October 26 NHL History
1978: Mario Lessard of the Kings becomes the 14th goaltender to earn a shutout in his first NHL game. Lessard’s teammates give him plenty of help by scoring six times in a victory against the Buffalo Sabres at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
1990: Wayne Gretzky becomes the first player in NHL history to reach 2,000 career points. He gets point No. 2,000 with an assist in the Los Angeles Kings’ 6-2 road loss to the Winnipeg Jets. The assist gives him 684 goals and 1,316 assists in 857 NHL games.
1992: Mike Gartner passes Maurice Richard for ninth place on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list. He scores career goals No. 544 and 545, and helps the Rangers defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 8-4 at Madison Square Garden. Richard was the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring leader with 544 goals when he retired in 1960.
1995: Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores three times to become the 20th player in NHL history to reach 500 career goals. The milestone comes in his 605th game, a 7-5 victory for the Penguins against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. Lemieux reaches 500 goals faster than anyone except Gretzky.
1997: Gretzky has two assists in the New York Rangers’ 3-3 tie with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at Madison Square Garden. They are the 1,850th and 1,851th of his career and give Gretzky more assists than any other player in NHL history has points (he passes Gordie Howe‘s career point total of 1,850).
1997: Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings passes Alex Delvecchio as the longest-serving captain in NHL history (11 years, 12 games). Yzerman and the Red Wings then defeat the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 to improve their road record since the start of the season to 6-0-0.
2002: The St. Louis Blues become the first team in NHL history to win four consecutive games with four different goaltenders when Fred Brathwaite makes 18 saves in a 4-3 overtime win at the Calgary Flames.
2006: The Buffalo Sabres tie the NHL record for the best start to a season by winning their 10th straight game, defeating the Islanders 3-0 at Nassau Coliseum. Ryan Miller makes 29 saves for the shutout. The Sabres match the 10-0-0 start by the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs.
