Two Hockey Hall of Famers tried to be only the second player ever to accomplish a very impressive feat in the same game. Also, there were numerous National Hockey League greats who hit personal milestones, while great memories were made in New York, Anaheim, and Pennsylvania. Let’s begin our daily trip back in time to revisit all the best this date has to offer.
Gretzky Wins the Race to 1,000
When the Edmonton Oilers hosted the New York Rangers on Nov. 4, 1987, two of the greatest offensive players in the history of the game were chasing the same milestone. Both Wayne Gretzky and Marcel Dionne entered the night with 998 career assists.
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Gretzky scored a hat trick and picked up two helpers to become just the second player in NHL history to record 1,000 assists. The five-point performance led the Oilers to a 7-2 victory. Dionne had an assist on one of the Rangers’ goals and joined Gretzky and Gordie Howe in the 1,000-assist club three nights later.
Multiple Hits on Broadway
Nov. 4 has been a memorable date for the Rangers. On this date in 1977, Phil Esposito joined Howe and Bobby Hull as the only players to ever score 600 NHL goals. He reached this milestone with a power-play goal in a 5-1 victory at the Vancouver Canucks. Greg Polis scored two shorthanded goals to set a Rangers’ team record in the win.
On Nov. 4, 1991, goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck recorded his 11th career shutout to lead the Rangers to a 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames. This was New York’s first shutout of the Flames in nearly 19 years. The previous one came back on Feb. 4, 1973, when the Flames were still in Atlanta.
Theoren Fleury became the 60th player in NHL history to score 400 career goals on Nov. 4, 2000, as the Rangers earned a 5-2 road win at the Montreal Canadiens. Fleury scored 69 of his 455 career goals in a Rangers uniform.
Related – New York Rangers’ Top-20 All-Time Goal Scorers
Mark Messier scored a pair of goals on Nov. 4, 2003, in a 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden. These two goals gave him 1,851 points, moving him past Howe for second place, behind Gretzky, on the NHL’s all-time scoring list.
A Plethora of Personal Achievements
On Nov. 4, 1962, veteran Bill Gadsby picked up an assist to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1. He became the first defenseman in the history of the league to score 500 points. In the 59 years since, 69 more NHL blueliners have scored at least 500 career points.
Wayne Cashman scored two power-play goals, including the 200th goal of his NHL career on Nov. 4, 1978, in a 7-3 Boston Bruins’ loss to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. He scored a total of 277 goals during his 17-season career with the Bruins.
Dionne may not have picked up his 1,000th career assist on this date, but, on Nov. 4, 1979, he scored a hat trick to become the second player to ever score 200 goals for the Los Angeles Kings. He also added a pair of assists in a 5-3 win at the Blackhawks. Dave Taylor assisted on all five Los Angeles goals.
Denis Potvin picked up his 684th career assist on Nov. 4, 1986, making him the all-time assist leader for NHL defensemen, surpassing the mark held by Brad Park. He broke the record in the New York Islanders’ 7-1 blowout of the visiting Washington Capitals.
Cam Neely scored his ninth career hat trick on Nov. 4, 1993, to give him 300 NHL goals. He also became the ninth player to score 250 goals as a member of the Bruins. His milestones came in a 6-3 victory versus the Flames.
On Nov. 4, 1995, Pierre Turgeon picked up his 700th career point with an assist. Rookie Saku Koivu had a goal and two assists, as the Canadiens beat the Bruins 4-1 at the Forum.
Dino Ciccarelli scored twice on Nov. 5, 1996, to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Rangers 5-3. This gave him 561 career goals, moving him ahead of Canadiens’ Hall of Famer Guy LaFleur for 10th all-time. Ciccarelli retired with 608 goals, which are currently the 19th-most in league history.
Adam Oates picked up his 800th career assist on Nov. 4, 1998, in the Capitals’ 5-2 loss to the Lightning. He finished his career with 1,079 assists, which has him eighth on the all-time helpers list. He was passed by Joe Thornton during the 2019-20 season.
Speaking of the Capitals, on Nov. 4, 2014, Alex Ovechkin recorded two assists to become the franchise’s all-time scoring leader with 827 points. He broke the old record held by Peter Bondra in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Flames.
