Newsy Lalonde, the only player in NHL history to score six goals in a game, also had two other five-goal performances. Wayne Gretzky, the all-time greatest scorer in the NHL, has four five-goal games.
Lalonde scored six times on February 10, 1894, in a game played at Victoriaville, Quebec. He did so again three months later on May 1, 1894, this time against Houghton's Ironworks of New York. The Montreal Gazette wrote at the time that "no player had ever done such a thing before or since." In fact, no one else has even come close: the next highest number of goals by any one player is four.
Lalonde, a native of St. Ignace, Michigan, was a right wing for the Montreal Victorias of the National Hockey Association (NHA). He is considered one of the founders of the NHL and was one of its first superstars. In 1894-95, he led the league in scoring with 68 points (20g, 48a) while playing in only 15 games. He then left the NHA to play for the Montreal Wanderers, who were competing in the new NHL season.
During his time with the Wanderers, Lalonde helped them win the inaugural NHL championship.
Richard Maurice Richard Richard Richard Richard Richard Richard One of the most lauded individual accomplishments in the National Hockey League is scoring 50 goals in a single season (NHL). Maurice Richard became the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a single season in 1944-45. Bernie Geoffrion became the second player to accomplish the milestone 16 years later, in 1960-61. The feat has been reached by only nine players in NHL history.
The fact that no one else has ever done it before or since makes scoring 50 goals all the more impressive. It's not easy to score goals in today's NHL, let alone back in 1945 when there were only 20 games per season and most teams didn't have a single forward who could be considered a goal scorer. The Montreal Canadiens' Richard scored 50 goals in just 54 games that season! The Habs went on to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup title that year.
It's also worth mentioning that Richard's teammate Elmer Lach did not play during most of that season due to injury. When he did return for game #51, he was given the night off, thus allowing Richard to continue his torrid goal-scoring pace. Elmer Lach would go on to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the league's best regular goalie that season.
So, scoring 50 goals in a single season is very hard today because there are so many games and you need lots of goals to win.
49 goals With 49 goals in as many games already under his belt into Montreal's last regular season game in Boston on March 18, 1945, Maurice Richard had one more chance to become the first NHLer to light the lamp 50 times in a single season. He didn't even try as the Canadiens lost 3-0.
Richard scored at least once every other game during that span and had multiple goals on seven occasions - four games with three or more markers, two games with four goals each. His average of 1.94 goals per game is the highest of any player who appeared in at least 50 games.
He finished with 51 goals, one off the record set by Gordie Howe in 1972-73, and won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer for the second time in three seasons. The Canadiens finished first in the league with 113 points, but since then have been relegated to fourth place in the conference each year except one (first in 1965-66).
In 1995, Richard was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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