The two top players of their generation both had multiple big nights on this date in National Hockey League history. The Windy City saw plenty of big moments, plus one of its greatest goaltenders had two big days before and after he played there. In addition, there were some rarities to occur, both on the ice and behind the bench.
A Dynamic Three-Year Run for Gretzky
For three straight years in the mid-1980s, Wayne Gretzky owned this date. Starting on Dec. 5, 1984, when he had a goal and four assists as the Edmonton Oilers beat the New York Islanders 6-4. Jari Kurri scored the 12th hat trick of his career and added two assists to complete a five-point night.
One year later, Gretzky picked up five assists as the Oilers skated to a 6-6 tie with his future team, the Los Angeles Kings.
Finally, on Dec. 5, 1986, the Great One picked up three assists in the Oilers’ 4-2 road win at the Pittsburgh Penguins to become the fifth player in NHL history to score 1,400 points. He was the fastest player to join the 1,400-point club, needing just 580 games. He needed just 40 games after this to hit the 1,500-point plateau.
Lemieux Goes Shark Hunting
In back-to-back years, Mario Lemieux absolutely owned the San Jose Sharks. He scored two goals and had four assists, on Dec. 5, 1991, in the Penguins’ 8-0 win at the Sharks. Kevin Stevens scored three goals for his fourth hat trick in the last 10 games. The Sharks had to use three different goaltenders in the loss. Starter Jeff Hackett and his backup, Arturs Irbe, got injured, so Brian Hayward had to come out of the stands to finish the game.
Exactly one year later, the Penguins traveled west to San Jose to take on the Sharks again. Lemieux was an assist machine in a seven-point night with a goal and six helpers as Pittsburgh rolled to a 9-4 win. The Sharks only used one goaltender on this night as Hayward started and allowed all nine goals against.
A Banner Day for the Blackhawks
Glenn Hall became the first goaltender in Chicago Blackhawks’ history to record 150 wins on Dec. 5, 1962, in a 5-4 victory against the visiting Boston Bruins. Ab McDonald led the offensive attack with two goals and an assist.
Three years later, on Dec. 5, 1965, Stan Mikita scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Blackhawks to a 6-2 win at the New York Rangers. This was the seventh hat trick of his career and his second within the last 24 hours as he scored three times the previous night in a 10-1 win over the Bruins.
Bobby Hull began a team-record 21 game point scoring streak on Dec. 5, 1971, in the Blackhawks’ 7-0 win over the visiting Kings. This record stayed intact for almost 44 years until Patrick Kane tied it on Dec. 3, 2015.
Related – Top 5 Captains in Blackhawks History
The Blackhawks made one of the most significant trades in franchise history on Dec. 5, 2005, when they sent Matt Ellison and a third-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for a relatively unknown forward named Patrick Sharp.
In his 10 seasons in Chicago, Sharp became a star and a very important contributor in three Stanley Cup championships. He scored 239 goals and 512 points in 679 games during his first stint with the Blackhawks. The Flyers got one assist in seven total games from Ellison. They traded the draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens, who used it to draft Ryan White, who, ironically, eventually played for the Flyers.
Ups & Downs for Esposito
Before goaltender Tony Esposito became a Hall of Famer with the Blackhawks, he played 13 games for the Canadiens during the 1968-69 season. On Dec. 5, 1968, he made his first NHL start and made 33 saves in a 2-2 draw with the Bruins. The only two goals allowed were by his older brother Phil, who spoiled the night by tying the game in the third period with his second tally of the night.
The news was not quite as good on Dec. 5, 1989, when Esposito was fired as general manager of the Penguins, along with head coach Gene Ubriaco. The Penguins replaced them both with Craig Patrick. Esposito only held the job for about 20 months, and the team had a winning record under his leadership. However, Patrick was responsible for putting together the teams around Lemieux that won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992. He remained as general manager at the end of the 2005-06 season.
Rarities in Philadelphia
The Flyers completed a pair of rare goals on this date, over a decade apart. On Dec. 5, 1991, defenseman Terry Carkner scored a goal while on a two-man disadvantage in a 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals. This was the first time the Capitals ever gave up a goal while on a 5-on-3 power play.
On Dec. 6, 2002, Michal Handzus became the second player in league history to score on a penalty shot in overtime. After being pulled down by Rangers defenseman Tom Poti, he beat goaltender Dan Blackburn to give the Flyers a 3-2 win.
The Fabulous 30s
George Hainsworth recorded his 63rd career shutout on Dec. 5, 1931, as the Canadiens beat the visiting Detroit Falcons 4-0. This tied him with Alec Connell of the Ottawa Senators for the most shutouts in NHL history.
