This has been a very eventful date in National Hockey League history. One of the craziest final days to a regular-season occurred, while one of the greatest players to ever lace up a pair of skates had to hang them up. Let’s hop aboard the THW time machine to enjoy all the best moments April 5 has given us over the years.
The Crazy Last Day of 1969-70
The final day of the 1969-70 regular season was one that is still talked about over 50 years later. The New York Rangers entered April 5, 1970, trailing the Montreal Canadiens for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division. For the Rangers to make the playoffs, they needed to pair a win with a Canadiens loss and outscore them by five goals to earn the tiebreaker.
With the Rangers leading the Detroit Red Wings 9-3 in the third period, head coach Emile Francis decided to pull his goaltender to score more goals, but instead, his team gave up two empty-net goals. They win 9-5 and hope for a Canadiens’ loss in which they score four or fewer goals.
All the Canadiens needed to do to earn a playoff berth is to either beat or tie the Chicago Blackhawks or score five goals no matter what the result is. When the Canadiens fall behind 5-2 in the third period, they play nearly half of the final frame with no goaltender.
The Blackhawks scored seven goals, including five empty-netters, in the third period to win 10-2. Incredibly, this marked the only time between the 1948-49 and 1994-95 seasons where the Canadiens did not take part in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Not only did the Blackhawks set a team record for six goals in a span of 9:13 during that crazy third period, but they also clinched first place in the East Division. The victory completed quite the turnaround as they finished in last place the previous season. They ended up getting swept by the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Semifinals after sweeping the Red Wings in the first round.
Speaking of the Bruins, Bobby Orr picked up an assist in a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in his 1969-70 regular-season finale.
He finished with 33 goals and 120 points, becoming the first defenseman to ever lead the league in scoring.
A Busy Night in 2018
April 5, 2018, was quite a newsworthy date in its own right. This day featured 12 games on the schedule, with a record-setting 11 being decided by one goal. One of those contests was Daniel and Sedin’s final home game in Vancouver. Henrik set up Daniel for the game-winning goal in overtime as the Canucks beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-3.
The Nashville Predators defeated the Washington Capitals 4-3 in DC to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time in franchise history. Ryan Johansen and Roman Josi score third-period goals for the victory, but the Capitals got the last laugh as they went on to win their first Stanley Cup later in June.
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Roberto Luongo became the third goaltender to play in 1,000 NHL games and he made 26 saves to lead the Florida Panthers past the Bruins 3-2. He joined Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy as the only goaltenders to accomplish this feat.
Finally, the New Jersey Devils qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2012 by defeating the Maple Leafs 2-1. Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood scored in the second period to lead the offense, with Pat Maroon picking up the primary assist on both goals.
Stanley Cup Playoff History
On April 5, 1932, Busher Jackson became the first player to ever score three goals in one period of a postseason game. He scored a hat trick during the second period of the Maple Leafs’ 6-4 win over the Rangers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Ted Lindsay and the Red Wings made history on April 5, 1955, when they beat the Canadiens 7-1 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. Lindsay scored in the first period before striking three more times in the second period to tie a Finals record for the most goals in a game and in a single period. The Red Wings set a new record with 15 consecutive wins (including six playoff games), breaking the old mark of 14 wins in a row set by Bruins. Jimmy Skinner became the first rookie head coach in Stanley Cup history to win his first six playoff games.
Jerry Toppazzini scored a hat trick and added an assist on April 5, 1958. Don McKenney picked up five assists to set a team playoff record, as the Bruins won 8-2 over the visiting Rangers in the sixth and deciding game of their Stanley Cup Semifinal series.
Six years later, Gordie Howe became the highest career point scorer in Stanley Cup playoff history when his goal, in a 3-2 loss to the Blackhawks, gave him 127 career playoff points. He broke the mark held by Montreal’s Maurice Richard. He finished his legendary career with 160 playoff points, which is now tied for 22nd all-time.
Related: Remembering Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe
On April 5, 1991, Jaromir Jagr scored in overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-4 win over the Devils in Game 2 of the Patrick Division Semifinals. The goal was Jagr’s first playoff tally of his career. He would finish with 78, the 11th-most in NHL history.
Hello, Goodbye for Lemieux
Mario Lemieux made his Stanley Cup playoffs debut on April 5, 1989. He picked up an assist in the Penguins’ 3-1 win over the visiting Rangers. He would go on to score 76 goals and 172 playoff points in his career.
Exactly eight years later, Lemieux formally announced that he would retire after the 1996-97 season. The announcement came following months of speculation. At the time of his announcement, Lemieux led the NHL in scoring with 117 points. He would return to the Penguins in December of 2000 and play through the end of the 2005-06 season.
