Oct. 31: Gretzky has seventh NHL hat trick

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: Oct. 31
1981:
Wayne Gretzky
becomes the
first player in NHL history to have seven hat tricks before his 21st birthday
when he scores four goals (and has an assist) in an 11-4 victory against the Quebec Nordiques at Northlands Coliseum.

Gretzky scores early in the second period to give the Oilers a 3-0 lead, then finishes his big night with three more goals (and the assist) in the third period against
Michel Plasse
. It gives him 13 goals in Edmonton's first 13 games.
Exactly eight years later,
Gretzky gets his 46th NHL hat trick
and has three assists for a six-point night in the Los Angeles Kings' 8-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Civic Arena. Pittsburgh's
Mario Lemieux
has two assists to begin a 46-game point scoring streak. It's the second-longest in NHL history, five games short of Gretzky's record.

MORE MOMENTS
1942:
Maurice Richard
plays his
first NHL game
with the Montreal Canadiens. Richard, wearing No. 15, gets his first NHL point (an assist) 36 seconds into the game, a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins at the Forum.
1987:New York Rangers forward
Marcel Dionne
scores the
700th goal
of his NHL career, joining
Gordie Howe
(801) and
Phil Esposito
(717) as the only players to reach that mark at the time. The goal comes in an 8-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Though neither spends the bulk of his career with the Rangers, Esposito and Dionne each scores goal No. 700 with New York.

1995:
Mario Tremblay
sets an NHL record for
best start by a new coach with his sixth straight win
when the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Bruins 3-1. Tremblay breaks the mark of five straight wins shared by Bep Guidolin (1973-74 Bruins) and Marc Crawford (1995-96 Colorado Avalanche).
2003:The Vancouver Canucks become the second team in NHL history
to score the first goal in each of its first 11 games
of the season.
Trevor Linden
opens the scoring at 8:16 of the first period of a 4-1 road win against Phoenix Coyotes.
2007:Chicago Blackhawks rookie center Jonathan Toews scores a goal in a
5-4 road win
against the Dallas Stars to give him one point in each of his first 10 NHL games. It's the second-longest such streak in NHL history.

2008:
Matthias Ohlund scores in the 13th round of the shootout
to give the Canucks a 7-6 victory against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. Each team scores six times during regulation but manages one successful attempt apiece in the tiebreaker until Ohlund, a defenseman who's the 26th shooter, beats
Jonas Hiller
for the win.
2019: Matthew Tkachuk scores the tying goal with 39 seconds remaining in the third period, then gets the game-winner on a between-the-legs shot with 1.6 seconds left in overtime to give the Calgary Flames a
6-5 win against the Nashville Predators
at Bridgestone Arena. The Flames trail 4-1 in the third period and 5-4 in the final minute before Tkachuk's tying goal. He's the second player in Flames history to score a tying goal in the final minute of regulation and the game-winner in the final minute of overtime, joining
Eddy Beers
against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 30, 1983.