THIS DATE IN NHL HISTORY: March 26
1919: The Seattle Metropolitans and Montreal Canadiens, playing in the fourth game of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Final, finish in a 0-0 tie after 60 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. The Canadiens even the series three days later with a 4-3 overtime victory, but neither team is able to play another game because of an influenza outbreak. It marks the first time the Final is not played to completion, and the Stanley Cup is not awarded.
1936: The Toronto Maple Leafs set a Stanley Cup Playoff record for most power-play goals in one period, scoring four in the second against the Boston Bruins. Toronto’s 8-3 win in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Quarterfinals is led by Charlie Conacher, who scores three goals and assists on another.
1961: The Blackhawks defeat the Canadiens 2-1 in Game 3 of their Semifinal series at Chicago Stadium. Murray Balfour scores the winning goal at 12:12 of the third overtime, 28 seconds after Montreal’s Dickie Moore is penalized.
1980: Tony Esposito of the Chicago Blackhawks becomes the first goaltender in NHL history with eight 30-win seasons.
Esposito’s milestone victory comes in a 7-2 road win against the Quebec Nordiques, the Blackhawks’ first win in Quebec. It also comes 10 years to the day after Esposito breaks Harry Lumley’s 16-year-old “modern” record with his 14th shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory against the Detroit Red Wings.
1986: Minnesota North Stars’ center Neal Broten becomes the first U.S.-born player to score 100 points in a season. He reaches the milestone with two assists in a 6-1 road victory against the Maple Leafs.
1988: Jimmy Carson of the Los Angeles Kings scores three times to become the second-youngest player (19 years, eight months) in NHL history with 50 goals in a season. He reaches the milestone at 19:05 of the first period with his second goal of the game in a 9-5 win against the Blackhawks at the Forum in Inglewood, California. He scores again early in the second period and gets a third-period assist to reach 100 points for the first time.
1999: Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy ties Jacques Plante for the most victories (regular season and playoffs) in NHL history. Roy gets his 505th win by making 19 saves in a 3-1 win against the Washington Capitals at McNichols Arena.
2002: The Maple Leafs set a Toronto record by scoring four goals in a span of 1:25 during a 7-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Air Canada Centre. Toronto leads 3-2 until Robert Reichel scores at 5:10 of the third period, Mats Sundin scores at 5:53 and Tie Domi scores back-to-back goals at 6:09 and 6:35.
