This Day In Hockey History: May 18th

1971 - Montreal's Henri Richard scored twice to lead the Canadiens to a 3-2 win at Chicago, in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Montreal won the Stanley Cup for the 17th time in team history.

1971 - 23-year-old rookie goalie Ken Dryden won the Conn Smythe Trophy with a 12-8 record and a 3.00 GAA in the playoffs.

1971 - Jean Beliveau played his final game in a Canadiens' uniform.

1973 - Boston's Bobby Orr was named winner of the Norris Trophy. It was the first time in NHL history that a player had won an individual award six consecutive seasons.

1981 - Vancouver Canucks signed Swedish forward Lars Molin and Swedish defenseman Anders Eldebrink as free agents.

1984 - 33-year-old Bill LaForge was hired as the eighth head coach in Vancouver Canuck history, replacing Harry Neale.

1986 - Montreal center Brian Skrudland scored the fastest overtime goal in Stanley Cup playoff history (just :09 into the game) to give Montreal a 3-2 win over Calgary, in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals.

1990 - Calgary Flames named Doug Risebrough as their new head coach, replacing Terry Crisp. Risebrough became the sixth head coach in Flames' history.

1997 - Wayne Gretzky scored the 10th playoff hat trick of his career, a NHL record, in the New York Rangers 5-4 win at Philadelphia, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

2002 - Darren McCarty scored his first career playoff hat trick, in the third period as the Red Wings won 5-3 against the visiting Colorado Avalanche, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

Happy Birthday to Jari Kurri, Brent Ashton, Jim Fox, Marty McSorley, Oleg Tverdovsky, John Chabot, Manny Malhotra, Jay Wells, Turner Stevenson, Darren Van Impe and Bob Janecyk.

Great Moments In Hockey History: Super Mario's Famous Goal

May 17th, 1991. Mario Lemieux scores one of the most famous goals in the history of hockey.




"Oh my goodness! What a goal! What a move! Lemieux! Ohhhhh Baby!

This Day In Hockey History: May 17th

1965 - New York Rangers obtained minor league goaltender Eddie Giacomin in trade from Providence of the AHL.

1981 - Minnesota's Dino Ciccarelli set an NHL playoff scoring record for rookies with his 21st point of the playoffs (a goal) in a 7-5 North Stars loss to the Islanders, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

1981 - Mike Bossy set an NHL record with his 30th point of the playoffs. It came as a goal in the Isles' 7-5 win over the Minnesota North Stars, in Game 3 of the 1981 Stanley Cup Finals.

1983 - New York Islanders beat Edmonton 4-2 in Game Four of the Finals, to become the 1983 Stanley Cup Champions, the fourth straight title for New York.

1987 - Jari Kurri scored a goal and added two assists to lead the Oilers to a 4-2 win over the Flyers, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Edmonton.

1993 - Doug Gilmour scored twice and added two assists to lead the Maple Leafs to a 4-1 playoff win against the Kings, in Game One of the Campbell Conference Finals, in Toronto.

1995 - Doug Gilmour picked up two second period assists to pass Dave Keon as the Maple Leafs' All-Time leading playoff scorer, in a 5-4 overtime win over Chicago.

Happy Birthday to Carl Liscombe, Doug Smith, Bill Lindsay, Jim Cummins, Per Svartvadet and Martin Cibak.

Great Photos In Stanley Cup History: Bobby Hull

Bobby Hull (along side teammate Jack Evans) celebrates his only Stanley Cup victory. In 1961 the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings in six games.

Here's another photo, showing Hull celebrating with fans in the dying seconds of the final game:

This Day In Hockey History: May 16th

1927 - Jack Adams was named the General Manager/Coach of the Detroit Cougars, replacing Duke Keats. Adams went on to control the fortunes of the Detroit team (later called the "Red Wings") for the next 35 years.

1976 - Guy Lafleur scored the game winning goal as Montreal beat Philadelphia 5-3 to sweep the best-of-seven final series, in Game 4 of the Finals and win their 19th Stanley Cup championship.

1976 - Philadelphia Flyers' Reggie Leach scored his 19th goal of the playoffs in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Although the Flyers lost the game 5-3 and the series 4-0 to Montreal, Leach won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Series.

1982 - New York Islanders win their third straight Stanley Cup when Mike Bossy scored twice in a 3-1 victory over Vancouver, in Game Four of the Finals.

1985 - Jari Kurri set a new playoff record with his third hat trick of the '85 playoffs, then added a fourth goal as the Oilers won 8-2 at Chicago, in Game 6 of the Conference Championships. Edmonton advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals vs Philadelphia.

1996 - Steve Yzerman scored the winning goal at 1:15 of the second overtime as Detroit won 1-0 over the visiting St. Louis Blues, in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

2002 - Dallas Stars named Dave Tippett as their new head coach, the 18th head coach in franchise history.

Happy Birthday to Corey Perry, Floyd Smith, Kyle Wellwood, Tomas Fleischmann, John Stewart, Jeff Skinner, Rick Rypien, Hugh Plaxton, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Great Moments In Hockey History: Petr Klima's Late Night Goal

May 15, 1990: An already long night to open the 1990 Stanley Cup Final was dragged out 26 minutes longer by a power outage that dimmed the lights in Boston Garden during the third overtime. Once play resumed, sparingly-used winger Petr Klima scored off a rush 15:13 in the third OT, thereby ending the longest game in Final history.