Apr. 16, 1949 – The Toronto Maple Leafs became the first team to win three straight Stanley Cup titles

The 1949 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Toronto Maple Leafs, the second straight final series between Detroit and Toronto. The Maple Leafs won the series in four straight games to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup and eighth in the history of the franchise.

The Maple Leafs became the first NHL team to win the Cup in three straight seasons. The Leafs also won nine straight finals games. By defeating Detroit, Toronto won the Stanley Cup with a losing record. The only other team to win the Stanley Cup after finishing the regular season with a losing record was the 1938 Chicago Black Hawks.

Feb. 2, 1977 – Ian Turnbull sets a NHL defenseman record by scoring 5 goals

To this day, his 5-goal performance still stands as a record for most goals in a game by an NHL defenseman.

During the game, Turnbull only had five shots on goal, but he made every one of them count as he also became the first player in NHL history to score five goals on only five shots. He would finish that season with a total of 22 goals and 57 assists in 80 games, and he would add another 4 goals and 4 assists through nine playoff games.

Although the combination of Börge Salming and Turnbull gave the Leafs one of the league’s top defensive pairing, it was not enough to bring the franchise a Stanley Cup. Unfortunately for Turnbull, he would never get to raise hockey’s Holy Grail above his head during his 10 year career, but he did come away with a rather significant record that should stand for some time.

Here is the video of Ian Turnbull scoring his fifth goal of the game:

via: totalprosports.com