Jan. 19 NHL History
1971: Gordie Howe appears in a record 14th consecutive All-Star Game, surpassing the mark set by Maurice Richard. It’s Howe’s 22nd appearance in 23 NHL seasons. The Western Conference defeats the Eastern Conference 2-1 at Boston Garden.
1991: After the packed house at Chicago Stadium drowns out “The Star-Spangled Banner” with cheers, Vincent Damphousse of the Toronto Maple Leafs scores four goals to help the Campbell Conference defeat the Wales Conference 11-5 at the NHL All-Star Game.
There are questions about whether the game should be played after Operation Desert Storm begins three days earlier but NHL President John Ziegler ultimately decides to go ahead. The sellout crowd of 18,472 rocks the building throughout Wayne Messmer’s performance of the National Anthem.
“I was standing next to Mark Messier during the anthems,” Wayne Gretzky recalls years later. “I said to him, ‘This is unbelievable.’ I’ve heard it as loud here before when we came into Chicago with the Edmonton Oilers. But never as emotional. The flags of both countries, the banners, the vibrations. You could tell that the fans, like us, were thinking of other things.”
Damphousse scores three times in the third period to help the Campbell Conference pull away. His four-goal performance matches the All-Star Game record and earns him MVP honors.
Gretzky scores once to become the all-time leader in All Star Game goals with 11, one more than Gordie Howe.
1996: The NHL Board of Governors approves the sale of the Winnipeg Jets. The move officially clears the way for the franchise to move to Phoenix in time for the 1996-97 season.
2000: Rookie goaltender Evgeni Nabokov gets a shutout in his first NHL start, making 39 saves when the San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche play to a 0-0 tie at Pepsi Center. At the other end of the ice, Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy made 15 saves for his 47th NHL shutout.
2004: Colorado Avalanche forward Milan Hejduk becomes the third player in NHL history to score an overtime goal on a penalty shot. He beats goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin 59 seconds into OT to give the visiting Avalanche a 5-4 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s the second penalty-shot goal of Hejduk’s NHL career and comes eight days after the first one against the Chicago Blackhawks.
2006: Luc Robitaille passes Marcel Dionne for the most goals in Los Angeles Kings history when he scores three times in an 8-6 victory against the Atlanta Thrashers at Staples Center. Robitaille scores once in the first period and twice in the third; the three goals give him 551 with the Kings, one more than Dionne.
