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40 years after Darryl Sittler's 10-point game: Top 10 unbreakable NHL records

40 years after Darryl Sittler's 10-point game: Top 10 unbreakable NHL records

Forty years ago on Feb. 7, 1976, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Darryl Sittler set an NHL record that has never been matched -- and in all likelihood, it never will be. Somehow, Sittler scored 10 points in a single game, beating Boston Bruins goalie Dave Reece for six goals and four assists in an 11-4 thumping. Sittler went on to the Hockey Hall of Fame, Reece never played in the NHL again.

In honor of Sittler’s singular achievement, here are 10 other NHL individual records that won’t be broken any time soon:

Mario Lemieux scored 13 shorthanded goals in 1988-89. (Getty)
Mario Lemieux scored 13 shorthanded goals in 1988-89. (Getty)

10. Mario Lemieux’s 13 shorthanded goals in 1988-89

Through 50 games this season, Ottawa’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau led the NHL with five shorties – and that’s already the most by any NHL player since 2010-11, when the Islanders’ Frans Nielsen had seven. In the past 20 years, the most shorthanded goals in a single season is nine, by Boston’s Brian Rolston in 2001-02.

9. Grant Fuhr’s 14 assists in 1983-84

Fourteen assists might not seem like a whole lot -- until you remember that Fuhr was a goalie. And what makes it even more impressive is Fuhr played only 45 games in 1983-84; he was averaging one assist about every three games. To put it in perspective, Alex Ovechkin had 14 assists through 46 games this season.

8. Dave Schultz’s 472 penalty minutes in 1974-75

Hammer time, no more: As you may have heard, the age of the NHL enforcer is drawing to a close. As such, Schultz’s monstrous total of 472 PIMs is safe. Donald Brashear gave it a run with 372 penalty minutes in 1997-98, but more recently only one or two players per season have hit 200 PIMs and it’s trending downwards. In related news, Dave ‘Tiger’ Williams’ career total of 3,966 penalty minutes can also be considered untouchable.

7. Bobby Orr’s plus-124 rating in 1970-71

Meaningless stat or not, nobody’s come close to this since Wayne Gretzky posted a plus-98 in 1984-85. Montreal’s Max Pacioretty and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov tied for the NHL lead last season at plus-38.

6. Martin Brodeur’s 691 career wins

Martin Brodeur's career mark of 691 victories is safe for the foreseeable future. (Getty)
Martin Brodeur's career mark of 691 victories is safe for the foreseeable future. (Getty)

Terry Sawchuk’s career total of 447 wins stood for 30 years before Patrick Roy broke it in 2000-01, and then Brodeur went on to surpass Roy’s total of 551 by another 140. How remarkable – and unbeatable – is Brodeur’s total? Roberto Luongo leads active NHL goalies with 423 career wins; even if he wins another 17 times this season, he’d need eight more 30-win seasons … and then he’d still need 12 more victories on top of that. Considering that Luongo is 36 years old, it’s not gonna happen. Also unbeatable: Brodeur’s career total of 125 shutouts; Luongo is the active leader with 72.

5. Paul Coffey’s 48 goals in 1985-86

The closest anybody has come since the Oilers rover set the all-time goal mark for NHL defensemen was Kevin Hatcher, who scored 34 for the Capitals in 1992-93. Then Mike Green scored 31 times for the Caps in 2008-09. And that’s about it. If you’re wondering, Coffey set the record by beating Orr’s total of 46 goals in 1974-75.

4. Teemu Selanne’s 76 goals as a rookie in 1992-93

Selanne blasted by Mike Bossy’s rookie mark of 53 goals, with 23 tallies to spare. Alex Ovechkin scored 52 in his first season in 2005-06; since then, the best rookie total was Michael Grabner’s 34-goal effort in 2010-11.

3. Bill Mosienko’s three goals in 21 seconds

It was back on March 23, 1952, when Chicago’s Mosienko torched Rangers goalie Lorne Anderson for three quick ones in the third period – all at even strength, no less. (Trivia: Mosienko’s linemate, Gus Bodnar, had a hand in all three goals, locking up the record for fastest three assists.) Three years later, Montreal’s Jean Beliveau scored three times in 44 seconds – all on the power play, prompting the NHL to change the rule and allow penalized players to return to the ice after a goal. In 2011, Nathan Gerbe scored twice in five seconds for the Sabres, then was held off the scoresheet for at least the next 16 seconds.

2. Glenn Hall’s 502 consecutive complete games by a goalie

Chicago's Glenn Hall played an incredible 502 consecutive complete games from 1955 to 1962. (Getty)
Chicago's Glenn Hall played an incredible 502 consecutive complete games from 1955 to 1962. (Getty)

So … yeah, this one’s safe by 480 or so. (Also: Stick tap to Doug Jarvis’ ironman streak of 964 games.)

1. Wayne Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky

This list could’ve turned into the Wayne Gretzky show pretty easily, so we’ve saved the No. 1 spot for the The Great One’s personal top 10 unbreakable NHL records:

(1) 2,857 career points: He’s got about 1,000-point cushion on Mark Messier, the NHL’s second-leading scorer of all-time.

(2) 894 career goals: Ovechkin, who’s 30, needs a big finish this season followed by nine 40-goal seasons … and then a little more.

(3) 1,963 career assists: Jaromir Jagr, the soon-to-be 44-year-old NHL legend, is the league’s active leader. He’s more than 860 assists behind Gretzky.

(4) 215 points in a single season: The Stars’ Jamie Benn won the scoring title last year with 87 points.

(5) 92 goals in a single season: Nobody’s breaking this until they go to soccer-sized nets and full-time 3-on-3.

(6) 163 assists in a single season: Adam Oates had 97 assists in 1992-93 for 15th all-time and Joe Thornton had 96 in 2005-06 for 16th; Gretzky, meanwhile, owns 11 of the top 12 single-season assist marks.

(7) 51-game point streak: Patrick Kane gave it a run this season, but came up 25 games short.

(8) 50 career hat tricks: Jagr leads active players with 15, Ovechkin has 14.

(9) 13 consecutive seasons of 100-plus points: Ovechkin had three 100-point seasons in a row from 2007-08 through 2009-10, but hasn’t been back since.

(10) 12 consecutive seasons of 40-plus goals: Bossy had nine straight 50-goal seasons to Gretzky’s eight, and they both had five straight seasons of 60-plus goals.

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