This Day In Hockey History: May 8th

1970 - Boston's Bobby Orr was named winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL MVP, becoming the first defenseman to win the award in 26 seasons; he also won the Norris Memorial Trophy for a third straight season.

1973 - Chicago and Montreal combined to set an NHL record with 15 goals in one Stanley Cup Finals game. Black Hawks won 8-7 in Game 5, at Montreal.

1975 - Buffalo Sabres beat Montreal 4-3 in Game 6 at the Forum, to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in team history.

1979 - Boston's Stan Jonathan scored the only hat trick of his playoff career in the Bruins' 5-2 win over the Canadiens, in Game Six of the Semi-Finals in Boston.

1982 - Vancouver Canucks became the first team since 1924 Vancouver Maroons of the WCHL to represent Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals. Canucks lost the opening game 6-5 in OT to the Islanders, who went on to win the Cup in 4 straight. Islanders' Mike Bossy scored a hat trick, including the winning goal at 19:58 of overtime.

1988 - Paul McInnis, Vin Godleski and Jim Sullivan replaced the regular NHL officials in New Jersey, during a playoff game against Boston. Regular NHL officials refused to work the game in protest of suspended New Jersey coach Jim Schoenfeld being allowed to coach thanks to a court injunction. The replacements wore yellow jerseys, thus dubbing the infamous event as Yellow Sunday. Devils won 3-1 over the visiting Bruins, in Game 4 of the Wales Conference Finals.

1993 - Tom Fitzgerald set an NHL record by scoring two shorthanded goals (during the same minor penalty) within a span of :48, to lead the Islanders to a 6-5 playoff win over the visiting Penguins.

1994 - Luc Robitaille's goal in a shootout gave Team Canada a 2-1 win over Finland and Canada's first World Hockey Championship in 33 years.

1995 - Rangers' Mark Messier became the third player (after Gretzky and Kurri) in NHL history to score 100 playoff goals, when he scored in an 8-3 win over the Nordiques, in Quebec City.

2000 - Martin Brodeur recorded his 8th career playoff shutout, and the Devils held Toronto to an NHL modern day record-low 6 shots, eliminating the visiting Maple Leafs from the playoffs with a 3-0 win.

Happy Birthday to Ed Chadwick, Ray Whitney, Peter McNab, Eddie Joyal, Ken Smith, Rick Zombo, Jim Pavese, Lars Eller, John Mariucci, Matt Martin, Herb Gardiner and Jussi Markkanen.