November 30 NHL History
1954: The Chicago Blackhawks tie the Montreal Canadiens 3-3 in a game played in Omaha, Nebraska. The Blackhawks play six home games during the 1953-54 season away from Chicago Stadium, in Omaha, St. Louis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
1968: Forward Val Fonteyne of the Pittsburgh Penguins extends his NHL-record penalty-free streak to 185 games when the Penguins defeat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 at the Forum. Fonteyne’s streak ends the next night when he’s called for a minor penalty in the first period of Pittsburgh’s game at the Oakland Seals.
1977: Phil Esposito moves into second place behind Gordie Howe on the NHL’s all-time goals list with a hat trick in the visiting New York Rangers’ 4-0 victory against the St. Louis Blues. The three goals give Esposito 605 in his career, one more than Bobby Hull.
1995: Grant Fuhr becomes the 11th goaltender in NHL history to reach the 300-victory mark. The milestone win comes when the visiting St. Louis Blues defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1. Fuhr finishes his NHL career with a record of 403-295-114.
1996: Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins becomes the ninth player in NHL history to reach 1,400 points when he scores a goal and has three assists in a 6-2 victory against the visiting Boston Bruins. Ron Francis sets up two second-period goals to become the ninth player to reach 900 career assists.
2005: In a trade that alters two franchises, the Boston Bruins send their captain, center Joe Thornton, to the San Jose Sharks for forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau, and defenseman Brad Stuart.
Thornton, the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NHL Draft, is off to a hot start with 33 points in Boston’s first 24 games. But in the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he goes without a point in seven games playing with broken ribs, and the Bruins are upset by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. When the Bruins struggle at the start of the 2005-06 season after a number of players leave as free agents, general manager Mike O’Connell feels he needed to make a major move to overhaul his team.
Thornton makes himself right at home in San Jose, putting up 92 points in 58 games. He finishes the season with a combined 125 points, winning the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer and the Hart Trophy as MVP. He remains one of the NHL’s most reliable playmakers for more than a decade.
None of the three players acquired by the Bruins make much of an impact, though the cap flexibility created by the trade later enables Boston to sign players such as defenseman Zdeno Chara.
2005: Sergei Fedorov of the Columbus Blue Jackets becomes the first Russian born player to appear in 1,000 NHL games when he takes the ice for a 3-2 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. Fedorov finishes his NHL career with 1,179 points in 1,248 games played.
2015: Henrik Lundqvist earns his 352nd NHL victory by making 33 saves in the Rangers’ 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden. Lundqvist moves past Terry Sawchuk for the third-most wins by a goaltender with one franchise in NHL history.
