March 15: Orr gets 100 points in one season

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: March 15
1970:
Bobby Orr
of the Boston Bruins becomes the first defenseman in NHL history to have 100 points in a season. He reaches the milestone by scoring two goals and assisting on two more in a
5-5 tie with the Detroit Red Wings
at Boston Garden.

Orr enters the game with 97 points, then scores a goal and has an assist in the first period. Point No. 100 comes when he scores a shorthanded goal on an end-to-end rush 27 seconds into the second period, and he assists on a third-period power-play goal by
Phil Esposito
.
Orr is the fourth player in League history to have 100 points in a season, joining Esposito,
Bobby Hull
and
Gordie Howe
; he's the first to have 100 points and 100 penalty minutes in the same season.
Orr finishes the season with 120 points, becoming the first defenseman in NHL history to win the scoring title.
MORE MOMENTS
1934:The visiting New York Americans
defeat the Ottawa Senators 3-2
. It's the final NHL game played in Ottawa until the second version of the Senators begins play in the 1992-93 season.
1941: Montreal Canadiens coach Dick Irvin rotates goalies
Bert Gardiner
and
Paul Bibeault
approximately every seven minutes for the first shared shutout in the NHL, a
6-0 victory against the Americans
at the Forum. With no clear No. 1 goalie entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Irvin decides to have a look at each in Montreal's regular-season finale. He opts to use Gardiner in the playoffs, but the Canadiens lose 2-1 in their Quarterfinal series against the Chicago Blackhawks.
1942:
Lynn Patrick
scores twice and the New York Rangers clinch their first regular-season championship by
defeating the Blackhawks 5-1
at Chicago Stadium. They end the season at 29-17-2, winning the Prince of Wales Trophy; their 60 points are three more than the second-place Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers don't finish first in the regular season again until 1991-92.

1951:
Terry Sawchuk
becomes the first goalie in NHL history to win 40 games in a season when the
Red Wings defeat the Boston Bruins 4-0
at Olympia Stadium. It's the 10th shutout of his rookie season (and the 11th of his NHL career) for Sawchuk.
Gordie Howe
scores twice for Detroit.
1959:
Ted Lindsay
of the Blackhawks becomes the NHL all-time games played leader with 928, passing
Maurice Richard
of the Canadiens. The milestone game comes in a
4-1 loss
to his longtime team, the Red Wings, at Chicago Stadium.
1979:Phil Esposito, now with the Rangers, scores four goals in
New York's 7-4 victory against the Bruins
at Boston Garden. It's the 31st hat trick of Esposito's NHL career.
On the same night,
Bob MacMillan
becomes the first 100-point scorer in Atlanta Flames history. MacMillan reaches 100 points for the only time in his NHL career when he has an assist in Atlanta's
5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers
at the Spectrum.
1981:
Wayne Gretzky
becomes a 50-goal scorer for the second straight season. He gets No. 50 midway through the third period, giving the
Edmonton Oilers a 3-3 tie against the Calgary Flames
at Stampede Corral.

1988:
Craig Simpson
becomes the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals while playing for two teams in one season. His 50th of the 1987-88 season comes in the Oilers'
6-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres
at Northlands Coliseum. Simpson finishes the season with 56 goals; the last 43 come with the Oilers, who acquire him in a trade after he scores 13 in 21 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On the same night, Simpson's Edmonton teammate,
Mark Messier
, scores his 300th NHL goal and reaches the 100-point mark.
1997:
Dave Andreychuk
scores his 500th NHL career goal to help the
New Jersey Devils defeat the Washington Capitals 3-2
in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Andreychuk becomes the 26th player in NHL history to score 500 goals. Not surprisingly, it's a power-play goal; Andreychuk retires as the all-time leader with 274.
2003:
Brett Hull
becomes a 30-goal scorer for the 13th time in his NHL career when he beats
Patrick Roy
at 5:56 of the third period in the Detroit Red Wings'
5-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche
at Joe Louis Arena. It's Hull's 709th NHL goal, moving him past
Mike Gartner
into fifth place on the all-time list.
2004:
Alexander Mogilny
becomes the second Russia-born player to have 1,000 points in the NHL. Mogilny reaches the milestone by getting three assists for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a
6-5 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres
at Air Canada Centre. It comes 29 days after
Sergei Fedorov
becomes the first NHL player born in Russia to reach 1,000 points.
2018: Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets extends his point streak to 14 games, the longest in NHL history by a teenager, when he has an assist in a
6-2 win against the Blackhawks
at Bell MTS Place. It's the 25th home win of the season for the Jets, breaking the franchise record of 24 set by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2005-06.

2019: The Calgary Flames become the fifth NHL team since 1995-96 to have a player score at least five points in consecutive games when Matthew Tkachuk scores two goals and has three assists in a
5-1 victory against the New York Rangers
at Scotiabank Saddledome. Tkachuk's big night comes three days after a six-point performance by Johnny Gaudreau against the New Jersey Devils. It's the third time in Flames history a different player has had at least five points in consecutive games.