This Day in NHL History: March 22
1919: Newsy Lalonde becomes the first NHL player to score four goals in a Stanley Cup Final game. Lalonde gets all of the Montreal Canadiens’ goals in a 4-2 win against the PCHA’s Seattle Metropolitans in Game 2.
1932: Experimental rules are tried in the New York Americans’ 8-6 win against the Bruins at Boston Garden. With the teams assured of not making the playoffs, the blue lines are eliminated with the center red line used to determine offside.
1937: Detroit Red Wings goalie Normie Smith wins the Vezina Trophy, becoming the first Detroit player to win a major NHL award.
1959: Six years to the day that Detroit’s Gordie Howe sets the NHL single-season record for points with 95, Montreal Canadiens forward Dickie Moore passes him on the last night of the regular season. Moore ends the season with 96 points when he scores a goal and an assist in the first period of a 4-2 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Moore, a future member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, finishes with 41 goals and 55 assists. He earns $1,000 for winning the scoring title.
1962: Montreal’s Jacques Plante becomes the second goaltender in NHL history to win 40 games three times in his career. Win No. 40 comes when in the Canadiens’ 68th game of the season, a 4-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Forum. Plante makes 28 saves and Gilles Tremblay scores two goals.
1964: Eddie Johnston of the Boston Bruins becomes the last goalie in NHL history to play every minute of every game in a season.
As was the case in each of Boston’s first 69 games, Johnston is in a goal for the Bruins’ season finale against the Chicago Blackhawks. And as is usually the case, he loses; the Blackhawks score four times on 40 shots and hold off the Bruins for a 4-3 victory at Boston Garden.
The loss leaves Johnston with a record of 18-40-12 and a 3.01 goals-against average in 70 games for the last-place Bruins.
1970: Boston’s Bobby Orr sets two marks by scoring two goals and assisting on two others a 5-0 win against the Minnesota North Stars. Orr scores late in the first period and again with 1:03 remaining in the third; the second goal makes him the first defenseman in NHL history to score 30 in a season, The two assists give Orr 78, surpassing the record of 77 set by teammate Phil Esposito in 1968-69.
Exactly five years later, Orr scores three goals for his ninth and final NHL hat trick in Boston’s 8-2 win against the visiting Washington Capitals.
1984: Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders ties Doug Smail’s NHL record for fastest goal from the start of a game. Trottier beats Doug Keans five seconds after the opening faceoff at Boston Garden to give the Islanders a quick lead;, but the New York needs two goals by Mike Bossy to rally for a 3-3 tie with the Bruins.
1996: San Jose Sharks rookie Jan Caloun scores the tying goal in a 2-1 overtime victory against the Calgary Flames, giving him four goals on his first four NHL shots. Later in the game, Caloun finally missed on a shot, for a shooting percentage of .800 (4-for-5) at the start of his NHL career, which finishes with eight goals in 24 games.
2000: Detroit’s Pat Verbeek reaches the 500-goal mark when he scores twice in a 2-2 tie against the Calgary Flames at Joe Louis Arena. Verbeek becomes the 28th NHL player to score 500 goals, but the first to get 500 goals along with 2,000 penalty minutes. He finishes his career with 522 goals and 2,905 penalty minutes in 1,424 games.
