This day in the history of the National Hockey League was a sad one for Montreal fans as they lost one of the biggest legends, and the best goaltender played his last game for them. Also, a number of netminders had memorable games, a number of franchise records were set or tied, and a milestone was reached on Long Island.
The Hockey World Loses A Legend
One of the greatest icons in hockey, Jean Beliveau, passed away at the age of 83 on Dec. 2, 2014. He spent his entire career with the Montreal Canadiens, making his major league debut in 1950 and retiring in 1971. During this time, he scored 507 goals and 1,219 points in 1,125 games. He had a combination of incredible skill and grace to match his size and strength.
Beliveau played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs every season from 1954 to 1971. In 162 games in total, he scored 79 goals and 176 points. He won the Stanley Cup 10 times in his career, including five straight between 1956 and 1960. The last game of his incredible run was Game 7 of the 1971 Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks. He went out as a champion, a great end to his illustrious career.
Roy's last Hooray
The Detroit Red Wings blew out the Canadiens 11-1 on December 2, 1995, matching the Habs' all-time streak. Vyacheslav Kozlov scored four goals, Sergey Fedorov had a goal and four assists, and Igor Larionov finished with a goal and three assists to hand Montreal its worst home loss in franchise history.
However, this is where the story of this game begins. For fans in the old Montreal Forum, they had no idea they were watching Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy's last game in a Canadian uniform. Roy and head coach Mario Tremblay had a rocky relationship that eventually came to a head.
Roy didn't have it tonight, but was left out to dry by his head coach. Finally, in the second half, after giving up nine goals on 26 shots, Tremblay pulled his All-Star goaltender. As he came off the ice, he told team president Ronald Corey, who was sitting behind the team bench, that this was his last game in Montreal. He was suspended after that, but he wasn't wrong because he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche four days later.
Many Memories With Purpose
There were few greats who had a better time than Roy's on this day—since December 2, 1961, when Gerry Cheevers made his NHL debut and led the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 6-4 victory over the Blackhawks. He entered the game in place of the injured Johnny Bower who started in net. Cheevers played just two games for the Maple Leafs before being drafted in the 1965 NHL Intra-League Draft by the Boston Bruins.
Living in Toronto, on December 2, 1970, Jacques Plante earned his 74th.th to close the job, first with the Leafs, winning 7-0 against the Los Angeles Kings. Dave Keon scored the fourth hat trick of his career to lead the charge.
In Dec. 2, 1999, John Vanbiesbrouck became the first US-born goaltender and the eighth in NHL history to play 800 career games, as the Philadelphia Flyers earned a 4-2 road victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Ed Belfour made history on Dec. 2, 2001, when he tied the NHL record for assists in his third straight game. He also set the Dallas Stars' franchise record for goal scorers with his fourth assist of the season, in a 6-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
After 21 seasons and an NHL-best 364 wins with the New Jersey Devils, on December 2, 2014, Martin Brodeur signed with the St. Louis Blues. He appeared in just seven games with the Blues, going 3-3-0 with a .889 save percentage and a 2.87 goals-against average. He took 124th and the final closing of his career while in St.
The Anaheim Ducks made a big comeback on Dec. 2, 2018, to beat the Washington Capitals. They scored the last five goals in the game, after trailing 5-1, to win 6-5. It was the first time in NHL history that a defending Stanley Cup champion lost after being up by at least four goals. More importantly, Ryan Miller, who replaced John Gibson, took his 374th won, tying Vanbiesbrouck for most by the American goalkeeper.
All About Franchise Records
Johnny Bucyk struck out twice on December 2, 1967, in a 4-4 tie with the Blackhawks. This gave him 230 goals, making him the all-time leading scorer in Bruins franchise history. He broke the old record held by Milt Schmidt. He finished his Hall of Fame career with 545 goals in Boston, which is still the team record.
Marcel Dionne set a new team record by scoring in his sixth consecutive game on December 2, 1978, helping the Kings beat his former team, the Red Wings, 5-2.
Mario Lemieux scored three goals and had an assist on December 2, 1989, to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the Quebec Nordiques. His third goal was his 316th career goal, tied with Jean Pronovost as the Penguins' leading scorer.
That same night, Ed Olcyzk had an assist in the Maple Leafs' 7-4 loss to the Calgary Flames. This started a franchise-record 18 points. He was not taken off the scoresheet again until Jan. 10, 1990, against the New York Islanders. He scored 11 goals and 28 points in this round.
