Montreal Canadiens: This Day In Habs History: Rocket Richard Breaks Goals Record
Montreal Canadiens legend Rocket Richard broke the all-time goal scoring record on this day.
The Montreal Canadiens have had a lot of terrific players and Hall of Famers over their 100-plus year history. None were more thrilling year in and year out than Maurice “Rocket” Richard.
The date of November 8th was an especially important day on the calendar during the great Rocket Richard’s career.
Though his list of accomplishments is a long one, he recorded two of his most important feats on this date.
First of all, in 1942 he scored his first ever goal, while wearing the number 15. It was a blowout victory over the New York Rangers that was played at the hallowed Montreal Forum. Then, exactly ten years later, on November 8, 1952 Richard scored his 325th goal. This was another important one as it put The Rocket first all-time in goals scored.
Richard’s goal on this night, 68 years ago, put him one ahead of Nels Stewart, who retired with 324 goals back in 1940.
Richard’s record breaking goal came at the Forum against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Habs won that night, and Richard cemented his status as the greatest goal scorer to that point in NHL history, though the team wasn’t quite the powerhouse it would soon become.
The 1952-53 was Richard’s 12th with the Canadiens. At the time of his record breaking goal, he only had his name on the Stanley Cup twice, and the most recent championship was in 1946. When Richard passed Stewart, the Canadiens had only won two Stanley Cups in the previous 21 seasons.
Over the next 21 years, they would be crowned champions 12 times.
Richard would get his name on the cherished trophy a total of eight times, including five consecutive Cup victories to close out his career.
Richard would set all kinds of records during his incredible career. He was the first to reach 325 goals, obviously, and he continued to become the first 500 goal scorer in the league’s history. He was the first player to score 50 goals in a season, doing so in just 50 games back in 1944-45.
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When he retired, Richard had 544 goals and 966 points in 978 games. To this day, and likely for decades into the future, he is the Montreal Canadiens all-time leading goal scorer.