Dec. 19 NHL History
1917: The newly formed NHL begins play in its first season when the visiting Montreal Canadiens defeat the Ottawa Senators 7-4, and the Montreal Wanderers hold off the Toronto Arenas 10-9.
Wanderers defenseman Dave Ritchie scores exactly 1:00 into the game for the first goal in the history of the new league; his second of the game early in the third period stands up as the game-winner after the Arenas rally from down 10-6. Harry Hyland scores five goals for the Wanderers, and Reg Noble scores four for the Arenas.
Joe Malone of the Canadiens scores five goals, including their first in the NHL, in the win against the Senators. He finishes the season with 44 goals and 48 points in 20 games.
1943: Harry Lumley becomes the youngest goaltender in NHL history when he plays for the Detroit Red Wings in a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Lumley is 17 years and 38 days old when he takes the ice for the first time. He ends his NHL career after the 1959-60 season with a 330-329-142 record and is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980.
1984: Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers reaches 1,000 points in the fewest games in NHL history when he scores two goals and has four assists in a 7-3 victory against the Los Angeles Kings. Gretzky gets his 1,000th point in his 424th game; the previous record-holder, Guy Lafleur, does it in 720 games.
1987: The Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues combine for the fastest two goals in NHL history. Ken Linseman scores with 10 seconds remaining in the third period to get Boston to within 6-5, but Doug Gilmour wins the faceoff and shoots the puck into an empty net two seconds later to wrap up a 7-5 win at Boston Garden.
1993: Boston’s Ray Bourque becomes the third defenseman in NHL history to score 300 goals. The milestone comes late in the second period of a 2-1 road victory against the Florida Panthers. Bourque joins Paul Coffey and Denis Potvin in the 300-goal club; he goes on to score an NHL-record 410 before retiring in 2001.
1995: The Calgary Flames trade center Joe Nieuwendyk to the Dallas Stars for center Corey Millen and 1995 first-round draft pick Jarome Iginla. The trade works out for each team: Nieuwendyk helps Dallas win the Stanley Cup in 1999, and Iginla becomes Calgary’s all-time leader in games played (1,219), goals (525) and points (1,095).
2015: Forward Phil Kessel of the Pittsburgh Penguins becomes the 23rd player in NHL history to play in 500 consecutive games. He doesn’t score in the Penguins’ 2-1 loss to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.
