Today in hockey history, a new way of playing an NHL game, a Bruin extends a record with some help by another Bruins who set a new record, a ridiculous games with a crazy amount of goals in a short span of time, a player joins the ranks of two elite players, and a certain player from Finland reaches a milestone.
March 19, 1933 – For the first time in NHL history, a hockey game was played in the day/afternoon! A 3:30 matinee game took place in Chicago between the Red Wings and Black Hawks, with the Wings winning 4-3. Now, we get afternoon games almost every Saturday and Sunday (when there’s no football), which is a great way to spend those lazy Sundays.
March 19, 1972 – In a 7-3 Bruins win over the Minnesota North Stars, Boston goalie Gerry Cheevers extended his impressive NHL record, an undefeated streak, to 30 straight games (23-0-7)! He got a little bit of help from teammate Phil Esposito, who scored a hat trick and set an NHL record by scoring two power play goals for his 27th of the year.
March 19, 1981 – In a dominant 14-4 win against the Leafs, The Buffalo Sabres set an NHL record by scoring nine goals in the second period! And even more impressive is that eight of those goals came in a span of just 4:52, another NHL record!! Although the Leafs got some of the glory too, because the teams combined for another NHL record by scoring a combined 12 goals in the second, the most in any period of any game.
March 19, 1991 – Brett Hull scored in a 2-1 Blues win over the Capitals to become the third player in NHL history to score 80 goals in a season. He joined pretty good company in Gretzky (twice, 87 and 92 goals) and Lemieux (85 in 1988-89).
March 19, 1998 – Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne scored his 258th career goal in his 400th career game (a 3-3 Mighty Ducks tie at Philadelphia), the fifth-most goals by any player in that span. Remember, 76 of those goals came in one season, his rookie year with the Jets.
Source: Hockey Hall of Fame
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