Dec. 18 NHL History
1928: Goaltender George Hainsworth sets an NHL record with his fifth consecutive road shutout when the Canadiens defeat the Blackhawks 5-0. Howie Morenz scores two goals and has an assist for Montreal.
1952: Rookie Jean Beliveau scores three goals for his first NHL hat trick, and Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion also scores three (for his second NHL hat trick), in the Canadiens’ 6-2 win against the New York Rangers. Each player scores in the first period. Beliveau completes his hat trick with two goals in the second period and Geoffrion gets his by scoring twice in the third.
1954: Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens becomes the first player in NHL history to score 400 goals during a 4-2 road victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Richard reaches the milestone when he beats goaltender Al Rollins at 4:05 of the third period. It’s his 16th goal of the season and proves to be the game-winner.
Richard retires after the 1959-60 season with an NHL-record 544 goals.
1955: The Detroit Red Wings defeat Montreal 2-0 at Olympia Stadium for their third consecutive shutout. Glenn Hall makes 26 saves for the Red Wings. Hall, the winner in all three games, gets plenty of help from his teammates; he faces 56 shots on goal during the shutout streak.
1965: There’s a hat trick of hat tricks in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 8-4 victory against the Rangers at Maple Leaf Gardens. Toronto’s Dave Keon gets his first NHL hat trick and Bob Pulford completes his second by beating Ed Giacomin late in the third period. New York forward Earl Ingarfield also scores three times.
1977: The Montreal Canadiens begin a 28-game undefeated streak by defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 at the Spectrum. Goaltender Ken Dryden makes 22 saves for his 39th NHL shutout. It’s the start of a stretch that sees the Canadiens go 23-0-5. Their next loss comes against the Rangers on Feb. 25.
1983: Wayne Gretzky reaches 100 points in the Edmonton Oilers’ 34th game of the season by scoring two goals and contributing two assists in a 7-5 win against the Winnipeg Jets. Gretzky gets to 100 points faster than any player in NHL history and finishes the season with 205.
2007: Jacques Lemaire is the first to coach 1,000 NHL games after playing in more than 800 during his career. Lemaire coaches the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory against the Nashville Predators at Xcel Energy Center after trailing 2-0 in the third period.
2016: John Tortorella becomes the first NHL coach born in the United States to reach 500 victories when Seth Jones scores 46 seconds into overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. He’s the 24th coach in League history with 500 wins.