On Nov. 4, 2021, Patrice Bergeron scored four goals to become the second oldest player to do so in Bruins history. The only player older was Johnny Bucyk who did it twice (37 years, 251 days on Jan. 18, 1973; 38 years, 238 days on Jan. 5, 1974).
On that same night, Brock Nelson also scored four goals to become the first Islanders player to do it since Kyle Okposo on Jan. 16, 2015.
For the third hat trick of the evening, Jordan Eberle potted the first-ever three-goal game for the Seattle Kraken as he scored a natural hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres. He also became the ninth player to do so for an expansion team in its inaugural season.
Meanwhile in Calgary, Jamie Benn was making history with his 10th overtime winner, passing the legendary Mike Modano for the most in Stars history.
Franchise Firsts in Pennsylvania
Both of the NHL’s teams in Pennsylvania did something for the very first time on this date in 1967, the inaugural season for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Flyers.
The Penguins were on the West Coast that night as they took on the Oakland Seals. Goaltender Lee Brinkley stopped all 31 shots he faced to earn the first shutout in franchise history. Billy Dea scored the only goal in a 1-0 Penguins’ road win.
In Montreal, Leon Rochefort scored his first career hat trick, as well as the first in Flyers’ history, in a 4-1 win over the Canadiens. Future Hall of Fame goaltender Bernie Parent earned his first win as a member of the Flyers.
Ducks Fly High
On Nov. 4, 2001, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere recorded his fifth career shutout in the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim’s 5-0 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Future Stanley Cup-winning head coach, Dan Bylsma, had his first career two-goal game, including the first game-winning goal he ever scored in the NHL.
Andrew Cogliano became just the fourth player in NHL history to play in 800 consecutive games on Nov. 4, 2017, in the Ducks’ 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks. He is just the second player to have such a streak to start his career. The other was Doug Jarvis, who had the longest “ironman” streak ever with 964 straight games played until Keith Yandle and Phil Kessel passed him in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Cogliano played in 30 more games before his streak was forced to come to an end after earning a two-game suspension.
Exactly one year later, Cam Fowler notched his first career hat trick when he scored in overtime to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2. He became just the seventh defenseman in league history to score a regular-season hat trick that included an overtime tally. He was the third member of the Ducks to accomplish this feat, joining Lubomir Visnovksky (2011) and Hampus Lindholm (2017).
Odds & Ends
The Kings traded Dale Hoganson, Dennis DeJordy, Noel Price, and Doug Robinson on Nov. 4, 1971, to the Canadiens in exchange for goaltender Rogie Vachon. The high price was worth it as Vachon played in 389 games for the Kings over the next seven seasons. His 171 wins are the second-most in franchise history behind Jonathan Quick.
Later that night, Bruins’ rookie Reggie Leach scored the first two goals of his NHL career in a 6-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. He went on to score 381 goals with the Bruins, Seals, Flyers, and Red Wings over 13 seasons.
One year later, Leach’s future teammate in Philadelphia, Bill Barber, scored his first career goal and added three assists to lead the Flyers to a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. He spent his entire 12-season career with the Flyers and his 420 goals are still the most in team history.
On Nov. 04, 1983, the Canadiens traded defenseman Robert Picard to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a third-round pick in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. Montreal used that pick to select legendary goaltender Patrick Roy. Picard had 20 goals and 63 points in his 160 games for the Jets before he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques in 1985.
Following their seventh straight loss on Nov. 4, 1997, the Canucks fired general manager Pat Quinn. He had held the job since June 1, 1987. No replacement was named at first, but head coach Mike Keenan was named as acting general manager 10 days later. He had that job title until Brian Burke was hired following the season.
Mike Vernon stopped all 21 shots he faced on Nov. 4, 1998, to lead the Sharks to a 4-0 win over the Stars. San Jose scored four goals and just nine shots, which were the fewest ever totaled by a winning team since shots on goal were officially counted starting in the 1955-56 season.
The Blue Jackets beat the Canadiens 10-0 on Nov. 4, 2016, to hit double digits in goals for the first time in franchise history. Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, and Scott Hartnell each netted a pair of goals in the rout. This was the fourth time Montreal had been defeated 10-0 in their long and storied history.
Happy Birthday to You
A total of 19 players who have skated in at least one NHL game have been born on this date. The best of this crop are goaltender Corey Schwab (53), two-time Stanley Cup winner Dustin Brown (39), and the late Howie Meeker, who won three Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs.
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