Today in Hockey History: May 10 – Hockey Writers – Hockey History

Yesterday in Hockey History: May 9

Tomorrow in Hockey History: May 11

The most famous goal in National Hockey League history was scored on this day. In addition, memories were made during the strong run in Montreal and New York when many teams got one step closer to hockey’s biggest prize. The THW time machine is fueled and ready to roll back through the years so we can remember all the good times May 10th gave us.

Bobby Orr’s Big Day

Bobby Orr always enjoys May 10. Whether he was collecting computer hardware or scoring iconic goals, he made a lot of history on this day.

On May 10, 1968, Orr was named the Norris Trophy winner by being voted the NHL’s top defenseman. This was his first win for Norris, and he went on to win one between this date and 1975. His 8th straight Norris Trophy win is still an NHL record. The closest anyone ever came to repeating this was when Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings won it six of seven years, between 2001 and 2008.

Orr scored one of the most famous goals in league history on May 10, 1970. Just 40 seconds into overtime of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, Orr took a pass from Derek Sanderson and scored the game-winning goal before flying into the air.

The goal, Orr’s first of the series, gave the Bruins a 4-3 win and ended a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. Louis Blues. The Bruins celebrated their first Stanley Cup victory since 1941.

A year later, Orr was named the Hart Trophy winner as the NHL’s most valuable player for the second consecutive season. He would win it for the third consecutive season in 1971-72. Chris Pronger is the only defenseman to win the Hart Trophy since then. Orr also won the Norris Memorial Trophy for the fourth consecutive season.

Montreal Canadiens Dominate

Yvan Cournoyer was the hero on May 10, 1973, as the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup with a 6-4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6 of the Finals. He broke a 4-4 tie eight minutes into the third period before Marc Tardif added an insurance goal. The Blackhawks had a two-goal lead in the first period and got a hat trick from Pete Martin, but it wasn’t enough to save their season.

On May 10, 1977, goaltender Ken Dryden recorded his fourth shutout of the 1977 playoffs and eighth of his playoff career, as the Canadiens defeated the Bruins 3-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. Steve Shutt scored two of the three goals for the Canadiens.

After two years, the Canadiens came from behind to beat the Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals. Boston built a 3-1 lead in the third period, thanks to two goals by Wayne Cashman. The Canadiens tied the game with two goals by Mark Napier and Guy Lapointe, two minutes apart. Rick Middleton’s second goal of the game gave the Bruins a 4-3 lead with four minutes to play.

Guy Lafleur forced overtime on the power play, with just 1:14 left in regulation. Yvon Lambert ended the streak in overtime as the Canadiens advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, where they defeated the New York Rangers in five games.

The Rise and Fall of the New York Islanders

The early 1980s were dominated by the Islanders as they won four straight Stanley Cups and reached a fifth consecutive Finals before their reign ended. They advanced to their first Stanley Cup Final on May 10, 1980, beating the Buffalo Sabers 5-2 in Game 6 of the Semifinals. The Islanders erased an early 2-0 deficit to score the last five goals of the game. Bob Bourne had a shorthanded goal and two assists in the win.

On May 10, 1983, Islanders goaltender Billy Smith recorded his fifth and final shutout as the Islanders won 2-0 over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Smith made 35 saves as Duane Sutter and Ken Morrow paced the Islanders.

A year later, the Oilers got their revenge as they beat the Islanders 1-0 in Game 1 of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals. Grant Fuhr made 34 saves to earn the first of six shutouts in the postseason. Kevin McClelland’s goal early in the third period was the only tally of the night.

Moving on

On May 10, 1989, Joe Nieuwendyk scored two goals as the Calgary Flames beat the Blackhawks 3-1 in Game 5 of the Campbell Conference Final. The Flames won the series and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final against the Canadiens.

Two years later, the Minnesota North Stars beat the Oilers 3-2 to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions in Game 5 of the Campbell Conference Final. The North Stars advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in team history, where they took on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Vancouver Canucks advanced to the Western Conference Final on May 10, 1994. Pavel Bure’s two goals were the difference in a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

Darius Kasparaitis became the first Penguins defenseman in franchise history to score an overtime playoff goal on May 10, 2001. He beat Dominik Hasek for his first goal of the postseason to give the Penguins a 3-2 victory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Penguins closed out another playoff series in overtime on May 10, 2016. After coughing up a 3-0 season lead against the Washington Capitals, Nick Bonino scored an overtime goal to win Game 6 of their second-round series.