Brodeur Sets the Records Straight
On April 5, 2002, Brodeur became the first goaltender in NHL history to win 35 games for six consecutive seasons when he beat the Atlanta Thrashers 3-1. He still holds the NHL record with 12 consecutive seasons of at least 30 wins.
Five years later, Brodeur set a new NHL record with his 48th win of the season. He fittingly beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 to break the record previously held by Flyers’ legend Bernie Parent. Braden Holtby of the Capitals matched Brodeur’s 48 wins during the 2015-16 season.
Odds & Ends
Rene Robert picked up an assist to become the first 100-point scorer in Buffalo Sabres history on April 5, 1975, in a 4-2 win at the Maple Leafs. This was the only 100-point season of his NHL career.
Marcel Dionne clinched his only scoring title on April 5, 1980, with two assists in the Los Angeles Kings’ 5-3 loss to the Canucks. He and Wayne Gretzky finished the season tied with 137 points, but Dionne won the Art Ross Trophy because he had two more goals, 53 to 51.
On April 5, 1984, Bobby Clarke scored his 42nd and final Stanley Cup playoff goal in a 6-2 loss to the Capitals in the second game of their first-round series. Washington went on to sweep the best-of-five series in the next game. Nobody has scored more playoff points than Clarke’s 119 in Flyers’ franchise history. His 42 goals are still fifth all-time.
Neal Broten made history on April 5, 1997, by playing his 1,098th game. By taking the ice for the Dallas Stars in Los Angeles, he broke Gordie Roberts’ record for the most NHL games played by an American-born player. He would play one more game before calling it a career. Since then, 34 American-born players have played more games than Broten.
Michael Bunting, who now plays for the Maple Leafs, scored his first NHL hat trick when he potted three against the Kings in a 5-2 Coyotes win on April 5, 2021. Coupled with Jakob Chychrun‘s the day before, it was the third time in franchise history they had hat tricks on consecutive days joining Vernon Fiddler and Ray Whitney, who did it on Nov. 25-26, 1999.
On that same night, Eric Staal, who had just joined the Canadiens as a free agent, became the first player in franchise history to score in overtime in his debut with them. He is only one of 10 NHL players to do so in his first game with a team since 1983-84 when regular-season OT was reintroduced. Surprisingly, three of those players, including Staal, did it during the 2020-21 season (Kirill Kaprizov – Jan. 14 and Aleksi Heponiemi – Jan. 30).
With Staal, the Canadiens also became the fifth team since 1943-44 to have at least six players (Corey Perry, Michael Frolik, Tyler Toffoli, Jake Allen and Joel Edmundson) on the roster who previously won the Stanley Cup after having none the previous season.
Capping off the day in 2021, two-way monster Patrice Bergeron posted his 899th point in the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Flyers to pass Rick Middleton for fourth in franchise history. The next player in his sights is now Phil Esposito (1,012) who has held down third spot since he got traded to the Rangers during the 1975-76 season. Even when he does pass him, Esposito will still remain one of the most prolific point producers the Bruins have ever had, as he posted over 1,000 points in just 625 games. By the time Bergeron passes him, he will have played close to 1,300 games in the NHL.
Jordan Staal notched his 600th NHL point on April 5, 2022, with an assist on Jesper Fast‘s first-period goal in what ended up as a 4-2 loss to the Sabres. Kyle Okposo also played his 900th game in the NHL.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit 100 points on April 5, 2023, and joined Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as players with at least 100 points in 2022-23, making the Oilers the first NHL team since the 1995-96 Penguins with three players to accomplish the feat in the same season.
Happy Birthday to You
Today is the birthday of the St. Louis Blues franchise. The NHL Board of Governors officially granted St. Louis a franchise as part of its new expansion on April 5, 1966. They officially began play in October of 1967.
When the league expanded, they put all six new teams in one division, while the “Original Six” franchises made up the other. Due to this setup, the Blues made it to the Stanley Cup Final in each of their first three seasons under head coach Scotty Bowman but were swept in all three series; twice by the Canadiens and once by the Bruins.
The Blues did not return to the Stanley Cup Final until 2019 when they put 51 seasons of heartbreak behind them by winning their first championship in franchise history. They had the most points in the Western Conference when the 2019-20 season was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notable players who are celebrating birthdays today include Gord Donnelly (62), Trevor Letowski (47), Zack Smith (36) and Bo Horvat (29).
*Originally constructed by Greg Boysen