Dec. 7: Beliveau plays first game as captain of Canadiens

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: Dec. 7
1961:
Jean Beliveau
takes the ice as captain of the Montreal Canadiens for the first time.

To his own surprise, Beliveau is voted captain by his teammates on Oct. 11, 1961, four months after the previous captain, defenseman
Doug Harvey
, is traded to the New York Rangers. However, a knee injury keeps him out for Montreal's first 25 games, and it's not until the
Canadiens face the Toronto Maple Leafs
at the Forum that Beliveau steps onto the ice as captain for the first time.
He remains captain until retiring after the 1970-71 season as a 10-time
Stanley Cup
winner. The last five come with Beliveau as captain.

MORE MOMENTS
1919:The Toronto Arenas change their team name to the Toronto St. Patricks. The name remains until 1926-27, when they become known as the Maple Leafs.
1966:
Henri Richard
of the Canadiens scores his 250th NHL goal in
a 6-3 victory
against the Maple Leafs at the Forum. He becomes the seventh player in team history, and the second in his family, to reach 250 goals. He and
older brother Maurice
(544 goals) become the first pair of brothers to get 250 goals each.

1967:
Johnny Bucyk
scores twice to become the Boston Bruins' all-time leading scorer with his 576th point. Bucyk passes
Milt Schmidt
's record of 575 points and the
Bruins defeat the New York Rangers 3-1
at Boston Garden. One year later, Bucyk becomes the first player to score 250 goals as a member of the Bruins. Bucyk has a second-period goal and two assists in a
4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings
at Boston Garden.

1975: Bucyk, now Boston's captain, scores his 507th goal to tie Beliveau for sixth place on the NHL's all-time list. The goal comes during a
2-2 tie with the visiting Canadiens
. Bucyk finishes his career with 556 goals, 545 as a member of the Bruins.

1977:The Washington Capitals
end a 20-game winless streak
by defeating the Cleveland Barons 5-3 at Richfield Coliseum.
Bob Sirois
scores twice and
Gary Smith
makes 23 saves.

1982:
Wayne Gretzky
scores two goals to extend his NHL-record point streak to 30 games and help the
Edmonton Oilers defeat the visiting St. Louis Blues 3-2
. Gretzky scores 24 goals and has 52 assists for 76 points during the streak, which ends two days later.

1985:
Marcel Dionne
becomes the first player to score 500 goals as a member of the Los Angeles Kings. Dionne reaches the milestone when he scores in the
Kings' 3-2 victory
against the Winnipeg Jets at Winnipeg Arena. Dionne scores 550 of his 731 NHL goals for the Kings.

1988:Coach Terry Simpson is fired by the New York Islanders, eight months after guiding them to a division title. Al Arbour comes out of retirement to replace him. Arbour gets the Islanders to the Semifinals of the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs and retires after New York's first-round loss in 1994.

2002:
Marian Gaborik
of the Minnesota Wild becomes the fourth player in NHL history to have five hat tricks before he turns 21. Gaborik scores three goals in the
Wild's 4-2 road win
against the Vancouver Canucks.
2019: Sebastian Aho scores goals three different ways for the Carolina Hurricanes in a
6-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild
at PNC Arena. Aho scores at even strength and on the power play before hitting the empty net while the Hurricanes are shorthanded late in the third period for his third NHL hat trick. Aho also has two assists for the first five-point game of his NHL career.
On the same night, the Colorado Avalanche extend their point streak at TD Garden to 14 games (12-0-1, one tie) by
defeating the Boston Bruins 4-1
. Colorado becomes the 24th team in NHL history to have a road point streak of at least 14 games against the same opponent.