Oct. 2: Bourque sets NHL career record for goals by defenseman

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: Oct. 2
1999:
Ray Bourque
of the Boston Bruins becomes the all-time leading goal-scorer among NHL defensemen when he scores the 386th of his career, passing
Paul Coffey
.

The goal comes 1:42 into the second period of the Bruins' first game of the season, when his power-play slap shot from the top of the left circle beats Carolina Hurricanes goalie
Arturs Irbe
. It's the only goal of the game for the Bruins, who
lose 3-1 at Fleet Center
.
Bourque finishes his career in 2001 with 410 goals, still the most by a defenseman in NHL history.

MORE MOMENTS
1955:
Dutch Reibel
of the Detroit Red Wings sets an NHL All-Star Game record with 10 shots on goal. The defending Stanley Cup champions defeat the All-Stars 3-1 at Olympia Stadium.
1999: The Atlanta Thrashers play the first regular-season game in their history,
a 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils
in front of a full house of 18,545 at Phillips Arena.
Kelly Buchberger
, named team captain a few days earlier, scores the first goal in Thrashers history, at 11:26 of the second period, but it's the only one of Atlanta's 26 shots to get past
Martin Brodeur
.
On the same night, goalie
Kevin Weekes
' career-opening 15-game winless streak ends when he makes 32 saves in the
Vancouver Canucks' 2-1 victory
against the New York Rangers. It's the first victory for Weekes after he starts his NHL career by going 0-13-2.
2009:
Ville Koistinen
puts on a show for the home fans in the first NHL regular-season game played in Finland. Koistinen, a defenseman from Oulu, Finland, scores a goal in regulation and scores the shootout winner in the
Florida Panthers' 4-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks
at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. He wins the game by roofing a backhander under the crossbar behind
Cristobal Huet
. Goalie
Tomas Vokoun
is the other hero for the Panthers, making 52 saves.

On the same night,
Paul Kariya
scores two goals to help the St. Louis Blues rally for a
4-3 win against the Red Wings
. The game, played in Stockholm, Sweden, is part of the NHL Premiere series.
2013: The Red Wings make a successful return to in the Eastern Conference with a
2-1 victory against the Buffalo Sabres
at Joe Louis Arena in their season opener.
Mikael Samuelsson
and
Pavel Datsyuk
score 36 seconds apart in the first period for Detroit, which moves back to the East after playing in the Western Conference since NHL realignment in 1993-94.
2019: Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs ties an NHL record by scoring in the fourth consecutive season-opening game from the start of his career. He scores two goals, including the game-winner, in
Toronto's 5-3 win against the Ottawa Senators
at Scotiabank Arena. Matthews joins Hockey Hall of Famers
Dit Clapper
(1927-28 through 1930-31),
Dave Andreychuk
(1982-83 through 1985-86) and
Sergei Fedorov
(1990-91 through 1993-94) as the only players in League history to score goals in each of their first four season openers.