Garth Butcher set the team record for a defenseman with four assists on December 2, 1990, as he helped the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Ten years later, on December 2, 2000, Al MacInnis had four more assists than Rob Ramage and became the Blues' all-time leading scorer with 300 points. The highlight came in a 5-2 win against the visiting Florida Panthers.
On December 2, 2003, Mats Sundin became the Maple Leafs all-time leader in game-winning goals when his 64 gave Toronto a 5-4 victory over the New York Rangers. He broke the old record of 63 set by Keon.
Finally, on Dec. 2, 2021, Anton Forsberg tied the Senators record for most saves in a win, set by Craig Anderson in a 1-0 win against the Maple Leafs on Feb. 19, 2011. Forsberg and Anderson both made 47 saves in separate games, Forsberg beating the Hurricanes 3-2.
On Dec. 2, 2023, Moritz Seider recorded his 92nd career assist and passed Reed Larson for most assists by a Red Wings defenseman before age 23.
Long Island Milestones
On December 2, 1976, Bert Marshall scored the 1,000th goal in Islanders team history. Unfortunately, it came during a 4-2 loss to the visiting Penguins.
Related – New York Islanders With 100-Point Seasons
Mike Bossy became just the second player in team history to score 200 goals on December 2, 1980, joining Bryan Trottier. The Islanders' 5-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies tonight extended their unbeaten streak to 15 games (13-0-2). Bossy only needed 255 games to score 200 goals, at the time, which was the minimum required to accomplish this feat in this day and age. He did not keep this record for long as Wayne Gretzky only needed 242 games to score 200 goals.
Denis Potvin had a goal and an assist on December 2, 1986, in a 3-3 Flames tie. With the assist, he became the first defenseman in NHL history to record 700 career assists. He retired with 742 assists, 10 more to goth place on the all-time list of blueliners.
Odds & Ends
The National Hockey Association, the predecessor of the NHL, was officially founded on December 2, 1909. The first season of the league included the Cobalt Silver Kings, Haileybury Comets, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Shamrocks, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Renfrew. Creamery Kings. The Wanderers took home their first ever NHA Championship.
On December 2, 1925, the New Yorkers played their first NHL game, a 2-1 overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Charlie Langlois scored in overtime after Billy Burch scored the first goal in franchise history in regulation.
On December 2, 1969, two new teams were introduced as the NHL Board of Governors announced that expansion franchises had been awarded to Buffalo and Vancouver. Both the Sabers and Canucks debuted in the league at the start of the 1970-71 season.
Dionne scored a goal and added three assists on December 2, 1972, to lead the Red Wings to a 4-1 victory over the Islanders. This was the first match ever played between the two teams.
Hall of Famer Denis Savard recorded his 500th NHL assist on Dec. 2, 1987, in the Blackhawks' 5-1 loss to the Blues.
Glenn Anderson scored his 20th hat trick and added two assists on December 2, 1989, as the Oilers beat the Minnesota North Stars 6-1. This extended their unbeaten record against the North Stars to 14 games (11-0-3).
Alex Ovechkin hit a milestone on Dec. 2, 2017, with his goal playing a key role in the Capitals' 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The target was 577th in his career, which tied him with Mark Recchi for 20 yearsth place on the all-time goalscoring list. And, it was his 218th NHL power play goal, moving him ahead of both Jaromir Jagr and Mike Gartner with 10th all the time.
The most games played was hit on this day in 2021 when Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Zach Bogosian played his 700th game in a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. to defeat the Canadians.
Matt Duchene scored his 300th goal on this day in 2022 in a 4-1 win over the Islanders. He became the second player to do so since the 2009 NHL Draft, joining John Tavares.
Tim Stutzle recorded his 200th career point on Dec. 2, 2023, and became the fourth fastest player in Senators history to reach the mark behind Danny Heatley, Jason Spezza, and Alexei Yashin.
That same night, Brent Burns hit 600 assists and became the 17th defenseman in NHL history to do so.
Finally, Alex Killorn scored a goal in the Ducks' 4-3 win over the Avalanche and joined Jamie Benn as the only other players selected in the third round or later in the 2007 NHL Draft to record at least 200 goals.
happy Birthday to you
A very talented group of 25 current and former NHL players born on this day. The most notable are the Dec birthday boys. 2 by Val Fonteyne (91), Paul Holmgren (69), Rich and Ron Sutter (61), Kelly Buchberger (58), Sergei Zholtok (52), Joel Ward (44), Jesper Fast (33), Elias Lindholm (30), and Morgan Barron (26).
*Originally created by Greg Boysen
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