Today in NHL History, March 20th

1916: Portland Rosebuds defeated Montreal Canadiens 2-0 in the first game of the 1916 Stanley Cup Challenge. Montreal came back to win the Cup in five games.

1927: Lorne Chabot became the first goaltender in New York Rangers history to win 20 games in one season. The milestone victory was a 2-1 win against the visiting New York Americans.

1934: New York Rangers' goalie Andy Aitkenhead and Montreal Maroons' Dave Kerr traded shutouts, in a scoreless Stanley Cup Quarter-Final playoff game between the two teams. It was Kerr's first career playoff shutout.

1948: Hall of Famer Bobby Orr born in Parry Sound, Ont. Orr played in the NHL 1966-67 through 1978-79 with Boston and Chicago.

1955: Detroit's Terry Sawchuk became the first goaltender in NHL history to get 40 (or more) wins three times in his career, when he picked up his 40th victory of the season in a 6-0 shutout over the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1956: Maurice Richard extended his Stanley Cup record with his fifth career playoff hat trick (and his 10th career playoff game-winning goal) as the Canadiens won 7-1 over the visiting New York Rangers, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals.

1963: Toronto tied Montreal 3-3 and clinched first place in the NHL. It was the Maple Leaf's first league championship in 15 years.

1965: Chicago's Pierre Pilote picked up two assists to give him 58 points for the year, a new NHL record for points by a defenseman, in a 3-2 loss at Montreal. Pilote broke the 21-year-old record of 57 points set by Babe Pratt.

1969: Chicago's Bobby Hull set an NHL record, when he scored his 55th goal of the season in a 5-5 tie at Boston. Hull broke his own record (for most goals in a season) of 54 set in 1965-66. He also became just the second player in NHL history to get 100 points in a season, doing so 8 days after Phil Esposito became the NHL's first ever 100 point scorer.....Boston's Bobby Orr set a new NHL record for defensemen with his 21st goal of the season (breaking the mark set by Flash Hollett in 1944-45). It came at 19:59 of the third, on Orr's 21st birthday, in a 5-5 tie against the Black Hawks, in Boston.

1971: NHL history was made as two brothers faced each other in goal for the first time ever. Ken Dryden's Canadiens beat Dave Dryden's Sabres 5-2 at the Montreal Forum.

1977: Atlanta Flames' Tom Lysiak scored a power-play goal for the 100th goal of his NHL career and picked up an assist, in a 5-4 loss to the Barons, at Cleveland.

1979: Rangers' Phil Esposito scored the game-tying goal to reach the 40-goal level for the eighth time in his career (matching Bobby Hull for the most 40-goal season in NHL history). New York tied 2-2 at Washington.

1982: Islanders' Clark Gillies became the third player in franchise history to score 250 goals when New York tied 3-3 with the visiting St. Louis Blues, extending their team-record home undefeated streak to 19 games (17-0-2).

1983: Al Secord became just the second Black Hawks' player to get 50 goals in a season when he scored twice, and added two assists in a 7-3 Chicago win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

1986: Tim Kerr became the first Flyer to record three consecutive 50-goal seasons in the Flyers 5-1 win over visiting Pittsburgh. It was also coach Mike Keenan's 100th victory with the Flyers (in his 152nd game, second fastest in NHL history).....Marcel Dionne picked up an assist to move into second place on the all-time NHL scoring list (passing Phil Esposito) with his 1,591st career point when the Kings lost at Boston, 6-3.

1988: New York Islanders' Billy Smith recorded his 300th NHL victory, a 6-0 shutout against the Jets, at Winnipeg. Smith became the ninth goalie in NHL history to win 300 career games. It was also Smith's 22nd (and final) career shutout.

1989: Pittsburgh's Paul Coffey became the first defenseman in NHL history to score 100 points in a season with two teams, when he got an assist for his 100th point of the year, in a 7-2 Penguins' loss to the North Stars at Minnesota.

1992: New York's Mike Gartner scored twice in his 1,000th NHL game, to lead the Rangers to a 4-2 win at Detroit.

1993: Mario Lemieux scored four goals (for the second straight game) and added an assist, and Ron Francis scored a goal and 4 assists to lead the Penguins to a 9-3 win over the Flyers at the Civic Arena. Jaromir Jagr also picked up his 200th NHL point.....Red Wings' John Ogrodnick scored twice to give him 400 goals in his NHL career, and added an assist as Detroit won 7-4, at Boston. Ogrodnick became the 42nd NHL player to get 400 career goals.....Kirk Muller scored a goal and added three assists, and Patrice Brisebois picked up the 9,000th goal in Montreal franchise history, in a 6-2 Canadiens' win over Chicago in Montreal.....Luc Robitaille became the first player in NHL history to score a goal against 22 teams in one season, when he connected for the Kings in a 3-2 win over the visiting St. Louis Blues. It also extended his goal scoring streak to 10 straight games.

1994: Goaltender Don Beaupre recorded his 15th career shutout to lead the Capitals to a 3-0 win over the Lightning at Tampa Bay.

1995: St. Louis' Mike Keenan coached his 750th game, a 5-3 loss at Los Angeles, to become the 16th coach to reach the NHL milestone.....Philadelphia's Eric Lindros scored his second consecutive hat trick as the Flyers won 8-4 over the visiting Montreal Canadiens. Lindros became the second player in Flyers' history to score three or more goals in back-to-back games.

1996: Stars' Mike Modano scored his 33rd goal of the season to give him 500 career points (in 489 NHL games) as Dallas won 2-1 over the visiting St. Louis Blues. Also in that game, Grant Fuhr became the first goaltender in NHL history to start 71 games in one season, when he played in goal for the St. Louis Blues.

1999: Edmonton Oilers acquired goaltender Tommy Salo from the New York Islanders for center Mats Lindgren and an eighth-round draft choice in 1999.

2001: Ray Bourque scored his 410th (and final) career NHL goal in a 4-1 Avalanche win over the visiting San Jose Sharks.

2003: St. Louis Blues clinched a playoff spot for the 24th straight season, when Pavol Demitra scored twice, including the winning goal at 2:22 of overtime and added an assist in a 3-2 win over the visiting Anaheim Mighty Ducks.....Tyler Wright scored his third career hat trick, including the winning goal with 43.8 seconds remaining in overtime as the Blue Jackets won 4-3 over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

2004: Mats Sundin scored his 30th goal of the season for the 11th time in his career, and Ed Belfour won his 30th game of the year for the 9th time in his career, as the Maple Leafs won 5-2 against the visiting Colorado Avalanche.