January 10, 1920: The NHL's Highest-Scoring Game

Newsy Lalonde

January 10, 1920: The highest-scoring game in National Hockey League history is played.

Later in the month, on January 31, Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs would set an NHL record that still stands, with 7 goals in 1 game. But he and his Bulldog teammates were not involved in this game.

Instead, it was the Montreal Canadiens, playing the Toronto St. Patricks at the Mount Royal Arena in Montreal. It took 4 minutes for the Canadiens to get on the scoreboard, but, after that, they just couldn't stop. Didier "Cannonball" Pitre had 3 goals, a "hat trick"; and player-coach Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde 2 goals, all before 9 minutes of hockey had been played.

Billy Coutu and Odie Cleghorn followed with goals. With 4 minutes left in the 1st period, the score was Montreal 7, Toronto 0. Yes, that's in hockey, not football. Mickey Roach scored to make it 7-1 by the end of the 1st period.

In the 2nd period, Cleghorn got his 2nd of the game, while Lalonde got his 3rd, his 4th, and his 5th. Reg Noble scored for Toronto, and Corb Denneny scored twice. With 9 minutes left in the 2nd, it was 11-4 Montreal. Amazingly, there were no more goals in the period.

Just 30 seconds into the 3rd period, Cully Wilson scored for the St. Patricks. But within 2 minutes of each other, Bert Corbeau and the 6th goal of the game for Lalonde put an end to Toronto hopes, making it 13-5. Noble got his hat trick, but so did Cleghorn.

In a game with no goals in its 1st 4 minutes, and none in its last 5, the Canadiens won by a score of 14-7. That's 21 goals in a single NHL game. It has never happened again. Indeed, it was 21 goals in a span of 51 minutes, a goal every 2 minutes and 25 seconds.

Neither of these teams went on to win the Stanley Cup. Nor did Malone's Bulldogs. It would be the other team in what was then a 4-team League, the Ottawa Senators, who won the Cup. The St. Patricks did win it in 1922. In 1927, they changed their name to the Toronto Maple Leafs, ditching their green uniforms -- along with the St. Patricks name, designed to appeal to Toronto's Irish community -- for the blue uniforms they wear to this day.

The Canadiens had won the Cup in 1916, and would do so again in 1924. After the folding of the Montreal Maroons, who lasted from 1924 to 1938, the Leafs became the Canadiens' greatest rivals. From 1942 to 1979, either the Canadiens or the Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 18 of the 38 seasons.

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January 10, 1920 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. And there was only 1 other NHL game that day: The Ottawa Senators beat the Quebec Bulldogs, 7-1.

Also, in England's FA Cup, Arsenal defeated Rochdale AFC, 4-2 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London, in the 1st Round Proper.