Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1958:  Kevin Constantine born in International Falls, MN.  Constantine coached in the National Hockey League with Calgary, San Jose, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey, starting in in 1993-94.

1967:  Ray Cullen scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 3-3 tie with the Rangers, at New York.

1971:  Former NHL defenseman Mike Matteucci born in Trail, B.C.  Matteucci played in the NHL 2000-01 with the Minnesota Wild.

1972:  Minnesota North Stars set a team record with their 11th straight home victory, a 3-2 win over Montreal. The win also extended their home unbeaten streak to 13 straight games (12-0-1).

1975:  Former NHL defenseman Brad Brown born in Baie Verte, Newfoundland.  Brown played in the NHL 1996-97 through 2003-04 with Montreal, Chicago, the New York Rangers, the Minnesota Wild and Buffalo.

1976:  The 'New Minnesota Fighting Saints' of the WHA named John Arbour as team Captain, replacing Ron Ward.  Arbour would be the last team Captain in Fighting Saints history (Ted Hampson was the only Captain of the original Minnesota Fighting Saints).

1977:  Pete LoPresti recorded his 5th (and final) career shutout as the Minnesota North Stars won 1-0 over St. Louis.

1980:  Steve Payne scored a goal and added two assists to lead the North Stars to a 6-4 win over the Colorado Rockies in Minnesota.

1986:  Boston's Reed Larson became the first American born player in NHL history to score 600 career points.  The Bruins' defenseman set the new mark with an assist in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Kings.

1990:  Calgary's Joel Otto picked up 24 penalty minutes in a 1-1 tie against visiting Edmonton.

2003:  Sean Hill broke Carolina's 0-for-26 power-play slump, scoring twice with the man advantage, including the game winning goal 39 seconds into overtime, a 2-1 victory against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

2003:  Mark Parrish scored twice, including the winning goal for the second straight night in the Islanders 3-1 win against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

2007:  Coyotes outshot the Wild 48-26, but Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom made 46 saves, and the Wild scored three power-play goals to win 3-2 at Phoenix.  Minnesota's Mark Parrish scored his 200th career NHL goal.

2008:  Rookie Blake Wheeler scored twice in a 3:41 span in the second period to lead the Bruins to a 4-2 win at Carolina.

2013:  Justin Fontaine and Stephane Velleux set a Minnesota Wild team record by scoring goals in a span of :10 in the first period of a 6-4 loss at Winnipeg.

2013:  Robbinsdale, MN native Blake Wheeler scored his third two-goal game in three weeks to lead the Jets to a 6-4 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild.

2014:  Hastings, MN native Derek Stepan scored a shorthanded goal, a power play goal and an even strength goal for his third career hat trick as the Rangers won their 8th straight game, a 3-1 victory over the visiting New Jersey Devils.

2016:  NY Rangers defenseman, Ryan McDonagh (St. Paul, MN native) established both a personal best career-high 3 assists, and 3 points in a single game in Rangers 4-3 win vs. Senators.

2016:  Minnesota Wild defeated visiting Nashville Predators 3-2 in OT at Xcel Energy Center, for the clubs 11th straight win with an overall record of 22-8-4.  The win extended Wilds' franchise best record point streak to 12 games (all in December - 16 points in 17 games. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves in the contest and stretched his career-best record to 9 straight wins, setting a franchise record previously held by Backstrom (8 wins 2013).