at Kansas City.

1974: Defenseman Tim Horton of the Sabres died in an automobile accident in Ontario. Horton, a six time NHL All-Star, had played 22 seasons with the Maple Leafs, NY Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo.

1975: Craig Ramsay scored his second career hat trick and added an assist to lead the Sabres to a 9-4 win over the Capitals at Washington. The win increased the Sabres undefeated streak to 10 games (5-0-5).

1981: Rangers' Don Maloney scored his 4th career hat trick (a natural hat trick) within a span of 2:30 to lead the Rangers to a 6-4 win over Washington.....Playing in his 138th career game, Wayne Gretzky picked up an assist, to give him 250 career NHL points. The milestone came in a 5-1 Oilers win against the Jets at Winnipeg.

1982: Dennis Maruk scored twice (to give him 50 for the year) and added an assist to lead the Capitals to a 6-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Washington. It was Maruk's second straight 50 goal season.....Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the New York Islanders 4-3 to end the Islanders' NHL record 15 game winning streak. Rookie Mike Bullard scored two third period goals, though the Penguins were outshot 16-4 in the final period.

1984: Wayne Gretzky scored four goals for his 27th career hat trick and had an assist as the Oilers past St. Louis, 6-5. The next night Gretzky scored four more against Pittsburgh to give him eight goals in two nights.

1986: Calgary's rookie goalie Mike Vernon recorded his first NHL shutout as the Flames beat the Canucks 4-0 at Vancouver. Rookie Joel Otto led the scoring with two goals and an assist.

1987: Boston goalie Bill Ranford recorded the third shutout of his rookie season to lead the Bruins to a 1-0 win against the North Stars at Minnesota.....Canadiens' Bobby Smith scored three times to give him 250 career NHL goals, but Montreal lost 6-5 to the Islanders at New York. Smith also picked up an assist in the game along with his 6th (and final) career hat trick.

1988: Rick Tocchet scored his first career NHL hat trick and added an assist, as the Flyers beat Detroit, 5-3, at the Spectrum. The win was the 300th behind the Flyers' bench for Mike Keenan.....Quebec Nordiques' Michel Goulet scored his 400th career NHL goal in a 6-5 win at Buffalo. Goulet became the 26th player in the NHL to reach the 400 goal mark.

1989: Steve Yzerman scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Red Wings to a 6-5 win over the Islanders at New York. The points gave Yzerman 123 for the season, breaking the Red Wings' record of 121 set by Marcel Dionne in 1974-75.....Vancouver goalie Kirk McLean stopped 21 shots for his third career shutout, a 2-0 win over St. Louis, in what was the club-record sixth consecutive victory for the Canucks

1991: Brett Hull scored his 65th goal of the season and added four assists as the Blues won their 7th straight game a home, with a 7-2 win over the Islanders.

1993: Washington goaltender Don Beaupre set a franchise record for victories, with the 95th of his career (breaking Al Jensen's team record) as the Capitals won 5-2 against the visiting St. Louis Blues.

1994: Mike Modano scored his second career hat trick in the Stars' 6-3 win over the Sharks, at San Jose. The win extended the Stars' team-record road winning streak to 7 straight games.....Ron Hextall recorded his second shutout in three days (and the 7th of his NHL career) to lead the Islanders to a 4-0 win against the Washington Capitals, in New York.

1997: Dallas goaltender Andy Moog recorded his 350th career NHL win as the Stars won 4-2 over the visiting Calgary Flames. Moog became the 6th goalie in league history to win 350 games.

1999: Ray Sheppard became the first player in NHL history to score 20 or more goals in a season for six different teams, when he scored his 20th of the year for the Carolina Hurricanes, in a 4-1 win over the visiting New York Islanders.

2000: Buffalo's Dominik Hasek became the first European-trained goaltender in NHL history to record 200 career NHL victories, in a 3-2 Sabres' win over the visiting New Jersey Devils.

2001: Joe Nieuwendyk became the 73rd player in NHL history to score 900 career points, when he picked up two goals and an assist to lead the Dallas Stars to a 6-2 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild.....Jean-Sebastien Giguere recorded his first NHL career shutout and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky scored the game's only goal in the Mighty Ducks 1-0 win against the visiting San Jose Sharks.....Martin Gelinas celebrated his 800th career NHL game with two assists for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 6-3 win over the visiting Atlanta Thrashers.....Colorado defenseman Ray Bourque played against the Boston Bruins for the first time in his 22 year NHL career, and picked up two assists in as the Avalanche won 8-2 against the visiting Bruins

2004: L.A.'s Luc Robitaille scored a power-play goal to become the first player to get 10 (or more) power-play goals 14 times in his NHL career; the milestone came in a 4-3 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.