This Day in Hockey History

1949 - Mike Durnan records 4th consecutive shutout

Ambidextrous Montreal Canadiens goaltender and former captain Mike Durnan led les Habitant to a 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on March 6th, 1949. It was Durnan's fourth consecutive shutout.

Durnan - seen wearing the captains "C" in the photo above - had been stripped of the Montreal captaincy the season prior by the NHL's "Durnan rule." Opponent's had complained that Durnan spent too much time leaving his crease to complain to the referees, in effect giving the Canadiens a plethora of unscheduled timeouts. 

After Durnan, no goaltender would be named captain for 60 years until the Vancouver Canucks named Roberto Luongo captain in 2008.

1995 - Jari Kurri passes Guy Lafleur

The Los Angeles Kings were thoroughly dominated by Russ Courtnall and the Dallas Stars in an 8-2 loss on March 6, 1995. But Finnish legend Jari Kurri scored in the game - it was his 561st career tally, and the goal moved Kurri past Guy Lafleur for eighth on the all-time goals list.

Kurri would finish his career with 601 goals, a mark that has since been surpassed by a large handful of players. Kurri currently sits as the 18th most prolific goal scorer in NHL history.

2003 - Scott Mellanby scores four power-play goals

It took over 1200 games for Scott "the Rat King" Mellanby to score his first career hat-trick, but on March 6, 2003, it finally happened. In a 6-3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes Mellanby tallied four times on the power-play and recorded his first career hat-trick emphatically.

At the time of his four-goal game, Mellanby was the NHL's leading scorer to have never managed a hat-trick. "I kind of enjoyed having that distinguishing fact," Mellanby told reporters after the game. "Kind of proves you're mediocre for a long time! But I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't like to have [a hat trick]."

Birthdays

1911 - Buzz Boll
1985 - Daniel Winnik
1990 - Eric Wellwood