Today in NHL History, March 24th

1920: Ottawa's Clint Benedict recorded the first of his 15 career playoff shutouts, with a 3-0 win over the Seattle Metropolitans, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Championship, in Ottawa. The 15 shutouts was a record that held until 2001 (Patrick Roy).

1928: Montreal became the 1st NHL team to end a season with consecutive shutouts, as George Hainsworth had his 13th of the year in a 4-0 win over the visiting Senators. The next team to end a season with consecutive shutouts would be Toronto in 2003-04.

1936: Mud Bruneteau scored as Detroit beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 at 116:30 of overtime -- 5 hours and 51 minutes after the opening faceoff, in the longest game in NHL history. Goalie Norm Smith made 89 saves for the Red Wings.....Tiny Thompson made 35 saves for his 5th career playoff shutout, and Boston took only 12 shots on goal in a 3-O win over Toronto in Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Semi-Final series, at Boston Garden. Eddie Shore had a goal and an assist in the game.

1955: Montreal Captain Emile Bouchard established a new record by playing in his 102nd career Stanley Cup game, breaking the mark of 101 set by former Toronto goalie Turk Broda. Montreal won 3-1 over Boston, in Game 2 of the Semi-Finals at the Forum.....Former NHL defenseman Pat Price born in Nelson, B.C. Price played in the NHL 1975-76 through 1987-88 with the New York Islanders, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Quebec, the New York Rangers and Minnesota.

1957: Gordie Howe had two assists in the final game of the 1956-57 season, a 4-1 Red Wings' win over Toronto in Detroit, to finish with 44 goals, 45 assists, 89 total points, and his 5th scoring title and Art Ross Trophy.

1971: "Jean Beliveau Night" was celebrated at the Forum in Montreal. As a result, a fund was organized for underpriviledged children. Canadiens won 5-3 over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, with Beliveau picking up an assist.

1974: Rookie goaltender Mike Veisor recorded the first shutout of his NHL career to lead the Black Hawks to a 6-0 win over the Minnesota North Stars, at Chicago Stadium.....Ken Hodge scored his 100th point of the season, with an assist in the Bruins 6-3 win over the Canadiens in Boston. Hodge became just the third player in NHL history (after Esposito and Orr) to record more than one 100 point season.

1976: New York Rangers signed free agent goalie Gilles Gratton. Gratton played 41 games with the Rangers, and had a GAA of 4.22 .

1977: Bruins rookie Mike Milbury broke a 50-year-old team record when he picked up a major and a misconduct in the Bruins' 6-2 home loss to the Flyers. The penalties raised his season total to 166 minutes, one more than Eddie Shore had in 1926-27.

1981: Goaltender Mario Lessard set an L.A. Kings record for most wins in a season, when he picked up his 34th victory of the year in a 4-3 win over the North Stars at Minnesota. Lessard made 65 saves in the game (Kings were outshot 68-19).

1984: Marcel Dionne became the 53rd player in the NHL's 67-year history to play in 1,000 games, as the Kings beat Detroit 9-7 in Los Angeles.....Boston's Ray Bourque became just the 6th defenseman in NHL history to score 30 goals in a season, as the Bruins won 5-2, at Montreal.

1990: Minnesota's Neal Broten scored his 6th career hat trick and added an assist to lead the North Stars to a 7-6 win over the Bruins, at Boston.....Pat LaFontaine became the third player in Islanders' history to score 50 goals in a season, when he got two goals in a 5-5 tie at Edmonton. LaFontaine joined Mike Bossy & Bryan Trottier as Islanders' 50-goal scorers.

1991: Steve Larmer picked up an assist to become the third player in Blackhawks history to get 100 points in a season, as Chicago extended their home undefeated streak against Minnesota to 12 straight games (10-0-2) with a 5-4 win over the North Stars.

1991: Steve Larmer picked up an assist to become the third player in Blackhawks history to get 100 points in a season, as Chicago extended their home undefeated streak against Minnesota to 12 straight games (10-0-2) with a 5-4 win over the North Stars.

1992: Goaltender Kirk McLean earned his club record 38th win, and rookie Pavel Bure had two goals and an assist to lead the Canucks to a 4-2 win against the North Stars, at Minnesota.....Quebec's Joe Sakic extended his team-record consecutive game assist streak to 12 straight games in the Nordiques' 5-2 win over the visiting New York Islanders. Sakic scored 15 assists during the 12 game streak.....Pittsburgh's Kevin Stevens scored his 50th goal of the season to become the first player in NHL history to get 50+ goals and 200 penalty minutes in the same season -- it came in a 4-3 Penguins' loss at Detroit.

1993: Eric Lindros scored the third hat trick of his rookie season to lead the Flyers to a 5-4 win over the Rangers at New York. Lindros' 35th goal set a franchise rookie record, breaking Brian Propp's mark of 34 set in 1979-80.

1998: Neal Broten, Max McNab, John Mayasich and Peter Karmanos were awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy, at a ceremony in St. Paul Minnesota.....A record was set when 38 players were involved in 19 trades that took place at the annual NHL trade deadline. 21 of the league's 26 teams made one or more moves at the dealine.

2001: Columbus' Espen Kutsen set a team record with five points - all assists - in the Blue Jackets 6-4 win against the visiting Calgary Flames.

2003: Toronto's Mats Sundin played in his 1,000th NHL game, a 3-2 loss to the Bruins at Boston.