IT HAPPENED ON… January 11
1976 : Defending Stanley Cup champions Philadelphia Flyers become first NHL team to defeat Soviet Union Red Army team when they win 4-1 in front of 17,007 fans at Spectrum .
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The Flyers’ defense limits the Soviets to 13 shots against Wayne Stephenson, almost perfectly executing coach Fred Shero’s system of dominating the neutral zone, controlling the puck in the attacking zone for the majority of the game and playing in a very physical style. which the Red Army is not used to.
The offense shot Vladislav Tretiak’s net with 49 shots, scoring goals from Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish, Joe Watson and Larry Goodenough. Only the brilliance of Tretiak prevents the deficit from increasing.
“If it weren’t for Tretiak, I think we would have scored a dozen,” said Flyers forward Gary Dornhoefer
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
1948 : Montreal Canadiens forward Toe Blake broke his ankle following a collision with the ramp in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The injury ended the playing career of Blake, the left winger of the famous Canadiens trio, the “Punch Line”. Blake returned to the Canadiens as a coach in 1955 and guided the Habs to five straight Stanley Cup wins.
1953 : Gump Worsley, taking over from injured starting goalie Chuck Rayner, signs his first shutout in the NHL as the New York Rangers defeat the Canadiens 7-0 at Madison Square Garden. Worsley, from Montreal, is well supported by the offense – Jack Stoddard gets two goals and an assist, while Nick Mickoski scores a goal and two assists.
1983 : Pat Hughes of the Edmonton Oilers becomes the first player to break a record set by Wayne Gretzky. Hughes scores two shorthanded goals in 25 seconds in the middle period in a 7-5 win over the St. Louis Blues. While teammate Don Jackson was serving a minor roughness penalty, Hughes grabbed a loose puck and beat goaltender Mike Liut at 3:18 pm. The Blues withdraw Liut and replace him with Rick Heinz, but Hughes does it again at 3:43 pm. Hughes broke the record set by Gretzky in the 1981-82 season by two seconds. Oilers forward Esa Tikkanen set the current record of 12 seconds on November 12, 1988.
1986 : Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings becomes the first player in NHL history to score 20 goals in each of his first 15 seasons. Dionne scored twice and added an assist in a 4-4 draw against the Blues.
1990 : Pat Lafontaine hits the target in an 11th straight game to collect five assists for the New York Islanders in an 8-4 win over the Minnesota North Stars at the Met Center. Lafontaine breaks the Islanders’ former record of 10 straight games with one goal, set by Mike Bossy, and has 18 goals during the streak.
2015 : The Anaheim Ducks honor Teemu Selanne by hoisting his number 8 to the ceiling of the Honda Center. Selanne becomes the first player to have his number withdrawn by the Ducks. The Finn, who scores 457 of his 684 career goals with Anaheim, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.
2017 : Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals becomes the 84th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000 point plateau. He hit the mark when he found the back of the net in the 35th second of a 5-2 win by the Capitals over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Verizon Center. He scored his 1001st point on a power play goal at 8:06 of the second period.
Video: PIT @ WSH: Ovechkin hits early, collects 1000th point
2020 : Patrick Marleau becomes the fifth player in history to play 1,700 regular season games, joining Gordie Howe (1767), Mark Messier (1756), Jaromir Jagr (1733) and Ron Francis (1731), when he jumps on the ice for the Sharks of San Jose vs. the Dallas Stars at the SAP Center. He celebrated his achievement by scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 victory. His 108th career winning goal puts him on par with Alex Ovechkin for seventh all-time.
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