Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1976:  The "New" Minnesota Fighting Saints get their first win, in their home opener after relocating to Minnesota from Cleveland (August 10th, 1976) at Saint Paul Civic Center, a 4-1 win over Indianapolis Racers.  The Saints donned their scarlet (road uniforms) for this game - which was the only time playing in their road uniforms at home.

1977:  Minnesota North Stars named Nick Beverley as their new team captain.

1981:  Gilles Meloche recorded his 17th career shutout and Bobby Smith scored a goal and three assists as the Minnesota North Stars were credited with the 250th home victory in franchise history, 7-0 over the New York Rangers.

1985:  Minnesota's Bo Berglund became the first NHL player to score a penalty shot goal in his team's first game of a season, when he connected for the North Stars in a 6-6 tie at Detroit.

1992:  Luc Robitaille picked up three assists, and Robb Stauber won his first NHL game (in his third try) to lead the Kings to a 6-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets, in the first of a team-record 12 straight wins at home, for the Kings.

1992:  Neal Broten and Russ Courtnall each scored a goal and an assist as the North Stars won 2-1 over the Lightning in Minnesota.

1995:  Toronto rookie Darby Hendrickson scored the first goal of his NHL career, in a 7-3 Maple Leafs win against the visiting New York Islanders.

2001:  Peter Laviolette became the first Islanders coach to start 3-0-0 when Mark Parrish scored two third-period goals and Claude Lapointe had a goal and 3 assists as the Islanders earned their 1,000th victory in team history, a 6-3 win at Pittsburgh.

2001:  Stacy Roest scored twice and Manny Fernandez made 36 saves as the Minnesota Wild won 2-1 against the visiting Boston Bruins.

2003:  Wild were outshot 28-19 by the visiting New York Rangers, but Manny Fernandez made 25 saves to lead Minnesota to a 5-3 victory.

2003:  David Tanabe scored the winning goal at 4:38 of overtime in the Coyotes 2-1 win over the visiting St. Louis Blues.

2007:  Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom recorded his 7th career shutout, and Pavol Demitra had a goal and an assist as the Wild won 2-0 against the visiting Edmonton Oilers.

2013:  Minnesota's Matt Cooke scored a goal and an assist as the Wild outshot the Jets 30-15 for a 2-1 victory at Winnipeg.

2014:  Warroad, MN native Brock Nelson tied an Islanders team record for most points in a season opener with 4 (2 goals & 2 assists) and Johnny Boychuk tied a team record for most points by a defenseman in his team debut (1 goals and 2 assists) in a 5-3 win at Carolina.