Jean Beliveau: A glimpse into history

To celebrate the career of Montreal Canadiens great Jean Beliveau, NHL.com dug through the League's archives to present the original game sheets from eight of the noteworthy games during his career (click on the bolded text for scanned game sheets):

Dec. 16, 1950: Beliveau skates in his first career NHL game for the Montreal Canadiens, a 1-1 tie against an Original Six foe, the New York Rangers. Three of his teammates from that night, Doug Harvey, Maurice Richard and Elmer Lach, would go on to have their numbers retired by the Canadiens. Beliveau would go on to play in over 1,000 career games, all for Montreal, and is fourth all-time in games played for the franchise behind Bob Gainey, Larry Robinson and Henri Richard.

Jan. 27, 1951: Montreal defeats the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2, and Beliveau scores his first NHL goal. At 8:32 of the first period, Beliveau scored the opening goal of the game at even strength. He went on to add an assist in the second period on Montreal's final goal of the game, giving him a multipoint night. Beliveau's 507 career goals are third-most in Canadiens history, trailing Richard and Guy Lafleur.

Oct. 8, 1953: While Beliveau wore No. 17 for his first game, on this night against the Blackhawks he wore No. 4 for the first time. It had previously been worn by defenseman Hugh Currie, but the number would be Beliveau's for the remainder of his career and currently hangs in the rafters of the Bell Centre along with his name.

May 1, 1965: Montreal defeats Chicago 4-0 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to capture the Stanley Cup for the 13th time and start a run of six championships in nine seasons. Beliveau scored the game-winning goal in the decisive game against the Blackhawks, setting the tone for the night by scoring 14 seconds into the game. Beliveau still holds the record for the fastest Cup-winning goal from the start of the game in League history.

March 3, 1968: In a 5-2 loss against the Detroit Red Wings, Beliveau scores at the 4:56 mark of the first period to reach 1,000 career points, the first player in Canadiens history to do so. Beliveau is one of three players, along with Richard and LaFleur, to record over 1,000 points with Montreal. His 1,219 points rank second in franchise history.

April 24, 1969: While Beliveau scored two career Cup-winning goals, he only scored one overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs over the course of his career, which came in a 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins in the old Boston Garden. After assisting on Serge Savard's game-tying goal in the third period, Beliveau eliminated the Bruins with a goal in the second overtime, pushing Montreal into the Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues with a 3-2 series win. The Canadiens would go on to sweep the Blues, claiming their second Cup sweep of St. Louis in as many seasons.

Feb. 11, 1971: In what would be his last season playing professional hockey, Beliveau reaches the 500-goal plateau in style, recording a hat trick against the Minnesota North Stars in a 6-2 Montreal win. Beliveau scored the first two goals of the game, 2:44 apart in the first period, and then scored his third of the game in the second period. He also assisted on a Frank Mahovlich goal to give Beliveau a four-point night.

April 3, 1971: Beliveau scores his final career regular-season goal as the Canadiens defeat the Rangers 7-2. Beliveau's goal came midway through the third period with a primary assist going to Mahovlich, who also recorded a secondary assist on career goal 500 for Beliveau.