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April 16th

  • Apr
  • 16
April 16th
  • All Day Event  

1955:  Former NHL center Jon Fontas born in Arlington, Mass. Fontas played in the NHL 1979-80 through 1980-81 with the Minnesota North Stars.

1968:  L.A. Kings played their first overtime playoff game, losing 4-3 at Minnesota in Game 6 of the Quarter-Finals. Milan Marcetta scored the winning goal at 9:11 of overtime. It was the first overtime goal in the North Stars' playoff history.

1980:  Gilles Meloche recorded his first career playoff shutout as the Minnesota North Stars won 3-0 against the Canadiens, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals, in Montreal.

1981:  Steve Payne scored two goals, including the overtime winner at 0:22 to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 4-3 win at Buffalo, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals.

1984:  Minnesota North Stars became the third post-1967 NHL expansion team to win 50 Stanley Cup playoff games, when they beat the Blues 3-2 at St. Louis, in game 4 of the Norris Division Finals.

1988:  NHL right wing Kyle Okposo born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Okposo has played in the NHL since 2007-08 with the New York Islanders.

1990:  Bobby Clarke left his post as General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers. He later was named the GM of the Minnesota North Stars.

1992:  Todd Elik picked up 26 penalty minutes for the Minnesota North Stars in a 5-3 loss at St. Louis.

1994:  Warroad Lakers defeated St. Boniface 5-2 to capture the Allen Cup Championship.

1996:  Ron Hextall became the Flyers all-time leader in playoff wins (with his 36th victory) when Joel Otto and Trent Klatt scored in a span of :31 in the first period of a 7-3 win over the visiting Lightning, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.

2001:  Minnesota Wild announced that 8 players from the organization were going to participate in the 2001 World Championships in Germany, along with two staff members.

2007:  New Jersey's Zach Parise became the first player in team playoff history to score in each of the team's first three games in one year, in a 3-2 loss at Tampa Bay in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.

2009:  Minnesota Wild fired General Manager Doug Risebrough, the first and only G.M. in franchise history at the time of his termination. No replacement was named.

2013:  Kyle Brodziak scored twice to lead the Wild to a 5-3 victory at Edmonton.

2014:  Marco Scandella scored at 1:01 of overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 4-3 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

2015:  N.Y. Rangers Defenseman, and Arden Hills, MN native - Ryan McDonagh scored 1 goal, and played 25:36 to earn the #2 Star of the Night in the Rangers' 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoff series.

2015:  Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, proclaimed this day as "Go Wild Day" - which marked the same day as the Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues 2015 NHL Western Conference playoff series - Game #1 in St. Louis.

2015:  Minnesota Wild defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference playoff series, led by Jason Pominville 1G & 1A (for his 7th multi-point playoff game), and Zach Parise 2 assists (which was Zach's 16th career multi-point game).  With the win, it marked the Wilds' first game 1 playoff win since April 10, 2003 (1st ever Wild playoff game) with 7 straight game 1 losses snapped.  Two of MN goals came on empty-net goals in the 3rd period, which marked the 2nd such occurrence in franchise history (last 4-28-2014 vs. Colorado Avalanche). Mikael Granlund was credited with the final empty-net game-winning goal, which tied a franchise record with 2 career playoff game winners with (Nino Niederreiter & Wes Walz).  Minnesota winning Goaltender - Devan Dubnyk became the 1st Goalie in franchise history to earn a win in his Stanley Cup playoffs debut.

Tag(s): This Day In MN History