October 15, 1983: five goals in 84 seconds, and an 18-goal night in Toronto
On October 15, 1983 the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks scored five goals in 84 seconds of the second period — still the fastest five goals by two teams in NHL history — on the way to an 18-goal, 10-8 night at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Toronto's Gaston Gingras scored at 16:49 of the second period, and for the next 84 seconds the puck kept going into the net. 1
Five goals were scored in that span, three of them by Chicago. It remains the fastest five goals by two teams in the history of the NHL. 1
The game finished 10-8 to Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens. 2 Eighteen goals went in, before a crowd of 16,382. 3 The Washington Post's report the next morning counted two NHL records as broken. 4
The record
The 84 seconds are measured from Gingras's goal at 16:49 to John Anderson's at 18:13. 1
The mark it broke had stood for 39 years. On 15 November 1944, Detroit and Toronto scored five goals in 1:39 at the same building, Maple Leaf Gardens. 1
The same burst set a second record: four goals in 53 seconds, which beat the previous mark of 1:01. One pair of teams has since gone faster, St Louis and Dallas on 3 April 2015, who scored four in 49 seconds. 5
Eighteen goals tie this game for 11th on the league's list of the highest-scoring games. The record is 21, set in 1920 and matched in 1985. 6
The two clubs
Both clubs finished the 1983-84 season with a losing record. Toronto went 26-45-9, for 61 points, and Chicago went 30-42-8, for 68. 78
Chicago's goaltender that night was Tony Esposito, 40 years old and the oldest player in the league. He faced 42 shots and stopped 32. 29
Toronto's goaltender, Mike Palmateer, faced 31 shots and stopped 23. 2
That season was a productive one for this kind of scoreline. Two of the ten highest-scoring games in league history were played in it, among them a 12-8 Edmonton win over Minnesota in January 1984. 6
The rest of the night
Both goaltenders finished with an assist. Palmateer was credited on Dave Farrish's goal at 0:54 of the second period. 2
Esposito was credited on the goal that made it 7-6, Denis Savard's third of the night and the fourth goal of the 84-second burst. 2
Chicago's three goals in the burst came inside 30 seconds: Savard at 17:12, Steve Larmer at 17:27, Savard again at 17:42. 2
Three minutes before that, Palmateer had stopped a penalty shot by Chicago's Rick Paterson. 3
The last goal of the night was a penalty shot as well. With three seconds left, Greg Terrion scored it after Esposito, caught outside his crease, threw his stick at the puck. 23
Chicago's coach, Orval Tessier, gave the Chicago Tribune his summary. "We could talk about this game until tomorrow morning and still come up with plays we've never seen before," he said. "I told them it's a game we had best forget in a hurry." 3
The Tribune's account called it "a hockey game so sloppy it could have passed for a mud-wrestling match." 3
The same two clubs, six years earlier
Toronto and Chicago had produced a 10-8 game once before, on 20 February 1977 at Chicago Stadium, and Toronto won that one too. Eighteen goals again. 10
Esposito retired that season, after 18 games. 9
The 84-second burst has stood ever since. The nearest anyone has come to it is the 1:39 from 1944. 1
References
- 1Fastest Five Goals, Both Teams — NHL Records
records.nhl.com
- 2
- 3
- 4Maple Leafs 10, Black Hawks 8 — The Washington Post, 16 October 1983
washingtonpost.com
- 5Fastest Four Goals, Both Teams — NHL Records
records.nhl.com
- 6Most Goals, Both Teams, Game — NHL Records
records.nhl.com
- 71983-84 Toronto Maple Leafs — Hockey-Reference
hockey-reference.com
- 81983-84 Chicago Black Hawks — Hockey-Reference
hockey-reference.com
- 9Tony Esposito — The Canadian Encyclopedia
thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
- 10
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