February 12th, 1984
11-0. The scoreline of the worst loss in the history of the Edmonton Oilers. That’s right, the soon to be dynasty Oilers had 11 goals dropped on their heads in the mid 1980s. To who you may ask? The Hartford Whalers, who would go on to finish dead last in the Adams Division with 66 points in 83-84.
No Gretzky or Jari Kuri meant there was a little bite taken out of the Oilers attack but I’m sure never in a million years did people think that a team that would finish the regular season with 57 wins would take a drubbing like this.
Hartford would score six times on the power play as Grant Fuhr would let in seven goals behind him, and Andy Moog in relief would allow three more from six different goal scorers.
It was the pinnacle of a nightmarish five game road trip that saw the Oilers outscored 33-9 as they went 0-5.
Needless to say if there was a repeat of this game Glen Sather would have probably torn so much paint off of the walls back at Northlands they would have had to repaint the entire arena.
February 18th, 1981
Many editions of Time Travels have records that were set by Wayne Gretzky, because plain and simple the guy set so many as a member of the Oilers! On this date with a five goal, two assist effort, he’d set a record for most goals in one period with four in a 9-2 thumping over the St. Louis Blues.
Gretzky in this game would beat Mike Liut three times and Ed Stanikowski twice as he also became at the time just the 27th player in NHL history to score five or more goals in a game, a feat he’d accomplish three more times in his career.
February 21st, 2000
He retired with over 1000 penalty minutes to his name and had multiple seasons of 10+ fights or more but in this game the stick of Georges Laraque was by far the biggest story with him on the ice, not his fists.
In a 6-3 win over the LA Kings, the fan favorite tough guy would record his first ever NHL hat trick and fell just an assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick as he’d also get into a fight with Steve McKenna in the 2nd period.
The hat trick came down to the last few seconds as Boyd Devereaux would find Laraque in front of the net with just 15 seconds to go in the 3rd period as he’d tuck a backhander past Stephan Fiset to send the hats sailing onto the ice.
The 2000-01 season offensively would prove to be the best one for Big Georges as he’d finish the season with 13 goals and 29 points.
Next Week: In next week’s edition of Time Travels, I’ll get into the Oilers breaking the mark for most goals in a season, being involved in the game with the most penalties of all time and one of the most heartbreaking trades in franchise history.
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