Today in NHL History April 11th

1936: Detroit coach Jack Adams led the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup championship with a 3-2 win over Toronto in Game Four of their best-of-five series. The Red Wings became the last of the League's "Original Six" teams to win the Stanley Cup.

1937: NY Rangers' Dave Kerr shut out the Red Wings, 1-0 in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Finals at Detroit. Neil Colville scored the only goal in the second period. It was Kerr's 4th shutout of the 1937 playoffs and the 5th of his playoff career.

1940: Ebbie Goodfellow became the first Detroit Red Wings' player to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player.

1950: Detroit Red Wings scored four goals in the second period to beat the visiting New York Rangers 4-1 in the first game of the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals.

1951: Sid Smith scored two goals, including the winner at 5:51 of overtime to lead the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 playoff win against the Canadiens, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, in Toronto.

1954: Goaltender Gerry McNeil recorded his 5th (and final) career playoff shutout, and Ken Mosdell scored the winning goal at 5:45 of overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 1-0 win at Detroit, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

1956: Toronto Maple Leafs named Howie Meeker as their new coach. Meeker replaced King Clancy, who was promoted to assistant GM.

1964: Bob Pulford scored a shorthanded goal with two seconds remaining in regulation to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 win over Detroit in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It was the latest game winning regulation goal in Stanley Cup Finals history.

1970: Pittsburgh Penguins became the first NHL team to win their first three games in playoff history, when they beat the Seals, 5-2 in Oakland. Ken Schinkel became the first Penguins' player to score a playoff hat trick.....Rod Gilbert scored twice within a span of 1:21 as the Rangers ended a 10 game playoff losing streak by beating Boston 4-3 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals, at Madison Square Garden. The streak dated back to the 1968 playoffs.

1971: Jim Pappin scored a hat trick, and Bobby Hull added three assists to lead the Black Hawks to a 6-2 playoff win over the Flyers in Game 4 of the Quarter-Finals, at Philadelphia. Chicago advanced to the Semi-Finals vs NYR.....Boston's Bobby Orr became the first defenseman since 1922 to score a hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, in a 5-2 Bruins win at Montreal, in Game 4 of the Quarter-Finals.

1975: NY Islanders won their first playoff series in team history, beating the Rangers 4-3, on J.P. Parise's goal at :11 seconds of overtime. It came in the final game of their best-of-three series. Parise's OT goal was the first in Isles' history.

1976: Montreal goaltender Ken Dryden recorded his 4th career playoff shutout as the Canadiens won 4-0 over the Black Hawks, at the Forum in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals.

1977: Boston's Bobby Schmautz tied an NHL playoff record with three goals in the first period (and Jean Ratelle added three assists), in the Bruins' 8-3 win over the Kings in Boston Garden, in Game One of their Quarter-Final series.

1978: Mel Bridgman scored just :23 into overtime, and Doug Favell made 41 saves as the Flyers beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 in Game 1 of their playoff Preliminary Round series, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.....Buffalo Sabres beat the Rangers 4-1 in Game 1 of the Preliminary Round. Buffalo won the series in three games.

1980: Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull appeared in their final NHL games, when the Hartford Whalers lost to Montreal in Game 4 of their playoff series. Yvon Lambert scored at 0:29 of overtime for the 4-3 Canadiens' win.....Vancouver earned the first home playoff victory in team history, and beat Buffalo 5-4 in Game 3 of the Preliminary Round. The win came after four home playoff losses in their first ten years of existence.

1981: Goaltender Daniel Bouchard recorded the only shutout of his playoff career to lead the Quebec Nordiques to a 2-0 win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, in Game 3 of their Stanley Cup Preliminary Round series.....Denis Potvin picked up three assists to lead the Islanders to a 6-1 win at Toronto, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round. Islanders advanced to the Quarter-Finals vs Edmonton.....Willi Plett scored twice, including the winner at 35:17 of overtime, and Reggie Lemelin made 61 saves to lead the Flames to a 5-4 win at Chicago, in Game 3 of the Preliminary Rounds. Flames advanced to the Quarter-Finals.....Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored the first hat trick in Oilers' playoff history, and added an assist as the Oilers won 6-2 over the visiting Montreal Canadiens, in Game 3 of the Preliminary Round.

1982: Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Islanders 5-2 in Game 4 of Stanley Cup Division Semi-Finals. Rick Kehoe scored the game winning goal for the second night in a row, and Andre St. Laurent had two goals and an assist.....Bobby Clarke scored twice and added two assists, as the Flyers lost 7-5 to the visiting New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals. NY Rangers won best-of-five series, 3-1.

1987: Quebec's Peter Stastny scored three goals as the Nordiques won 5-1 against the visiting Hartford Whalers, in Game 3 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.....Mike McPhee scored a hat trick to lead Montreal to a 5-4 win at Boston, in Game 3 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.....Ron Hextall recorded his first Stanley Cup playoff shutout, stopping 34 Rangers' shots as the Flyers won 3-0 in Game Three of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals, at New York.

1989: Peter Zezel had three goals and two assists in the Blues 6-1 win over the Minnesota North Stars, in Game 5 of Norris Division Semi-Finals. Zezel became the second Blues player to get a hat trick in the playoffs.....Ron Hextall became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal in Stanley Cup competition. Hextall's shorthanded empty-net goal gave the Flyers an 8-5 win, and a 3-2 lead in the Patrick Division Semi-Finals with the Capitals.

1991: Russ Courtnall scored the winning goal at 5:56 of overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 4-3 win over Buffalo, at the Forum in Game 5 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.

1993: Brett Hull scored his 100th point of the season for the fourth straight year, when he picked up a goal for the Blues in a 5-1 win over the Minnesota North Stars, in St. Louis. It came in Hull's 400th game with the Blues.....Chicago's Dave Christian played in his 1,000th career NHL game, a 3-3 tie against Tampa Bay, at Chicago Stadium.

1995: Bruins beat the Hartford Whalers 3-2 to extend their consecutive playoff streak to 29 years, the longest active by any pro sports team.

1996: Jaromir Jagr set an NHL record for right wings, with his 84th assist of the season, in the Penguins' 5-3 win over Ottawa. Jagr broke the record held by NY Islanders' Mike Bossy.

2001: Steve Yzerman tied Gordie Howe's Detroit team record by playing in his 154th career playoff game in the Red Wings 5-3 win against the visiting Los Angeles Kings, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

2002: Markus Naslund scored his 7th career hat trick with three goals in the final 8 minutes of the game to give the Canucks a 5-2 win against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

2004: Montreal's Jose Theodore became just the 3rd NHL goalie to get 2 assists in a playoff game, when he assisted on both of Alex Kovalev's goals in the 1st period in a 3-2 win over the visiting Bruins, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conf Quarter-Finals.....Despite being outshot 15-1 in the first 15 minutes of the game, Tomas Vokoun made 40 saves to help the Predators record the first playoff victory in team history, 3-1 over the visiting Red Wings, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.