This date in NHL history has had some great moments on both the East and West Coasts and a lot of places in between. Some of the most notable players to ever play in the league had big memories on Oct. 28 throughout the decades. So, let’s take our daily journey back in time to relive them all!
Hall of Fame Moments
A whole slew of guys you can find in the Hockey Hall of Fame can look back on this date in their career and smile.
On Oct. 28, 1962, goaltender Terry Sawchuk stopped all 24 shots he faced in the Detroit Red Wings’ 2-0 victory over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs. The shutout was the 100th overall of his career, with 90 in the regular season and another 10 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He retired in 1970 with 103 regular-season shutouts and 115 overall.
Defenseman Bobby Orr scored the final goal of this legendary career on Oct. 28, 1978, in the Chicago Blackhawks 7-2 loss at the Red Wings. This was one of only six games Orr was able to play in during the 1978-79 season. Career-long knee injuries forced him to retire on Nov. 8, 1978, as the NHL’s all-time leader in goals and points for defensemen.
Rookie Teemu Selanne scored twice and added three assists, on Oct. 28, 1992, as the Winnipeg Jets lost to the Calgary Flames 7-5. U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Eddie Olczyk added two goals and two assists in the losing effort.
On Oct. 28, 1995, Mario Lemieux scored his second consecutive hat trick, and 33rd of his Hall of Fame career, as the Pittsburgh Penguins picked up a 5-3 road win at the New Jersey Devils.
Sergei Fedorov became the seventh player in Red Wings’ history to score 250 goals as a member of the team on Oct. 28, 1998, as Detroit won 7-2 at the Florida Panthers.
The Colorado Avalanche retired Patrick Roy’s No. 33 on Oct. 28, 2003, in a pre-game ceremony before they beat the Flames 4-2. Roy spent eight of his 19 NHL seasons with the Avalanche. He won 262 games, two Stanley Cups and the 2001 Conn Smythe Trophy for being the postseason’s most valuable player.
We’re Going Streaking
There were multiple streaks, both by teams and individual players, that were extended on this date over the years.
On Oct. 28, 1984, Kent Nilsson extended his team-record assist streak to nine straight games as Calgary lost 6-2 at the Buffalo Sabres. Nilsson racked up 14 assists during his nine-game streak.
Darren Turcotte broke the New York Rangers’ team record for rookies on Oct. 28, 1989, when he scored a goal in his seventh straight game, in a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders. He broke the previous record of six straight games set by Tony Granato in the previous season.
The Maple Leafs beat the Blackhawks 4-2 on Oct. 28, 1993, for their 10th straight victory to start the season. This extended their own NHL record which they set in their previous game. The Sabres eventually tied this record when they opened the 2006-07 season with 10 wins in a row.
Selanne extended his goal-scoring streak to five straight games on Oct. 28, 1997, to tie a Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team record. He helped the Ducks earn a point in a 2-2 draw at the Maple Leafs.
On Oct. 28, 2017, the Red Wings beat the Panthers 3-2 in a shootout. Gustav Nyquist scored the only goal of the three rounds as Detroit set a league record with their 12th straight shootout victory. They broke the previous high mark of 11 set by the 2005-06 Dallas Stars.
Finally, on Oct. 28, 2021, the Carolina Hurricanes extended their season-opening win streak to six after a 3-0 victory over the Bruins, making it the longest streak to start a campaign in franchise history (both Hurricanes and Hartford Whalers).
A New York State of Mind
The Rangers, Islanders and Sabres all have had multiple big moments on Oct. 28 through their respective franchise histories.
On this date in 1978, Rick Martin scored a hat trick to become the first member of the Sabres to score 300 goals. He scored 382 goals with Buffalo before being traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1981, which are still the second-most in franchise history.
Mike Bossy lit the lamp three times during the third period, on Oct. 28, 1980, to lead the Islanders to a 6-4 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks. This was his first of nine hat tricks during the 1980-81 season, which set an NHL record at the time. He only had a year to hold onto this record, as Wayne Gretzky scored 10 hat tricks in the following season. The Great One repeated this feat during the 1983-84 season.
On that same night, Ron Greschner became the first Rangers defenseman to score a penalty shot goal, as he scored against Mike Liut in a 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues.
Goaltender Clint Malarchuk led the Sabres to a 5-0 win over the Hartford Whalers on Oct. 28, 1990, for his 12th and final career NHL shutout. Pierre Turgeon led the scoring with his second career hat trick.
Pat LaFontaine and Dave Andreychuk each had three assists on Oct. 28, 1991, to lead the Sabres to a 4-4 tie with the Maple Leafs.
Dominik Hasek made 22 saves on Oct. 28, 2000, to earn his 200th career victory in a 3-1 win at the Blackhawks. The Hall of Fame netminder won the first 13 games of his career as a member of the Blackhawks before being traded to Buffalo in 1992.
Crowning Moments in Los Angeles
On Oct. 28, 1974, Bob Berry scored his 106th career goal with the Kings to set a new team record. Rogie Vachon recorded his 23rd career shutout to lead Los Angeles to a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Berry finished his career, in 1977, with 159 goals, which is 15th on the team’s all-time list.
Exactly one year later, on Oct. 28, 1975, Marcel Dionne scored his first hat trick as a member of the Kings, as they beat the Washington Capitals 6-0. Tommy Williams picked up four assists and Vachon earned another shutout, his 29th. Dionne still leads the franchise with 24 hat tricks.
Speaking of hat tricks, on Oct. 28, 1980, Dave Taylor scored the third of his career as the Kings beat the Colorado Rockies 8-4. Taylor went on to score eight hat tricks during his time in Los Angeles.
