October 17 NHL History
1957: Henri Richard of the Montreal Canadiens scores three goals for his first NHL hat trick and assists on three other goals for a six-point night in a 9-3 win against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.
1974: The Washington Capitals earn the first victory in franchise history when they defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at Capital Centre. Jack Egers gets the winning goal midway through the third period, and Ron Low makes 33 saves. The win gives the Capitals a 1-2-1 record after four games.; they win seven of their final 76 games and finish 8-67-5.
1989: The Calgary Flames pull off the greatest late-game comeback in NHL history to earn an 8-8 tieagainst the Quebec Nordiques at the Colisee. The Flames trail 8-3 with less than seven minutes left in the third period before Gary Roberts scores twice in 16 seconds and Jim Peplinski gets another goal 11 seconds later to cut the deficit to 8-6. With the Flames shorthanded and goaltender Mike Vernon off for an extra attacker, Doug Gilmour scores a goal with 15 seconds remaining, then sets up Paul Ranheim for the tying goal four seconds later. The Flames set an NHL record for the fastest two shorthanded goals.
1992: Jari Kurri becomes the first European-trained player (and the 18th player in NHL history) to score 500 goals. The milestone comes when the forward hits the empty net to clinch the Los Angeles Kings’ 8-6 victory against the Boston Bruins at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
After a faceoff in his own zone, Kurri steals the puck from Boston defenseman Ray Bourque, then outraces him and another Bruins defender down the left wing before lofting a wrist shot from about 30 feet into the net.
Kurri reaches 500 goals in 833 NHL games. The milestone comes one day shy of the anniversary of his first NHL goal, Oct. 18, 1980, against the New York Islanders.
1991: Paul Coffey of the Pittsburgh Penguins becomes the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL history. He has two assists in an 8-5 victory against the Islanders at the Civic Arena, giving him 1,053 career points. Coffey passes Hall of Famer (and longtime Islanders star) Denis Potvin.
2000: Patrick Roy sets the NHL record for most regular-season wins by a goaltender when the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Capitals 4-3 in overtime at Washington. It’s the 448th victory of his career, moving him past longtime record-holder Terry Sawchuk.
2015: The undefeated Montreal Canadiens extend the best start in franchise history by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 at Bell Centre for their sixth consecutive victory. Montreal’s best previous six-game start is 5-0-1, accomplished four times but not since 1977-78.
