October 19 NHL History
1957: Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens becomes the first 500-goal scorer in the NHL when he gets a first-period power-play goal in a 3-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Forum.
No. 500 comes when Richard takes a pass from Jean Beliveau and beats Blackhawks goaltender Glenn Hall with a wrist shot. After the puck hits the back of the net, fans reward Richard with a thunderous ovation. At the time, no other NHL player has as many as 400 goals.
Richard finishes his career in 1960 with 544 goals, then an NHL record, and 82 more in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
1966: Rookie defenseman Bobby Orr plays his first NHL game and has an assist to help the Boston Bruins defeat the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 at Boston Garden. Detroit’s Gordie Howe reaches a milestone of his own when he plays in the first game of his 21st consecutive season in the NHL, breaking the League record of 20 held by Dit Clapper and Bill Gadsby.
1967: In their first home game, the Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0 at the Spectrum. Doug Favell makes 17 saves for his first NHL shutout and Bill Sutherland scores the game’s only goal 2:59 into the third period.
1974: Grant Mulvey, a forward taken No. 16 in the 1974 NHL Draft, becomes the youngest player since World War II to score an NHL goal. He’s 18 years, one month and two days old when he scores 5:15 into the first period to help the visiting Blackhawks defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-1.
1978: Exactly 12 years after he makes his NHL debut, Bobby Orr gets the 645th and final assist of his career in the Blackhawks’ 6-2 victory against the Minnesota North Stars.
1979: Two of the four teams that joined the NHL from the World Hockey Association get their first NHL victories. Blair McDonald’s hat trick helps the Edmonton Oilers defeat the visiting Quebec Nordiques(another former WHA team) 6-3 at Northlands Coliseum. Mark Howe’s first two NHL goals (and an assist) spark the Hartford Whalers to a 6-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings at the Civic Center.
1989: The Nordiques’ Peter Stastny becomes the first European-trained player, and 24th in the NHL, with 1,000 career points. He reaches the milestone with an empty-net goal that closes the Nordiques’ 5-3 win against the Blackhawks at Chicago Stadium.
1997: Patrick Marleau, an 18-year-old rookie forward, scores the first goal of his NHL career in the San Jose Sharks‘ 5-3 road loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. Marleau is the second-youngest player in 50 years to score an NHL goal; he goes on to score 508 in 19 seasons with the Sharks before signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 2, 2017.
2014: Martin St Louis and Rick Nash score goals four seconds apart in the final minute of the second period during the New York Rangers’ 4-0 victory against San Jose at Madison Square Garden. They are the fastest two non-empty-net goals scored by one team in an NHL game since Dec. 15, 1995, when Deron Quint gets two in four seconds for the Winnipeg Jets against the Oilers.
