All 32 NHL teams on ice for 1st time recalls similar scene in 1967

The busiest day/night in the NHL's 106-year history comes Saturday, all 32 teams competing in 16 games between 12:30 p.m. ET in Buffalo and 10:30 p.m. ET in Los Angeles.

It will be the 1,040th time since the League's founding in 1917 -- then with just four teams -- that all teams have seen action on the same day, the 75th time in the modern era that is defined by the start of the so-called "Original Six" in 1942.
The NHL was a six-team League from then, down from seven with the 1942 folding of the Brooklyn Americans, until 1967 expansion added six new franchises.
Every team was in action on Oct. 18, 1967, a Wednesday that was five schedule days into the 12-team NHL. Until then, the League had never seen a busier night.
In six arenas, from Madison Square Garden in New York to Oakland Coliseum in California, large and small crowds witnessed three ties, a blowout, two games decided by a single goal, the defending Stanley Cup champion defeated and a hat trick scored by a future Hall of Famer.
It generally took a bit of time for the new teams to rally crowd support, the three West Division games combined drawing 3,387 fewer spectators than the New York Rangers had against the Montreal Canadiens.
From east to west, a trip back to a historic six-game schedule, by comparison a reasonably quiet night in today's NHL.

Gump Worsley in 1967-68 action. The popular goalie starred for both the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. Graphic Artists/Hockey Hall of Fame
Montreal Canadiens 2, New York Rangers 2
Yvan Cournoyer scored what would be the first goal on the NHL's busiest night to that point, beating Rangers goalie Eddie Giacomin 1:11 into the first period.
Madison Square Garden was nearly bursting at the seams with 15,925 fans, at the time the largest ever for a New York home opener.
Opposite Giacomin was Canadiens goalie Gump Worsley, a popular former Ranger who played the first 10 years of his career on Broadway.
Worsley was making his first appearance on Garden ice since the previous March 13. That night, he was forced from the game when he was concussed by an egg hurled from the upper reaches of the arena, the projectile scoring a direct hit to the veteran's head.
Referee Vern Buffey called 28 penalty minutes on Oct. 18 in a game that featured first-period bouts involving Montreal's John Ferguson and Ted Harris against New York's Reggie Fleming and Orland Kurtenbach.
"Skating, smashing and socking highlighted the opening period," wrote Red Foley in the New York Daily News.
The Rangers rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits with Phil Goyette, a four-time Stanley Cup champion for the Canadiens, scoring twice for New York, including the equalizer with 2:35 to play.

Toronto Maple Leafs captain George Armstrong with team owner Harold Ballard at the start of the team's 1967 Stanley Cup parade, and a portrait of Detroit Red Wings forward Norm Ullman. Graphic Artists; Macdonald Stewart/Hockey Hall of Fame
Detroit Red Wings 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 2
Ted Hampson, Doug Roberts and Norm Ullman, with the game-winner, scored for the Red Wings to upset the defending Stanley Cup champions at Maple Leaf Gardens.
"This Is New Year … Wings Win On Road!" crowed a headline in the Detroit Free Press.
"Guess what? The Wings are in first place now," typed Jack Berry. "True, it's a tie with Montreal and Boston. And true, they're only one week into the six-month season but by golly, they didn't win a game on the road last season until January, their 20th road game."
Red Wings coach Sid Abel played with his lines, using Gordie Howe at center and right wing; goalie George Gardner, the backup for Roger Crozier, made 28 saves against Toronto, which had won their first two then lost three straight.

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Les Binkley made his first NHL start against the Minnesota North Stars for coach Red Kelly (right), the eight-time Stanley Cup champion with Detroit and Toronto. Graphic Artists/ Hockey Hall of Fame; Getty Images
Minnesota North Stars 3, Pittsburgh Penguins 3
Forward Andy Bathgate was a Rangers legend who went on to win the 1964 Stanley Cup with the Maple Leafs. After two seasons with Detroit from 1965-67, bounced down to the minors his second year, the veteran nearly retired. He was available until the 19th of 20 rounds of the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, finally chosen by the Penguins with the No. 112 selection among 120 players selected by the six new clubs.
On Oct. 18, Bathgate scored the sixth and final hat trick of his career in the Penguins' tie before a tiny crowd of 3,885 at the Igloo.
Earning the tie in Pittsburgh's net for coach Red Kelly was Les Binkley, who was making his NHL debut.
If North Stars coach Wren Blair was impressed by Bathgate's effort, he wasn't letting on.
"I don't watch the other team, I only have time to watch my players," he told reporters. "Did (Bathgate) play?"
It was the second post-expansion hat trick scored, Boston Bruins center Phil Esposito having notched four goals against the Canadiens three nights earlier.

