The theme of Feb. 13 throughout National Hockey League history has been bypassing the glory and helping your teammates find the back of the net. In addition to a ton of assists being dished out, there were some memorable one-on-one battles between shooter and goaltender. The THW time machine is fired up for our daily trip through the decades.
All About the Assists
Mike Bossy picked up five assists, including his 100th point of the season, on Feb. 13, 1982, in an 8-2 New York Islanders win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. All of his helpers were the primary assists on Bryan Trottier goals, who scored five goals on five shots. This was the Islanders’ 10th straight win on home ice.
Mario Lemieux scored a goal and picked up six assists on Feb. 13, 1988, as the Pittsburgh Penguins won 7-5 at the Los Angeles Kings. The seven points gave him 120 for the season, 17 more than Wayne Gretzky, with 22 games remaining. He finished the 1987-88 season with a league-best 70 goals and 168 points on his way to his first of three Hart Trophies for being the NHL’s most valuable player.
On that same night, Peter Stastny scored a goal and added four assists as the Quebec Nordiques won 7-3 at the Minnesota North Stars.
The New Jersey Devils had a huge offensive night on Feb. 13, 1989, when they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 8-1. Tom Kurvers racked up five assists, setting a new franchise record the most by a defenseman in a game. Brendan Shanahan scored his first career hat trick and added an assist, while Pat Verbeek chipped in with the fifth three-goal game of his career.
Doug Gilmour tied a Maple Leafs’ team record on Feb. 13, 1993, when he had six assists to lead the way in a 6-1 win over the North Stars.
Later that evening in Los Angeles, Dale Hunter picked up four assists to lead the Washington Capitals to a 10-3 win over the Kings.
Finally, on Feb. 13, 1999, Ken Daneyko had the first three-point game of his NHL career, in his 16th season, when he picked up three assists in a 6-4 Devils’ win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Memorable Penalty Shots
Butch Goring scored the first penalty-shot goal in Kings’ history on Feb. 13, 1972, against New York Rangers goaltender Gilles Villemure in a 4-2 loss.
On Feb. 13, 1986, Mats Naslund recorded his 300th career point with a successful penalty shot conversion, but the Montreal Canadiens lost at the Devils 4-3.
Filip Forsberg scored an overtime penalty-shot goal on Feb. 13, 2018, to give the Nashville Predators a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues. He became the 13th player since overtime was reinstituted in 1983 to win a game with a penalty shot in overtime. He was the second member of the Predators to do so, joining David Legwand.
A Big Day in the Crease
One day after being called up from the minor leagues on Feb. 13, 1977, Buffalo Sabres goaltender Don Edwards made his NHL debut and beat the Minnesota North Stars 6-2. Rene Robert scored three goals and an assist to lead the offense. Edwards won 156 games with the Sabres, the third-most in franchise history behind Ryan Miller and Dominik Hasek.
Pete Peeters extended his unbeaten streak to 31 games (26-0-5), the second-longest streak in NHL history on Feb. 13, 1983, with a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Tom Barrasso picked up his 20th career shutout and his 252nd NHL victory to tie Frank Brimsek’s record for U.S.-born goaltenders on Feb. 13, 1994, as the Penguins won 3-0 at the Flyers.
Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 25 shots to earn his franchise-record 117th victory on Feb. 13, 1999, in the Phoenix Coyotes’ 4-1 win at the Colorado Avalanche. He broke the old record set by Bob Essensa, who made his NHL debut with the Winnipeg Jets exactly 10 years earlier, on Feb. 13, 1989.
One year later, on Feb. 13, 2000, Ed Belfour became the 16th goaltender in NHL history to win 300 games when he led the Dallas Stars past the Capitals 2-1. Brendan Morrow scored both goals to be the offensive hero. Exactly seven years later, Belfour earned his 76th and final shutout of his career in the Florida Panthers’ 1-0 win at the Canadiens.
