October 23 NHL History
1966: Rookie defenseman Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins scores his first NHL goal. Orr’s 50-foot slap shot beats Montreal Canadiens goaltender Gump Worsley at 4:13 of the third period to tie the game, but Boston loses 3-2 on a goal by defenseman Jean-Guy Talbot with 2:05 remaining.
1971: Five years to the day that Orr gets his first NHL goal, Guy Lafleur does the same. He scores at 18:52 of the second period against Gary Edwards and is credited with the game-winner in Montreal’s 3-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
1974: Washington Capitals goaltender Michel Belhumeur faces two penalty shots, and makes saves against Chicago’s Jim Pappin and Stan Mikita. Despite Belhumeur’s heroics, the Capitals lose 3-2 at Chicago Stadium.
1983: Philadelphia Flyers rookie Rich Sutter scores a goal, making the Sutters the first family in NHL history to have six brothers score goals. It comes at 13:29 of the third period of an 8-5 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Spectrum.
Exactly 25 years later, nephew Brandon Sutter scores his first NHL goal for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-1 road loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
1993: Toronto sets an NHL record for most victories from the start of season by winning its ninth consecutive game, 2-0 at the Tampa Bay Lightning. Mark Osborne scores twice for the Maple Leafs and goaltender Felix Potvin makes 25 saves for the shutout.
1998: Mark Messier scores his 600th NHL goal during the Vancouver Canucks’ 5-0 win at the Florida Panthers. The milestone goal comes at 12:58 of the third period, when he one-times a pass from Alexander Mogilny past goaltender Kirk McLean.
Messier’s teammates stream off the bench to congratulate their captain. The crowd of 18,070 warmly applauds Messier after he becomes the 10th NHL player to reach 600 goals and the fourth to have 600 goals and 900 career assists.
Messier, a member of six Stanley Cup-winning teams, downplays his own accomplishment, saying, “Individual success comes from winning as a team. That’s the bottom line.
“I always put the team ahead of any individual goals. I didn’t want the guys to think I was pressing for 600.”
2014: Darcy Kuemper earns his third shutout in four games when the Minnesota Wild defeat the Arizona Coyotes 2-0. Kuemper becomes the second goaltender since 1943-44 (when the red line is introduced) to have three shutouts in his first four games of the season, joining Pascal Leclaire of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2007-08.
