This Day in Hockey History

1967 - Terry Sawchuk's 100th shutout

On March 4th 1967, the Toronto Maple Leafs shutout Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and the Chicago Blackhawks at Maple Leaf Gardens in front of goaltender Terry Sawchuk. The shutout was the 100th of Sawchuk's career and made him the first NHL netminder to ever record three figures worth of blank sheets. No subsequent netminder managed 100 shutouts until 2009, when Martin Brodeur joined Sawchuk in the 100 shutout club.

Even though save-percentage has been climbing for the past two decades, it's unlikely that any active netminder (besides Brodeur) will break the 100 shutout barrier. The closest at the moment is Roberto Luongo, and he's 35 shutouts away.

1991 - Penguins fleece the Whalers

At the 1991 NHL trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Penguins completely fleeced the Hartford Whalers.

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired hall of fame center Ron Francis, legendary dirty-hit specialist Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings in the trade, while sending John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker to Hartford. Pittsburgh promptly proceeded to win two straight Stanley Cups.

Eddie Johnson was the Whalers general manager at the time (he later coached the Penguins) and later admitted that he didn't quite get the deal he was looking for:

"It was a trade that we thought, at the time, was beneficial for us. We needed a defenseman and we got Zalapski, who ended up scoring 20 goals for us. They ended up with a character player and a Hall of Fame player.

I wouldn’t say we got the better end of the deal at the time. I think it was a deal that was made to hopefully help both clubs,” he continued. “We ended up getting John Cullen and John ended up playing very well for us that particular year and then ended up having back problems. It was a trade that Ulfie and Ronnie came over here and were the pieces of the puzzle that they really needed."

In the immediate aftermath of the trade, Whalers fans were asked for their reaction during a regional broadcast. Most of them - the poor souls - didn't quite understand what a historic robbery they'd just witnessed. Perhaps that's a useful lesson for hockey fans to keep in mind at this time of year:

1999 - Leafs win 4-0 despite taking only 9 shots

It's pretty remarkable that the 1999 Toronto Maple Leafs had the foresight to pay tribute to the Dave Nonis era in Toronto a full 13 years before that era even dawned...

On March 4th, 1999 the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-0 behind goals from Lonny Bohonos, Mats Sundin, Garry Valk and and Steve Sullivan. That they managed to win 4-0 is rather remarkable, since they only managed nine total shots in the contest. 

Curtis Joseph stood tall for the Leafs stopping all 28 shots he faced. Meanwhile, Blues goaltenders Jim "Ace Ventura Net Detective" Carey and Fightin' Brent Johnson combined to post a .555 save percentage.

Birthdays

Ray Allison - 1959

George Kuzlak - 1964

Valeri Nichushkin - 1995