Related – Los Angeles Kings’ Dave Taylor’s 1980-81 Season: One of the Greatest Ever
Rookie goaltender Glenn Healy picked up his first NHL victory on Oct. 28, 1987, in a 4-3 win over the Rangers. Healy earned the first 237 of his 166 career wins with the Kings before moving on to the Islanders, Rangers and Maple Leafs.
One year later, Gretzky picked up a pair of helpers to become the first player in NHL history to record 1,100 assists. Bernie Nicholls added to the offensive attack with his 11th career hat trick in a 7-4 win over the Jets.
On Oct. 28, 1991, 40-year-old Larry Robinson scored his first goal of the season in a 4-3 Kings win at the Red Wings. The assists from 35-year-old Taylor and 31-year-old Jay Miller made it a goal by a combined age of 106 years of hockey players.
Odds & Ends
The first chapter of the Battle of Quebec was written on Oct. 28, 1979, as the Quebec Nordiques and Canadiens played for the first time. Jamie Hislop scored late in the third period to give the Nordiques a 5-4 win on home ice.
On Oct. 28, 1983, the Minnesota North Stars traded former Calder Trophy winner Bobby Smith to the Canadiens in exchange for Keith Acton, Mark Napier, and a future draft choice. This trade came a little more than five years after the North Stars selected Smith with the first overall pick of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft.
Another former North Star, Brian Bellows, scored twice on Oct. 28, 1992, to give him 350 goals in his career. He also added an assist to lead the Canadiens to a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Ron Francis scored a goal and added an assist on Oct. 28, 1993, in the Penguins’ 7-3 loss to the Nordiques for his 1000th career point.
The Penguins beat the Flames 5-2 on Oct. 28, 1998, with all of their goals coming on the power play. This was just the seventh time in NHL history that a team scored at least five goals in a game, with all of them occurring on the man advantage.
On this same night, Wendel Clark scored his 300th career NHL goal as the Lightning lost 5-3 at the Mighty Ducks. Enforcer Stu Grimson scored twice for Anaheim, the first two-goal game in his nine-season NHL career.
On Oct. 28, 1999, Jeremy Roenick became the 101st player in NHL history to score 800 points by scoring two goals and grabbing two assists in the Phoenix Coyotes’ 4-1 win at the Vancouver Canucks.
Goaltender Chris Osgood recorded his 200th career victory, on Oct. 28, 2000, in the Red Wings’ 4-1 win against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. He became just the second netminder in franchise history to win 200 games, joining Sawchuk.
Related – Chris Osgood, Hall of Fame Worthy
Randy McKay and John Madden each scored four goals on that same night to lead the Devils to a 9-0 blowout of the Penguins. They became the first pair of teammates to score four times in the same game since Odie and Sprague Cleghorn did it for the Canadiens in January of 1922.
Mike Rathje became the first player to appear in 600 games with the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 28, 2003, in a 3-0 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes. His 671 games with the team are still the sixth-most in team history.
Sidney Crosby scored the first of his 12-career regular-season hat tricks on Oct. 28, 2006, in the Penguins’ 8-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. Rookie Evgeni Malkin scored, as well, to extend his goal streak to five straight games to start his career.
Cale Makar recorded his 100th NHL point on this date in 2021, which tied Sergei Zubov as the sixth-fastest defenseman to reach that mark, behind Harry Cameron, Mark Howe, Brian Leetch, Larry Murphy and Phil Housley.
Finally, Dustin Brown played his 1,239th NHL game on Oct. 28, 2021, passing Doug Weight for 11th all-time among American-born players. Unfortunately, he had to do it in a loss as his Kings fell 3-2 to the Jets.
On Oct. 28, 2022, Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark won his sixth-straight game, joining Tim Thomas (eight, 2010-11), Tuukka Rask (six, 2016-17) and Tiny Thompson (six, 1937-38) to grab at least that many to start a season. He eventually won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender after he led the Bruins to a historic 65-12-5 record.
On that same night, Josh Bailey scored the game-winning goal in his 1,000th game in the NHL. It was the 3-2 goal in what became a 6-2 blowout of the Carolina Hurricanes. He was selected 9th overall by the Islanders in 2008 and finished his career on Long Island with 184 goals and 580 points in 1,057 games.
On Oct. 28, 2023, Mike Matheson (10 goals, 30 assists in 56 games) became the second-fastest defenseman in franchise history to record 40 points with the Canadiens (NHL debut or otherwise) behind Sprague Cleghorn (46 games) over 100 years ago.
David Pastrnak potted his second penalty-shot goal on Oct. 28, 2023, and moved into a tie with Woody Dumart for second place on the Bruins’ all-time penalty-shot goals list, which is topped by Brad Marchand (six). He also required the fewest games in NHL history to score two penalty shot goals in a season, besting Brian Rolston (20 games in 2006-07).
Meanwhile, in Nashville, Mark Giordano (40 years, 25 days) became the third defenseman with a goal for the Maple Leafs at age 40 or older. Allan Stanley tallied three times at age 40 or older and is the oldest defenseman to score a goal with the franchise (41 years, 252 days on Nov. 8, 1967), while Tim Horton also did so (40 years, 40 days on Feb. 21, 1970).
Finally, in Los Angeles, Trevor Lewis played his 900th game in the NHL and Mark Stone became the fifth player in Vegas history with 20 power-play goals.
Happy Birthday to You
A total of 20 current and former NHL players have been born on this date. The most notable birthday boys are Jude Drouin (76), Paul Baxter (69), Gary Nylund (61), Kevin Dineen (61), Benoit Hogue (58), Martin Skoula (45), Cole Smith (29), Jack Eichel (28), and Marian Studenic (26).
*Originally constructed by Greg Boysen
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