Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1931: The 1st sheet of ice was layed atop the artificial cooling lines/surface at newly opened St. Paul Auditorium, with the first hockey game played some 10 days later in January of 1932. 

1972:  Minnesota's J.P. Parise scored twice as the North Stars lost 4-2 in New York in their first road game against the Islanders.

1973:  The Minnesota Fighting Saints first live broadacsted game was a home contest versus Cleveland, with WTCN Buetel and Allard simulcasting.  Buxton called subsequent games on WTCN.

1976:  NHL defenseman Brett Clark born in Moosomin, Sask.  Clark has played in the NHL since 1997-98 with Montreal, Atlanta, Colorado, Tampa Bay, and Minnesota Wild.

1977:  Roland Eriksson scored his second career hat trick and Tim Young had two goals and an assist to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 7-5 win at Vancouver.  Rick Blight scored a goal and three assists for the Canucks.

1980:  Rookie Steve Christoff scored his first NHL hat trick to lead the North Stars to a 6-2 win against the Red Wings, at Detroit.

1982:  Reed Larson scored a goal and added two assists as Detroit became the fourth team in league history to win 1,500 NHL games when they beat the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 6-4.  It also extended the Wings home unbeaten streak over Pittsburgh to 6-0-1.

1982:  NHL defenseman Zbynek Michalek born in Jindrichuv Hradec, Czech.  Michalek has played in the NHL since 2003-04 with Minnesota Wild, Phoenix, and Pittsburgh.

1986:  1986 NHL center T.J. Oshie born in Mt. Vernon, Washington - raised in Warroad, MN.  Oshie has played in the NHL since 2008-09. 

1988:  Buffalo's Phil Housley picked up his 300th career NHL assist as the Sabres won 5-2 over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

1989:  Phil Housley scored a goal and tied team records for defensemen with four assists and give points to lead the Sabres to a 6-5 win over the Nordiques in Quebec City, to extend their unbeaten streak to 5 games (3-0-2).

1989:  Randy Burridge and Dave Christian each picked up three assists to lead the Bruins to 6-5 win over Detroit.

1990:  Bruins' Dave Christian scored twice, including his 300th NHL goal in a 5-5 tie against the Rangers at New York.

1990:  Dave Gagner scored his third career hat trick and added an assist, taking 9 shots on goal for the Minnesota North Stars in a 5-2 win at Hartford.

1991:  Los Angeles Kings obtained Corey Millen from the N.Y. Rangers, in exchange for Randy Gilhen.

1996:  Senators' goaltender Damian Rhodes recorded the first road shutout in Ottawa history, and their first ever against the Canadiens, and Daniel Alfredsson scored a goal and three assists in a 6-0 win at Montreal.

2001:  Minnesota's Dwayne Roloson made 43 saves in a 6-3 loss at Colorado.

2003:  Marian Gaborik broke a 9-game scoring drought with a goal as the Wild extended its season-high unbeaten streak to 6 games (4-0-2), a 3-3 tie with the visiting Nashville Predators.

2005:  Todd White and Marian Gaborik scored 36 seconds apart in the third period to lead the Wild to a 5-3 win over the visiting Avalanche.

2008:  Minnesota trailed 2-0 early in the second period but came back with three goals in the second period to beat the visiting Hurricanes 3-2.  Mikko Koivu led the scoring with two assists and Stephane Veilleux scored the shorthanded tally.

2009:  Niklas Backstrom made 30 saves and improved his lifetime home record against Edmonton to 11-0-0, when the Wild beat the visiting Oilers 3-1.

2010:  Matt Cullen scored a shorthanded goal, an even strength goal and picked up a power play assist to lead the Wild to a 3-1 win over the Avalanche at Denver.

2016:  Minnesota Wild scored 5 unanswered goals in the second period setting new franchise records for the first 5 goal period in a regular season road game, and franchise record 10th straight win, coming in a 7-4 defeat of the NY Rangers at Madison Square Garden.  Jordan Staal led the team with his 7th straight game point streak (his longest since 2013.  Head Coach Bruce Boudreau became the 1st ever NHL Coach to lead 3 different teams to win streaks of 10+ games (Minnesota, Anaheim and Washington).  The Wild entered the holiday break with a 21-8-4 record, setting a franchise record 46 points through 33 games.