On May 10, 2018, the Winnipeg Jets advanced to the Western Conference Finals after a 5-1 Game 7 victory against the Nashville Predators. Mark Scheifele scored two goals to set an NHL record with seven goals in a series. It was the first time the franchise won two playoff series in the same season since the Atlanta Thrashers joined the league in 1999.

Odds & Ends

Red Wings defenseman Red Kelly became the first ever Norris Trophy winner on May 10, 1954. It was the Hall of Famer’s only Norris Trophy win of his career.

On May 10, 1987, Pelle Eklund scored his first and only postseason hat trick in the Philadelphia Flyers’ 6-3 win over the Canadiens in Game 4 of the Wales Conference Championship. The Flyers went on to win the series in six games and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Oilers.

The Blues beat the visiting Red Wings 1-0 on May 10, 1996, in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Goaltender Jon Casey recorded the third and final shutout of his playoff career as Wayne Gretzky’s first postseason goal with the Blues was the only offense needed.

On May 10, 2003, Patrick Lalime made history when he gave up two goals or less in 11 games.^th straight playoff game. The record-setting performance came in a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Later that night, the Anaheim Ducks earned a 1-0 double-overtime victory against the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 39 saves in his second shutout, while Petr Sykora had one goal on the night.

On May 10, 2010, Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton became the second hitters in league history to combine for a playoff shutout. Boucher stopped all nine shots he faced before a leg injury forced him to leave the game. Leighton came on in relief and made 14 saves in the Flyers’ 4-0 win over the Bruins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final. Jacques Plante and Charlie Hodge of the Canadiens were two of the strongest players to combine to close out the season in 1955.

A year later, the Red Wings scored three goals in the last 10 minutes of the third period to win 3-1 against the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals. They forced a Game 7 after trailing in the third period of both Games 5 and 6, becoming the first team to accomplish this feat.

After three career regular season starts, John Gibson made his Stanley Cup playoff debut on May 10, 2014. He stopped all 28 shots he faced in the Ducks’ 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 4 of their second-round series. He became just the sixth goaltender in the last 60 years to get a shutout in his first playoff game.

Connor McDavid hit another milestone in his legendary career when he scored his 11th game-winning goal of the season on May 10, 2021, against the Canadiens. Only Jari Kurri (13 in 1984-85) and Wayne Gretzky (12 in 1981-82) had more in a season in Oilers history.

With the second assist on Alex Wennberg’s goal on May 10, 2021, against the Lightning, Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle became the 10th player born in the United States to reach 600 points in the NHL.

That same night, Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat became the first player to score in each of the team’s final seven games since John Anderson of the Maple Leafs in 1984-85 when he scored in the Blackhawks’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Stars.

On May 10, 2022, Jordan Binington recorded his 18th playoff victory, passing Greg Millen and Mike Liut for the most in Blues history. His 30 saves helped his team win Game 5 of their series against the Minnesota Wild.

Continuing the goaltending trend, Jonathan Quick joined in on the fun as he recorded his 90th consecutive start to move past Tuukka Rask and Pekka Rinne for eighth in NHL history. Martin Brodeur still leads with 194.

On May 10, 2023, Joseph Woll became the 11th rookie goaltender to win a playoff game in Maple Leafs history when he helped his team avoid elimination in Game 4 of their second-round series against the Panthers. He made 24 saves as the Maple Leafs won 2-1.

On May 10, 2024, Matthew Tkachuk became the third player in Panthers history with 20 postseason assists, joining Aleksander Barkov (33) and Carter Verhaeghe (21).

Later that night, Quinn Hughes (25 games) became the third fastest defenseman in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to 20 career assists, behind only Gary Suter (23 games) and Adam Fox (24 games).

And in that game, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid scored 90 points in their 56th playoff game, third fewest in NHL history behind Gretzky and Lemieux. In addition, McDavid became the second fastest player in NHL history to reach 60 playoff assists, behind only Gretzky.

happy Birthday to you

There are 22 current and former NHL players celebrating birthdays today. The most prominent are Randy Cunneyworth (65), Mikael Andersson (60), Adam Deadmarsh (51), Ryan Getzlaf (41), Carter Rowney (37), Alex Tuch (30) and Nicolas Aube-Kubel (30).

*Originally created by Greg Boysen