October 10 NHL History
1979: Wayne Gretzky makes his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers and gets his first point, an assist, in a 4-2 road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. Gretzky’s assist comes on the first NHL goal in Oilers history, by defenseman Kevin Lowe at 9:49 of the first period. Dave Hunter scores just over five minutes later to tie the game 2-2, but power-play goals by John Marks at 18:55 of the first period and Bob Murray at 15:36 of the second are enough to give the Blackhawks the win.
Gretzky doesn’t score his first NHL goal until his third game, but he finishes the season with 51 goals and 137 points, tying him with Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings for the League lead.
1987: Forward Doug Jarvis of the Hartford Whalers plays in his NHL-record 964th consecutive game, a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
Jarvis breaks into the League with the Montreal Canadiens in 1975, becoming a superb checking center and faceoff specialist. He helps the Canadiens win the Stanley Cup four straight times from 1976-79 and is plus-105 in seven seasons with Montreal. He’s included as part of the trade that sends defenseman Rod Langway to the Washington Capitals on Sept 9, 1982, bringing with him a streak of 560 consecutive games played.
Jarvis begins the 1985-86 season with Washington but is traded to Hartford for forward Jorgen Pettersson on Dec. 6, 1985. He plays every game in 1985-86 and 1986-87, passing Garry Unger as the League’s all-time iron man.
But game No. 964 will be his last. One night later, the streak ends when Jarvis misses Hartford’s game against the Boston Bruins because of an injury. He is sent to Binghamton of the American Hockey League as a player-coach and never plays another NHL game.
1989: Players from the Soviet Union face each other for the first time in an NHL game. The New Jersey Devils lineup includes defensemen Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Starikov; the visiting Calgary Flames use forwards Sergei Priakin and Sergei Makarov. Priakin has the game-winning goal and Makarov has an assist in Calgary’s 4-2 victory.
1998: Brian Sutter earns his 300th victory as an NHL coach when the Calgary Flames defeat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 in Tokyo. Theo Fleury’s hat trick helps Sutter become the first in League history to get 300 wins as a coach after scoring 300 goals as a player.
On the same night, the Nashville Predators make their NHL debut at home against the Florida Panthers. Florida goaltender Kirk McLean makes 26 saves and Ray Whitney scores a third-period power-play goal in a 1-0 victory.
2002: At age 19, Stanislav Chistov becomes the youngest player in NHL history to get four points in his first game. He scores a goal and has three assists to help the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim defeat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 at Savvis Center.
2015: The Florida Panthers set a modern-day NHL record for the fastest four goals from the start of a season in their 7-1 season-opening victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at BB&T Center. Vincent Trocheck, Nick Bjugstad, Reilly Smith and Jussi Jokinen score in the game’s first 6:46 to give Florida a 4-0 lead.
