Standing tall during the dark days
This week Avalanche center Joe Sakic (381-618-999) will become the 56th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. The Colorado captain will become just the 14th player to reach that milestone while playing with just one franchise. Back in his Quebec days, Sakic carved a place for himself in NHL history as the only player to score 100 points for an NHL team with less than 20 wins in a season. Below are the NHL’s highest scorers on sub 20-win teams:
SEASON PLAYER TEAM WINS GOALS ASSISTS POINTS
1990-91 Joe Sakic Quebec Nordiques 16 48 61 109
1989-90 Joe Sakic Quebec Nordiques 12 39 63 102
1978-79 Bernie Federko St. Louis Blues 18 31 64 95
1983-84 Mike Bullard Pittsburgh Penguins 16 51 41 92
1982-83 Ron Francis Hartford Whalers 19 31 59 90
1977-78 Wilf Paiement Colorado Rockies 19 31 56 87
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New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur surrendered a penalty-shot goal to defenseman Fredrik Olausson in a 2-1 win Nov. 24 over the Mighty Ducks in Anaheim. That goal broke Brodeur’s shutout bid and prevented him from becoming the ninth netminder this decade to stop a penalty shot to register a shutout:
Goaltender Team Shooter Score Date
Bob Essensa Winnipeg Mike Craig 2-0 1/21/91
Bill Ranford Edmonton Greg Adams 7-0 12/01/91
Darcy Wakaluk Minnesota Dave Andreychuk 2-0 2/07/92
John Casey Minnesota Luc Robitaille 3-0 4/03/93
Don Beaupre Ottawa Mark Recchi 3-0 2/06/95
Daren Puppa Tampa Bay Doug Weight 5-0 1/03/96
Corey Schwab Tampa Bay Steve Heinze 2-0 12/17/97
Kirk McLean Florida Ted Donato 2-0 4/12/99
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BURNING UP
Former Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick scored back-to-back hat tricks 24 hours apart in leading Phoenix to victories over New Jersey (4-2) and Colorado (7-0) on Thursday and Friday respectively. Roenick’s seventh and eighth career hat tricks distinguished him as the only player in franchise history to score consecutive hat tricks in consecutive victories. The only other player in franchise history to turn the trick in consecutive games is Teemu Selanne whose team earned a split against Minnesota (7-6 win) Feb. 28, 1993, and Quebec (7-4 loss) March 2, 1993.
