March 3: Red Wings hold night for Howe

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: March 3
It's a day to remember for two NHL immortals.

1959:The Detroit Red Wings surprise the guest of honor on
Gordie Howe
Night at Olympia Stadium.
Among the gifts is a new white station wagon (bearing Michigan license plate GH-9000) that's driven onto the ice wrapped in cellophane. As the wrapping is being removed, Howe reaches to open the driver's door and gets the surprise of a lifetime when he finds his parents, Ab and Katherine Howe, sitting in the car. It's the first time they're seeing their son, now in his 13th NHL season, play a game for the Red Wings. Howe breaks down as his mother hugs him in full view of the crowd.
The only drawback to the night comes when the Boston Bruins rally for a 2-2 tie.
1968:
Jean Beliveau
scores a goal for the Montreal Canadiens in a 5-2 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit to become the second player in NHL history with 1,000 points.
Beliveau, appearing in his 911th NHL game, wastes no time joining Howe in the 1,000-point club; he beats goalie
Roger Crozier
at 4:56 of the first period.
Beliveau reaches the milestone 27 games earlier than Howe, who gets point No. 1,000 on Nov. 27, 1960, his 938th NHL game.

MORE MOMENTS
1875:The first recorded organized indoor hockey game is played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. Two teams of nine players apiece use a flat wooden disk instead of the lacrosse ball commonly used when the game is played outdoors.
1920:The Canadiens set an NHL record for goals in one game by
defeating the Quebec Bulldogs 16-3
in Quebec City. Defenseman
Harry Cameron
scores four goals for Montreal, as does forward
Newsy Lalonde
.
1968: In one of the biggest trades in NHL history, the Toronto Maple Leafs send forwards
Frank Mahovlich
,
Pete Stemkowski
and
Garry Unger
to the Red Wings.
Norm Ullman
,
Floyd Smith
and
Paul Henderson
go to Toronto.

1981:
Mike Bossy
reaches 100 points by scoring four goals and assisting on another for the New York Islanders in an
8-8 tie against the Edmonton Oilers
at Nassau Coliseum. It's Bossy's ninth hat trick of the season, setting an NHL record that's later broken by Edmonton's
Wayne Gretzky
.
1990:
Brett Hull
reaches 100 points in a season for the first time in his NHL career with two goals and two assists for the St. Louis Blues in a
5-4 win against the visiting Islanders
. Brett and
Bobby Hull
become the first father and son to have 100 points in one season.

1992:Gretzky extends his own NHL record for consecutive 100-point seasons with an assist for the Los Angeles Kings in a
4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers
at the Forum in Inglewood, California. It's the 13th straight 100-point season for Gretzky.
2004:
Teppo Numminen
of the Dallas Stars becomes the NHL's all-time leader in games played by a defenseman born in Europe. Numminen appears in his 1,149th game, one more than Hockey Hall of Famer
Borje Salming
, when he takes the ice for a
4-2 victory
against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. It comes exactly two years after Numminen plays his 1,000th NHL game, becoming the first player in the history of the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes franchise to do so, in a
2-1 win against Columbus
.
2018: Alex Ovechkin reaches the 40-goal mark for the ninth season but does it outdoors for the first time. Goal No. 40 comes in the
Washington Capitals' 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs
at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, as part of the NHL Stadium Series. He becomes the sixth player in NHL history with at least nine 40-goal seasons. Teammates Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson each scores a goal and has two assists.

2019: Blake Wheeler has the first four-goal game of his NHL career for the Winnipeg Jets in a
5-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets
at Nationwide Arena. He's the fifth player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history to score at least four goals in a game.