Oct. 22 has provided plenty of memorable moments in NHL history. Some of the greatest skaters to ever play the game hit personal milestones on this date. Also, a handful of Hall of Fame goaltenders left their mark on the record books. So, let’s begin our journey back in time to relive all the best moments this date has given us over the years.
A Pair of Big Games for Super Mario
Mario Lemieux scored two goals on Oct. 22, 1986, in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-4 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres. These were goals No. 99 and 100 in his career, coming in his 159th game. The win was the Penguins’ seventh straight to open the 1986-87 season, one victory shy of the all-time record held by the 1934-35 Toronto Leafs and 1975-76 Sabres.
Six years later, on Oct. 22, 1992, Lemieux was up to his old tricks again. On this night, he scored his 28th career hat trick and added two assists to lead the Penguins to a 9-6 win against the Red Wings.
A Night of Historic Firsts
On Oct. 22, 1957, Bobby Hull scored the first goal of his NHL career in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins. This was the first of his 610 goals in the league, with 604 of them coming with the Blackhawks.
Rod Gilbert scored the first of his seven career hat tricks on Oct. 22, 1966, in the New York Rangers’ 4-4 tie at the Toronto Maple Leafs. This was Gilbert’s second game back after missing most of the previous season with a back injury.
On this same night, Bruins’ rookie defenseman Bobby Orr was whistled for his first NHL penalty, a minor for interference, in a 3-1 defeat to the Montreal Canadiens.
Bobby Clarke earned his first NHL point, an assist, on Oct. 22, 1969, to help the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Maple Leafs 4-3. Andre Lacroix was the offensive hero by scoring the first of his three career NHL hat tricks.
Defenseman Paul Coffey scored the first goal of his Hall of Fame career on Oct. 22, 1980, as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Calgary Flames 5-3. His 396 career goals are second among blueliners, behind Ray Bourque.
Shayne Corson scored his first career goal on Oct. 22, 1986, in the Canadiens’ 4-3 victory in Detroit. The former first-round pick scored 273 goals during his 19-season career, including 168 for the Habs.
The Quebec Nordiques were beaten 7-3 on Oct. 22, 1988, by the New York Islanders. All three of their goals came from rookie Joe Sakic, who scored the first of his 17 career hat tricks.
A Big Date Between the Pipes
On Oct. 22, 1955, Glenn Hall picked up his second of 12 shutouts in the 1955-56 season as the Red Wings and Bruins drew to a 0-0 tie. Terry Sawchuk earned the 59th shutout of his career at the other end of the ice. This Hall of Fame pair repeated their scoreless duel in 1962 when Hall was with the Blackhawks and Sawchuk was in his second stint with the Red Wings.
Related – Top 5 NHL Goaltenders of the 1950s
A decade later, on Oct. 22, 1971, Ken Dryden earned his first NHL shutout with a 6-0 victory at the Vancouver Canucks. Frank Mahovlich scored the 12th hat trick of his career, and first with the Canadiens, to lead the attack.
Jacques Plante became the first goaltender in Canadiens’ franchise history and the sixth in the NHL to record 250 career victories on Oct. 22, 1961. Claude Provost led the offense with a goal and two assists in Montreal’s 3-1 win in Chicago.
On Oct. 22, 1999, Grant Fuhr became the sixth goaltender in league history to accumulate 400 wins. Derek Morris scored in overtime to give the Flames a 3-2 win at the Florida Panthers.
Patrick Roy played in his 971st career game on Oct. 22, 2002, tying Sawchuk for the most appearances by a goaltender in league history. He retired with 1,029 games played which were the most ever at the time, in 2003. He has since been passed by Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur.
Marc-Andre Fleury passed Sawchuk on the all-time wins list on Oct. 22, 2019, by beating the Blackhawks 2-1 in a shootout. The win was the 446th of his career which were the seventh-most wins in the league’s history.
Odds & Ends
Dick Irvin became the first coach in NHL history to win 600 games on Oct. 22, 1953, when his Canadiens scored a 3-2 win over the Blackhawks at the old Chicago Stadium. He started his legendary career with the Blackhawks before moving on to the Maple Leafs after two seasons. He was hired by the Canadiens following his nine seasons in Toronto and won three Stanley Cups in 15 seasons. He coached one final season in Chicago before retiring with 691 career wins in 1956.
On Oct. 22, 1974, the Flyers beat the Kings 4-2 to begin a 32-game undefeated streak against Los Angeles. They went 27-0-5 until the Kings finally beat them on Feb. 13, 1983.
Rick Tocchet scored twice and added an assist to give him 500 career points on Oct. 22, 1992, to lead the Penguins over the Red Wings 9-6.
John Cullen scored a goal and three assists, including his 500th NHL career point on Oct. 22, 1996, when the Tampa Bay Lightning scored a 6-3 road win at the Islanders.
Doug Gilmour picked up the 800th assist of his career on Oct. 22, 1998, during the Blackhawks’ 2-2 draw with the visiting San Jose Sharks.
On Oct. 22, 2000, Jeremy Roenick scored a goal and added his 500th career NHL assist in helping the Phoenix Coyotes to a 3-3 tie at the Oilers.
Miro Heiskanen hit 100 points in his NHL career on this date in 2021 to become the youngest defenseman in Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to reach that particular milestone. At 22 years, 96 days he beat Craig Hartsburg who held the record when he hit the century mark at 22 years, 142 days in 1981.
Connor McDavid became the second player in Oilers history to score 13 or more points in the first five games of a season when he recorded two assists in his team’s 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 22, 2021. Gretzky was of course the other player to do it when he had 15 points in 1983-84 and 14 in 1986-87.
On Oct. 22, 2022, rookie Shane Pinto scored for the fourth straight game to become the third player in Senators history to do so. He joined Alexei Yashin (1993-94) and Mike Fisher (2001-02) in the feat.
On that same night, Joe Pavelski became the oldest player (38 years, 103 days) in Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to score a hat trick, and the oldest NHL player to have one since Joe Thornton (39 years, 231 days) of the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 18, 2019.
A year later, on Oct. 22, 2023, Alex DeBrincat became the second player in NHL history to record three points in each of his first three home games with a franchise, joining Harry Meeking. He also scored a hat trick to become the fifth Michigan-born player in Red Wings history to do so, joining Jimmy Carson, Dylan Larkin, Justin Abdelkader and Kevin Miller.
Meanwhile, in Anaheim, Matthew Poitras (19 years, 226 days) scored the first two goals of his career. Only four Bruins players have recorded their first multi-goal game at a younger age over the past 30 years: David Pastrnak (18 years, 230 days on Jan. 10, 2015), Phil Kessel (19 years, 107 days on Jan. 17, 2007), Patrice Bergeron (18 years, 172 days on Jan. 12, 2004) and Sergei Samsonov (19 years, 164 days on April 9, 1998).
Happy Birthday to You
A total of 19 current and former NHL players have been born on this date. The biggest names of the lot include four-time Stanley Cup champion Butch Goring (75), Ron Sedlbauer (70), goaltender Ron Tugnutt (57), Terry Yake (56), Stephane Quintal (56), Scott Lachance (52), Miroslav Satan (50), former AHL MVP Darren Haydar (45), Matt Pettinger (44), David Savard (34) and the late Bill Brydge.
*Originally constructed by Greg Boysen
Sign up for our NHL History Substack newsletter
