October 26: Nexus Of The Hockey World?

I understand that hockey players can be superstitious at times. Whether it be a hot streak where a player is scoring every time the puck touches his stick or a winning streak for a team that is propelling them up the standings, superstition can take over where players are locked into a routine thinking it will replicate the same results. I'm not here to ruin that imagery for hockey players, but I don't buy into superstitions very often because the number of random things that can happen in a day to disrupt that routine are infinite. There are some things, though, that happen on the same day that make you wonder if timelines cross for players or if there is some sort of power of fate that draws specific moments together. Logic says no, but it's hard to argue a few major hockey moments that happened on October 26!

If you're wondering about the title of the article, a nexus is defined as "a connection or series of connections linking two or more things." That definition will certainly come into play today as all the moments in hockey history happened on this day in time, albeit in various years. The coincidental nature of these things happening is just that: coincidence. However, the people who believe in superstition may say differently!

We'll drop into 1989 as our first year of things that occurred on this day. The Quebec Nordiques were in Boston to play the Bruins that night, and Quebec head coach Michel Bergeron saw the game as on opportunity to perhaps take advantage of a Bruins team who had been sitting for five days following a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. Having been shutout by the Hartford Whalers 2-0 the night before, Bergeron gave starter Ron Tugnutt the night off, opting to start Russian netminder Sergei Mylnikov against the Bruins!

So why is this an important moment? As you can see from the image to the right, Mylnikov played with Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Russian Super League in the previous season, and his start for the Nordiques in Boston Garden that night marked the first time a Russian goaltender had ever started or guarded an NHL net in history! The previous time anyone had seen Mylnikov stopping pucks in North America was the 1987 Canada Cup where he was the goaltender of record in that silver-medal performance for the Soviet Union in Hamilton, Ontario. I'm pretty certain we know what happened in that game. If not, read on!

For the record, Mylnikov lost his debut with the Nordiques that night by a 4-2 score after stopping 31 shots. Cam Neely scored his seventh goal in Boston's tenth game in this one, and the Nordiques fell to 3-6-1 on the season with the loss. From that night onward, Quebec would go 9-55-6 to finish with 31 points. Mylnikov's season and NHL career ended with a record of 1-7-2, a 4.96 GAA, and an .858 save percentage. That lone win he recorded would come on March 17, 1990 in Quebec as the Nordiques hosted the Philadelphia Flyers with Mylnikov stopping 28 shots in a 6-3 victory in Quebec's 12th win of the '89-90 season.

From there, we jump one season forward as 1990 is our next stop. The Los Angeles Kings were in Winnipeg to play the Jets that night, and all eyes were on The Great One as Wayne Gretzky sat one point away from immortality. #99 had recorded 1999 points in 856 games to that point, and the newly-embraced California hockey star was facing an old WHA foe in the Jets on this night.

In the first period with the Jets leading 2-0 and pressing for more, a Jets' cross-ice pass - it appears to be either Scott Arniel or Brent Ashton - through the Kings' zone ends up on the stick of Wayne Gretzky on the right side. Always looking to push the offence, Gretzky hit Tony Granato at center ice with a pass on the tape which allowed Granato to make a perfect breakaway pass to Tomas Sandstrom who was behind both Phil Housley and Dave Ellett. A quick, low shot through Bob Essensa's legs was all the Kings needed to get one back at 14:32 of the first period, but, more importantly, Wayne Gretzky's secondary assist on the play was his 2000th point in his career! Officially, Gretzky stood with 684 goals and 1316 assists in 857 NHL games as the only player who hit the 2000-point mark, and he's still the only player in NHL history to reach that mark. Sidney Crosby is the closest active player with 1420 points, so he's got a long way to go!

For the record, the Kings lost that game to the Jets by a 6-2 score. Gretzky's only point was the assist that got him to 2000 points while Winnipeg's Thomas Steen has a Gretzky-like four assists in the game. Phil Housley, traded to Winnipeg that summer for fan favorite Dale Hawerchuk, scored the opening goal of the game just 1:33 into the contest for his third goal in the Jets' eleventh game. The loss dropped Los Angeles to 7-2-1 on the season while the Jets improved to 4-6-1 in that 1990-91 season.

The third major moment that happened on October 26 takes us to 1995. The Pittsburgh Penguins were at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York to visit the newly-dressed New York Islanders and their Fisherman jerseys. The Penguins came into the game after losing to Wayne Gretzky and the Kings by a 3-2 score where Gretzky recorded point #1999 on a second-period Rick Tocchet power-play goal. The Islanders, meanwhile, had fallen 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers one night earlier, so they needed a bounce-back in this one against the high-scoring Penguins!

Lemieux had already scored goals #498 and #499 in this game as he lurked in the third period for the hat trick and milestone marker. Dmitri Mironov passed the puck to Tomas Sandstrom who cut in across the blue line, but he had an Islander on his hip as he did. Looking for help, Sandstrom spun and spotted Lemieux trailing as the big centerman glided into the high slot. Sandstrom hit Lemieux with the pass, Lemieux used Bob Beers as a partial screen, and his wrist shot found room between Tommy Soderstrom's pad and glove to end up in the back of the net as Super Mario recorded goal #500 with his sixth marker of the season at 17:12 of the third period to put Pittsburgh up 7-5! That goal would make Lemieux second-fastest to the 500-goal mark in any player's career as Lemieux did it in his 605th NHL game. Only Gretzky reached that mark sooner, doing it in 30 less games!

The Penguins ended up holding onto the 7-5 win that night in Uniondale to move them to 3-2-2 on the season while the Islanders fell to 1-6-1 at that point in the 1995-96 campaign. Lemieux would finish the season as the league's top goal scorer, lighting the lamp 69 times, en route to the Art Ross Trophy with 161 points and the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP.

Not lost on me is that October 26 is the 299th or 300th day of the year depending on the leap year situation, but it also means that there's 66 days left in the calendar year. Lemieux wears #66 and he scored his 500th goal on that day - Twilight Zone anyone?

So why are these three moments drawn together in a way that might make people a little suspicious that something weird is happening with the NHL's timelines? Well, if we go back to the 1987 Canada Cup, the gold medal game saw Wayne Gretzky set up Mario Lemieux for the gold medal-winning goal as Lemieux beat Sergei Mylnikov to help Team Canada win the 1987 Canada Cup! Here's that video!

Hockey history can be really cool or really spooky depending on how you view it, but three players from one of the biggest moments in hockey history at any level share a date when they all did something pretty cool in their individual careers!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!