This Day In Hockey History: Feb 23rd

1893 - Lord Stanley of Preston awards the very first Stanley Cup championship to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (AAA).

1952 - Montreal's Elmer Lach became the NHL's all time scoring leader, when he got a goal and three assists in a 7-0 win over Chicago. The four points gave Lach 550 career NHL points, two more than Bill Cowley, who had held the record since 1946.

1964 - Camille Henry was named new Captain of the New York Rangers, replacing Andy Bathgate.

1972 - Boston Bruins obtained defenseman Carol Vadnais (along with Don O'Donoghue) from the Oakland Seals, in exchange for Reggie Leach, Rick Smith and Bob Stewart.

1983 - NY Rangers' Mark Pavelich became the first U.S. born player to score 5 goals in a game, in an 11-3 victory over the Hartford Whalers.

1985 - Rookie goalie Patrick Roy played in his first career NHL game, and recorded his first victory, a 6-4 Montreal win over the Winnipeg Jets, at the Forum.

1988 - Los Angeles Kings traded veteran defenseman Mark Hardy to the New York Rangers in exchange for Ron Duguay.

1988 - Flyers score five goals within a span of 5:29 in the third period en route to a 11-6 win over Red Wings.

1989 - Red Wings trailed 6-0 in the second period but came back to earn a 6-6 tie against the Penguins in Detroit. Steve Yzerman had 2 goals and 2 assists. The two goals gave Yzerman 57 for the year, breaking the old mark of 55 held by John Ogrodnick.

1996 - Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr each scored their 50th goal of the season as the Penguins won 5-4 over the Hartford Whalers, in Pittsburgh. It was the second time in NHL history that teammates scored their 50th goal of the season in the same game.

2003 - Calgary's Jarome Iginla scored a power-play goal, a shorthanded goal, an even-strength goal, and an empty net goal (his third career hat trick) to give the Flaes a 4-2 win against the Coyotes at Phoenix.

2008 - Montreal retires Bob Gainey's #21.

Happy Birthday to Jeff O'Neill, John Druce, Jimmy Thomson, Peter Scamurra, Dan Snyder, Jordan Hendry, Greg Meredith, Marco Scandella