Another early Canadiens star, Aurel Joliat, became the third player in league history to score 250 career goals on Dec. 5, 1936, in Montreal’s 4-3 win over the visiting Bruins.
Eddie Shore played in his final game for the Bruins on Dec. 6, 1939, and scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory over the New York Americans. He was eventually traded to the Americans in January of 1940 and played his final 10 NHL games for them.
Odds & Ends
Dave Keon scored two goals and added four assists on Dec. 5, 1964, to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 10-2 win against the visiting Red Wings. Eight years later, on Dec. 5, 1972, he became the first player in franchise history and 17th in NHL history to score 300 goals. The milestone came in a 5-2 win at the Vancouver Canucks.
Steve Vickers became the eighth player in Rangers’ franchise history to score 200 goals on Dec. 5, 1979, in a 3-3 tie with the Blackhawks.
Two years later, on Dec. 5, 1981, 18-year-old rookie goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck made his NHL debut and led the Rangers’ to a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
American Hockey League goaltender Darcy Wakaluk shot and scored a goal into an empty net at 19:59 of the third period on Dec. 5, 1987, to give the Rochester Americans a 5-2 win over the Utica Devils.
Steve Yzerman set a new team record with a goal in his ninth straight game on Dec. 5, 1988, a 7-2 Red Wings’ loss in Montreal. He broke the team record of goals in eight consecutive games set by Gordie Howe in 1952.
Mike Vernon became the second goaltender in Calgary Flames history to record 150 wins on Dec. 5, 1990, in a 4-1 victory over the Rangers. Theoren Fleury led the offense with the first hat trick of his career.
On Dec. 5, 1992, the Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 9-7, in a crazy game. Yzerman scored two goals and added three assists while his teammate Steve Chiasson chipped in with four helpers. Brian Bradley scored his first-ever hat trick and added an assist in the losing effort.
Mike Keenan made his head coaching debut with the Florida Panthers on Dec. 5, 2001, and led them to a 2-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. He became just the second head coach in NHL history to be behind the bench for seven different teams.
Veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar scored a goal on Dec. 5, 2014, during the Canadiens’ 4-3 loss at the Blackhawks. The 40-year-old blueliner became the oldest player to score for Montreal in their long and storied history.
Blake Wheeler logged his 1,000th game in the NHL on Dec. 5, 2021, as his Jets prevailed over the Maple Leafs 6-3. He became the third player from the 2004 Draft to do so, joining Alex Ovechkin and Travis Zajac.
Speaking of the number 1,000, the Lightning won their 1,000th game in the NHL on this date in 2021 when they beat the Flyers 7-1. They began play in 1992-93 and have three Stanley Cups in their trophy case so far.
On Dec. 5, 2022, the Vegas Golden Knights played their 400th game as a franchise since entering the league at the start of the 2017-18 season. They also won their 235th game when they beat the Bruins 4-3 in a shootout to set the record for the most wins by a franchise through their first 400 games in NHL history.
On Dec. 5, 2023, William Eklund (21 years, 54 days) became the fifth-youngest player in Sharks history to score an overtime goal. The only players to do so at a younger age are Jeff Friesen on March 28, 1995 (18 years, 235 days), Patrick Marleau on Nov. 28, 1999 (20 years, 74 days), Marco Sturm on Jan. 2, 1999 (20 years, 116 days) and Kevin Labanc on Dec. 23, 2016 (21 years, 11 days).
On that same night, John Hynes became the second head coach to start his tenure with the Wild with a win streak of four or more games, joining John Torchetti (4-0-0 from Feb. 15-21, 2016). The Wild beat the Flames 5-2 on the strength of a two-goal game from Matt Boldy.
Finally, Nathan MacKinnon became the fourth player in franchise history to record 500 career assists, following Joe Sakic, Peter Stastny and Peter Forsberg. Stastny was the fastest to the mark (507 GP), followed by Forsberg (551 GP), Sakic (629 GP) and MacKinnon (734 GP). He was also the fifth-fastest active player to reach the milestone; the current top five are Connor McDavid (527 GP), Sidney Crosby (554 GP), Nicklas Backstrom (691 GP), Evgeni Malkin (694 GP) and Claude Giroux (785 GP).
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 most successful of the birthday boys are Kevin Haller (54), Olli Jokinen (46), Niklas Hagman (45), Cam Fowler (33), Nathan Beaulieu (32), Nick Ritchie (29), and Nic Hague (26).
*Originally constructed by Greg Boysen
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