This Date in Hockey History - Oct. 16

Detroit Red Wings’ rookie Gordie Howe wasted no time beginning his assault on the NHL record book, scoring his first goal in his first big-league game on this date in 1946.

Howe, only 18 years old, was in the starting lineup at right wing for Detroit alongside team captain Sid Abel at center and Adam Brown at left wing. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the opponents in this game, at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium.

Both of Howe’s linemates set up his goal at the 13:39 mark of the second period. According to a report in the next day’s Detroit Free Press, “Howe skated through the entire Leaf defense, exchanged passes with Brown and Abel and tallied from 10 feet out.”

It was the first of Howe’s 801 regular season goals in the NHL, and 1,071 goals when including his time in the World Hockey Association and all of his post-season tallies in both leagues. He accumulated more goals, assists, points, scoring titles, and MVP awards than anyone in pro hockey history before Wayne Gretzky came along. 

Howe's first game ended in a 3-3 tie, but he also served notice of what he brought to the table from a physical standpoint, hitting Leafs' captain Syl Apps with a bodycheck that injured Apps’ knee and forced him out of the lineup for the next six games.

Also on this date:

1960 – Jerry Toppazzini of the Boston Bruins became the last position player to serve as a goaltender in an NHL game. He subbed in with 30 seconds left in the third period and Boston on the short end of a 5-2 score against the Chicago Black Hawks.

Bruins’ goalie Don Simmons left the game after being cut on the face by a shot from Chicago’s Eric Nesterenko. With the outcome already decided, Boston coach Milt Schmidt decided against delaying the game to either await Simmons’ return or find a substitute who could put on his equipment.

Instead, right winger Toppazzini was chosen to fill in. He didn’t bother to change into Simmons’ gear and didn’t wield a stick as he guarded the net. The Hawks never got possession of the puck in the final half-minute and thus Toppazzini never faced a shot on goal.

1971 – Present and past members of the Red Wings both celebrated milestones on this night, with Detroit rookie Marcel Dionne scoring his first NHL goal and ex-Wing Norm Ullman becoming the fifth player in league history to compile 1,000 points.

Dionne, Detroit’s top choice in the 1971 amateur draft, beat St. Louis Blues goalie Ernie Wakely in a scramble for the first of his 731 career regular season goals. It was one of the Wings’ only bright spots as they lost 9-2 to the Blues.

In Toronto, Ullman, who spent 13 seasons with the Wings before being traded to the Leafs in 1968, collected two assists to reach 1,000 points for his career. The milestone point came on a goal by Ron Ellis as the Leafs lost 5-3 to the Rangers. Ullman’s achievement went unnoticed by the media but only four players in NHL history had done it previously – Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Alex Delvecchio, and Bobby Hull.

Interestingly, seven players have scored their 1,000^th point while wearing a Leafs jersey, most recently John Tavares in December 2023, but no one has ever scored 1,000 points as a Leaf. Mats Sundin is the team’s all-time points leader with 987.

1979 – Washington Capitals’ rookies Bengt Gustafsson and Mike Gartner scored their first NHL goals as their team outgunned the Los Angeles Kings 8-6. Both scored their goals in the first period, with Gustafsson’s being the first of 196 he would record in the NHL. Gartner’s was the first of 708. Marcel Dionne of the Kings had four assists in a losing cause, one of them marking the 800^th point of his career.

1988 – Guy Lafleur of the New York Rangers ended a four-year scoring drought, notching the first goal of his comeback as the Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2. Lafleur, who had returned to the NHL after having retired from the Montreal Canadiens in November 1984, converted a pass from teammate Marcel Dionne for his 519^th career goal and the first of 18 that he would tally for the Rangers that season.