January 27th, 1984
If you held Wayne Gretzky to zero points in a game during the 1983-84 season you probably deserved an award of your own.
On this day, one of the most incredible streaks in sports history reached a mark that may never been surpassed as in a 3-3 tie Wayne Gretzky would record a point in his 51st consecutive game. In the streak, Gretzky would put up 61 goals and 92 assists for 153 points. 153 points in 51 games. If anyone else pulls this off they’ll be drug tested for robotic parts.
The streak would end two days later in a 4-2 loss to the LA Kings at the Forum.
February 2nd, 2016
If you can think of a greater return game from long term injury in Oilers history than Connor McDavid’s in his rookie season please let me know in the comments.
After breaking his collarbone in November 2015 of his rookie season, #97 would miss the next 37 games but returned with a fury with a goal vs the Columbus Blue Jackets that was short of taking the jockstrap, soul and social insurance number of Joonas Korpisalo.
McDavid would end up playing 45 games and putting up 48 points, to still finish top five in rookie scoring. By 2019 I wouldn’t be surprised if the kid has his own street named after him in Edmonton.
February 3rd, 1984
Gretzky, out. Messier, out. Kurri, out. Who wants to step up and in with a ridiculous scoring output tonight? Pat Hughes was up for the challenge.
Only 44 players have managed to score five or more goals in an NHL game and Pat Hughes, the Calgary native would turn the trick on his hometown Flames in a 10-5 win.
Even though Hughes was a proven 20 goal scorer, before this game he’d only scored three or more goals once in a game so this single game output was kind of unexpected!
Hughes and company got off to an 8-0 start in this one also before Calgary mustered anything on the score sheet. Not having the top three players in a game for most teams back in the day would have meant guaranteed loss night but once again the Oilers of this decade showed they were truly the exception to that rule.
February 9th, 1994
Not much good came out of the 1993-94 season for the Oilers as they were mired in the original rebuild. This squad had turned into a shell of its former self and the only the Winnipeg Jets 1.o would prevent Edmonton from finishing in the basement in the first year of the Western Conference.
In a 6-1 loss to the Calgary Flames, one of the last bastions of the dynasty would make team history as Bill Ranford would start in his 34th consecutive game. It would be a tough year not just for Ranford who went 22-34-11 but also for his backup, young Fred Brathwaite as he’d go 3-10-3 backing up the vet.
As much as Cam Talbot has been facing more rubber than a glove in a factory this season, he may have waved a white flag in front of just under 14,000 fans that had enough of this version of the Oil at Northlands back in the day.
February 11th, 2004
The Edmonton Oilers and Atlanta Thrashers did not like each other. For whatever reason whenever these two teams tangled it was always a fight filled affair either at Phillips Arena or Rexall. This night was no exception as the two teams combined for 195 penalty minutes in a 5-1 Oilers win as a line brawl broke out late which saw two memorable fights.
First was a goalie fight at center ice that saw Ty Conklin feed Pasi Nurminen so many punches he broke his hand in the process. What most people remember is Mike Bishai getting flipped into the Atlanta bench and standing up and fighting Serge Aubin FROM INSIDE THE BENCH. It truly was quite the sight as the other Thrashers had no choice but to let Bishai stand in their bench and hammer away on Aubin or face a long suspension for getting involved.
Sure people for the most part mocked the existence of the Atlanta Thrashers but whenever they played Edmonton, they always gave us games you didn’t want to miss for the fireworks.
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