Related – Best NHL Goalies of the 1990s
Martin Brodeur became the first NHL goaltender to win 30 games in 12 straight seasons on Feb. 13, 2008, when Brian Gionta scored in overtime to give the Devils a 3-2 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators.
Odds & Ends
Bill Cook became the first player to score 200 goals in a Rangers’ uniform on Feb. 13, 1934, when New York beat the Boston Bruins 6-4.
On Feb. 13, 1936, the Canadiens acquired Toe Blake, Bill Miller, and Ken Gravel from the Montreal Maroons for goaltender Lorne Chabot. Blake went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Habs, scoring 235 goals and 529 points while winning three Stanley Cups in 13 seasons. Chabot played 16 games in his lone season with the Maroons.
Babe Pratt had an assist on Feb. 13, 1944, to set the single-season scoring record for a defenseman in the Maple Leafs’ 6-3 win at the Rangers. His helper gave him 45 points, breaking the record set by Flash Hollett of the Bruins two seasons earlier.
Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio, who played on the same line for many seasons, both had personal milestones on Feb. 13, 1966, in the Red Wings 4-3 loss to the Canadiens. Howe scored one goal and set up the other two to give him 800 career assists. Delvecchio joined Howe as the only two players to skate in 1,000 games for Detroit.
Jumping ahead, to Feb. 13, 1974, Phil Esposito scored his 100th point of the season, with an assist in the Bruins’ 9-6 win at the Oakland Seals. He became the first player in NHL history to have five 100-point seasons in his career.
One year later, Esposito’s teammate, Bobby Orr, had an assist in Boston’s 3-1 loss in Buffalo. This made him the first player in league history to have six straight 100-point seasons. This was also the final 100-point season of Orr’s remarkable career.
The Kings snapped a 32-game winless streak versus the Flyers on Feb. 13, 1983, with a 5-4 win at the Spectrum. Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne scored the game-winning goal for the first win over Philadelphia since Oct. 10, 1974. The Kings went 0-27-5 during this time.
Eight years after his five-goal game, on Feb. 13, 1990, Trottier became the 15th player in league history to score 500 goals. He joined his former partner in crime Bossy as the only two Islanders to score 500 goals. The historic tally came in a 4-2 home loss to the Calgary Flames.
Dale Hawerchuk became the 34th NHL player to join the 400-goal club on Feb. 13. 1991, in the Sabres’ 6-6 tie with the North Stars.
Steve Larmer appeared in his 777th straight game with the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 13, 1992, in a 2-2 tie with the Kings. He broke the record set by Craig Ramsay that ended nine years and one day earlier.
Later that evening, Joe Nieuwendyk scored twice to record his 400th career point as the Flames and Capitals skated to a 4-4 tie.
Bernie Nicholls had a pair of goals on Feb. 13, 1994, to become the 39th player in NHL history to score 1,000 career points in the Devils’ 3-3 tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The final game ever played at historic Maple Leaf Gardens took place on this date in 1999. The Maple Leafs hosted the Blackhawks, just like they did when the historic building opened on Nov. 12, 1931. And just like in 1931, Chicago spoiled the night by beating the home team. This time around, the Blackhawks won 6-2, with former Maple Leafs great Gilmour picking up the game-winning goal. Bob Probert scored the final goal in the building while Derek King had the last Maple Leafs’ goal in their longtime home arena.
Todd McLellan became the second-fastest head coach to win 300 games on Feb. 13, 2015, as Joe Pavelski’s hat trick led the San Jose Sharks to a 4-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes. He needed just 515 games behind the bench to reach this milestone. Bruce Boudreau was the only coach to do it faster in 496 games.
Happy Birthday to You
Hall of Famer Mats Sundin, the all-time leading scoring in Maple Leafs’ history, turns 50 today. Other notable players from a group of 25 birthday boys include Niklas Backstrom (44), Todd Fedoruk (43), Al Montoya (37), Maxwell Willman (27), Veini Vehvilainen (25), and Kaapo Kakko (21).