THIS DATE IN HISTORY: Jan. 25
2014:The NHL brings outdoor hockey to a warm-weather setting for the first time in the regular season when the
Anaheim Ducks defeat the Los Angeles Kings 3-0
before a crowd of 54,099 at Dodger Stadium.
Jan. 25: Outdoor hockey comes to Los Angeles
Plus: Phil Esposito scores first NHL goal; Blackhawks open United Center
On a pristine Southern California evening, the opening act is emceed by two Hall of Fame broadcasters: Vin Scully of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Bob Miller of the Kings. After that, the night belongs to the Ducks -- and especially goalie
Jonas Hiller
, who makes 36 saves, one of them on a first-period penalty shot by Kings center Anze Kopitar.
Anaheim gets early goals from Corey Perry and
Matt Beleskey
; Hiller does the rest until Andrew Cogliano hits the empty net with 1:29 remaining.
"The energy was fabulous," says Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, who's hoarse from trying to scream orders at his players over the noise made by the full house. "I can't even talk now because the players couldn't hear me five feet from me when I was trying to tell them who was up."
MORE MOMENTS
1964: Chicago Blackhawks rookie center
Phil Esposito
scores his first NHL goal. He beats Detroit Red Wings goalie
Terry Sawchuk
at 16:01 of the second period during
a 5-3 loss
at Olympia Stadium.
1972:Defenseman
Bobby Orr
sets up Esposito, his Boston Bruins teammate, for the winning goal early in the third period to lift the East Division All-Stars to a 3-2 victory against the West Division at the NHL All-Star Game in Bloomington, Minnesota. Orr earns the MVP award after the East rallies for the win.
1986:
Paul Coffey
sets an NHL record for defensemen by getting a point in his 28th straight game. Coffey extends his streak with a second-period assist in the Edmonton Oilers'
5-2 victory
against the Kings at Northlands Coliseum.
1991:
Brett Hull
scores his 49th and 50th goals in the St. Louis Blues' 49th game,
a 9-4 victory
against the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena, to become the third player in NHL history to score 50 goals in fewer than 50 games. Hull gets No. 49 at 18:14 of the second period. His 50th goal comes 1:30 into the third when he scores against rookie goalie
David Gagnon
.
1995:The Blackhawks open United Center by
defeating the Oilers 5-1
. Chicago's
Joe Murphy
is the first player to score a goal in the Blackhawks' new home. The Blackhawks set an NHL record by averaging 20,833 fans during the 1994-95 season, becoming the first team in NHL history to draw an average of 20,000 or more fans in a season.
2015:Team Toews defeats Team Foligno 17-12 at the 2015 NHL All-Star Game in Columbus. The combined 29 goals set an All-Star record, surpassing the previous high of 26 set in 2001. Team Toews gets three goals and three assists by Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers, as well as four goals by John Tavares of the New York Islanders.
2018: Alex Ovechkin scores his NHL-leading 30th goal and earns his 500th career assist in the
Washington Capitals' 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers
at BB&T Center. Ovechkin becomes the sixth player in NHL history to reach the 30-goal mark in at least 13 consecutive seasons at any point in his career and the 10th to have at least 13 30-goal seasons (consecutive or otherwise).
On the same night, Sidney Crosby has three assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a
6-3 win
against the Minnesota Wild at PPG Paints Arena. With 1,082 NHL points, all with Pittsburgh, he passes
Jaromir Jagr
(1,079) for second place on the team's all-time scoring list, trailing only
Mario Lemieux
(1,723).
2019:The NHL All-Star Skills Competition at SAP Center in San Jose gets a surprise entrant in the Fastest Skater competition. With Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche unable to compete because of a bruised left foot, Kendall Coyne Schofield, a gold medalist with the U.S. Women's team at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, takes his place and is
timed in 14.346 seconds
-- faster than Clayton Keller of the Arizona Coyotes (14.526), though not fast enough to keep Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers (13.378) from winning the event for the third consecutive year.