This Day In Hockey History: April 6th

1926 - Clint Benedict led the Montreal Maroons to their 1st NHL Stanley Cup title, as he beat the Victoria Cougars 2-0 to win the best of 5 series.

1944 - Maurice Richard scored the first of his NHL-record three Stanley Cup Finals' hat tricks, in a 3-1 win over Chicago, in Game Two of the Finals.

1957 - Maurice Richard tied Newsy Lalonde and Ted Lindsay for the NHL record with four goals in one Stanley Cup Finals' game, leading Montreal to 5-1 playoff win over Bruins in Game 1. 

1965 - Detroit's Gordie Howe had three minors in the third game of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals against Chicago, to boost his playoff penalty minute total to a record 194, breaking Maurice Richard's mark of 188. 

1969 - Toronto fired GM/Coach Punch Imlach minutes after a 3-2 Stanley Cup playoff loss to Boston that eliminated the Leafs in 4 straight games.

 1969 - Toronto's Johnny Bower became the oldest goalie to appear in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he played for the Maple Leafs (in a 3-2 loss to Boston) at age 44 years, four months, and 28 days.

 1979 - Guy Chouinard became the first 50 goal scorer in Atlanta Flames history, when he scored in a 9-2 win over the visiting New York Rangers.

 1986 - Wayne Gretzky finishes season with an NHL record 215 points. He had set previous record of 212 in 1981-82. His 163 assists established another new record.

1988 - Islanders' Denis Potvin broke Henri Richard's NHL record for career playoff games played, when Potvin appeared in #181 of his career.

 1989 - Chris Kontos scored his first career NHL hat trick to lead the Kings to a 5-2 win over the Oilers. 

2002 - Toronto's Mats Sundin became the highest goal scoring Swedish-trained player in NHL history, when he picked up his 395th career goal in a 2-2 tie against the Florida Panthers.

 2003 - Colorado became the first team in NHL history to win 9 straight division championships.

 Happy Birthday to Olaf Kolzig, Bunny Larocque, Gerald Diduck, Clarke MacArthur, Hal Gill, Tyler Wright, Bob Crawford, Ville Nieminen, Travis Moen, Terry Reardon, Bo Berglund and Jimmy Fowler