Boston Bruins forward Fred Stanfield scored two goals and an assist against his former team in Chicago.
Boston Bruins 7, Chicago Black Hawks 1
The visiting Bruins made mincemeat out of their hosts, outshooting the Black Hawks 36-19 and crushing them 7-1 on the scoreboard at Chicago Stadium.
It was a homecoming for Esposito, who had played his first four seasons in Chicago before a blockbusting, lopsided trade sent him to Boston on May 15, 1967 with Fred Stanfield and Ken Hodge in exchange for Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin and Jack Norris.
Esposito had just one assist for the winners, Stanfield scoring twice with an assist. Bobby Orr, who had won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie in 1966-67 and was about to start his historic run of eight straight Norris Trophy wins as the best defenseman in the League, scored his first of the season, No. 14 of the 270 he would score in his illustrious career.
For Chicago, it was a fourth consecutive loss in what would be a six-game, season-opening losing streak, outscored 32-13 in that span.

Lou Angotti was the hugely popular first captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. Here, in 2017 and in his playing days. Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images; action Getty Images
Philadelphia Flyers 2, St. Louis Blues 1
"There were 28 goals scored in the National Hockey League last night. St. Louis' hot-and-cold Blues got only one. That, alone, suggests a problem," wrote Wally Cross in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The Flyers spotted the Blues the opening goal then scored two, by Lou Angotti and Ed Hoekstra, their victory spoiling Glenn Hall's netminding debut with St. Louis.
Talked out of retirement to come to St. Louis, Hall wasn't expected to make his Blues debut until the next game. But a first-period shoulder injury to starter Seth Martin pushed Mr. Goalie into the net, where he made 19 saves.
A crowd of 5,234 saw the Flyers' first win in their history after two losses, backstopped by the excellent goaltending of Doug Favell, who made 34 saves.
"You people just won a World Series so maybe you don't appreciate it," Flyers coach Bud Poile joked of victory in the home of baseball's world-champion Cardinals. "We just won our first game at a time when we were beginning to wonder if would ever win one. That calls for Champagne."

Charlie Hodge, in the 1960s with the Montreal Canadiens and as a member of the Oakland Seals. Macdonald Stewart/Hockey Hall of Fame; Getty Images
Los Angeles Kings 3, Oakland Seals 3
Los Angeles Times writer Chuck Garrity was in midseason form covering a tie between California's two new NHL entries, a meeting of the last two undefeated Western Division teams.
"Only 3,419 fans braved perfect weather to show up for the meeting of NHL 'giants' at the beautiful 12,000-seat Oakland Coliseum," Garrity wrote. "Obviously, pro hockey has not caught on in the Bay Area."
He added that Seals coach Bert Olmstead might also be employed for at least another three weeks, since his team hadn't lost to the Kings.
Garrity wrote that Olmstead was quoted at the NHL's Expansion Draft five months earlier as saying, "I'll quit my job as coach if we ever lose to Los Angeles." Olmstead denied saying it, and he was still coaching on Nov. 8 (and the entire season) the morning after the Seals lost 5-4 to the Kings.
Oakland earned the tie on the goaltending brilliance of Charlie Hodge, who made 22 saves and robbed Kings forward Real Lemieux three times.
The six-time Canadiens Stanley Cup champion and two-time Vezina Trophy winner was drafted No. 6 overall by the Seals from Montreal.
"I'm very thankful we got the point," Olmstead said following the tie. "Charlie kept us in it. He was the only player who acted like he wanted to win. He stole it from Los Angeles. They beat us in every department except goals."
Top photo: Andy Bathgate as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, circa 1970. Graphic Artists/Hockey Hall of Fame