You Won't Believe What Happened in the Very First NHL Game
The NHL's wildest season opener may have been its very first.
Every fall, NHL fans look forward to opening night.
More than a century after the league was founded, no season opener may have ever matched what happened on Dec. 19, 1917.
The Montreal Wanderers and Toronto Arenas weren't just playing the NHL's first game. They were about to produce one of the wildest games in hockey history.
A Goal Fest Right From the Opening Faceoff.
Today's NHL is built around structure, defensive systems, and elite goaltending. Seeing nine or ten goals in a game is rare.
The NHL's very first game produced 19 goals.
Even more remarkably, nine of those goals came in the first period alone as the Wanderers and Arenas traded scoring chances almost every time they touched the puck.
The offensive fireworks never really slowed down. By the final horn, Montreal had edged Toronto 10-9 in one of the highest-scoring season openers the league has ever seen.
If the NHL wanted to make a first impression, it couldn't have asked for a better one.
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Records Were Set Before the League Was an Hour Old.
If one player announced himself on opening night, it was Wanderers forward Harry Hyland.
Hyland scored five goals, a performance that remains one of the greatest individual season-opening efforts in NHL history. He also recorded the NHL's first hat trick.
Remarkably, that hat trick was completed in the first period of the league's first game. More than a century later, no player will ever be able to claim those particular firsts again.
Even the Losing Team Made History.
Toronto may have come up one goal short, but the Arenas produced a historic performance of their own.
Forward Reg Noble scored four goals in the losing effort, giving the NHL's first game an astonishing nine goals from just two players.
Modern fans rarely see a player score four goals in any game. The NHL's very first contest featured one player with five and another with four.
It remains one of the most remarkable offensive displays ever on an opening night.
One Last Twist Nobody Saw Coming.
As remarkable as the game itself was, history had one more surprise waiting.
The Montreal Wanderers never won another NHL game.
Just weeks after opening night, Montreal Arena was destroyed by fire, leaving the Wanderers without a home rink. Unable to find another suitable arena, the franchise folded after playing only six games during the NHL's inaugural season.
That unforgettable 10-9 victory over Toronto became the only win in the franchise's NHL history.
More than 100 years later, the NHL has produced thousands of season openers. Yet none may ever top the unforgettable chaos of the very first one.