Columns, Players

1,000 NHL-game milestone for Marc Staal

Marc Staal, right, of the Detroit Red Wings battles in front of the net against the Calgary Flames Saturday in his 1,000th NHL game. Photo courtesy: NHL.com/Gerry Thomas/Getty Images


HISTORY was made in Saturday as Thunder Bay’s Marc Staal helped establish a mark that has never been done before.

In skating in his 1,000th National Hockey League contest, vs. the Calgary Flames, the Detroit Red Wings defender, along with brothers’ Eric and Jordan, became the first three-brother trio to all reach this significant milestone in the NHL.

His efforts also saw him become the fifth player overall from northwestern Ontario to have seen action in that many games.

Last week also saw his sibling Jordan move past Chris Pronger for the third-most match-ups played by anyone from the region.

Topping that exclusive contingent is the legendary Alex Delvecchio (1,550) followed by Eric Staal (1,293), Jordan Staal (1,071) and Chris Pronger (1,167).

The Red Wings leader in plus-minus this season at plus-9, Marc became the 121st defencemen in the league to reach the 1,000-game plateau.

His contests appeared in are the second-highest of any blueliner, who hailed from the northwestern Ontario.

Along with Hockey Hall of Fame honouree Pronger and Staal, the others in the Top 10 in this category include:

Lee Fogolin Jr. (924); Bill Houlder (846); Gary Bergman (838); Mike McEwen (716); Larry Cahan (671); Norm Maciver (501); Robert Bortuzzo (469) and Lidio (Lee) Fogolin (427).

With his 208 points earned over the course of his lengthy tenure in the NHL, the offensive numbers earned by he, Jordan and Eric have seen them amass 1,839 points overall.

This is the third-highest total of any three-brother trio in the annals of the NHL.

Only Peter, Anton and Marian Stastny, who recorded 2,169 points between them, and three-best point-producing Sutter brothers, in Brent, Brian and Ron, who posted 2,000, have achieved more.

The remaining NHL-skating trio combinations among the Top 10 in this grouping include:

Dale, Dave, Mark Hunter (1,727); Neal, Aaron and Paul Broten (1,539); Jean, Marcel and Claude Pronovost (1,119); Doug, Max and Reg Bentley (1,090); Kelly, Kevin and Kip Miller (1,037); Charlie, Lionel and Roy Conacher (1,009) and Gord, Kevin and Peter Dineen 868.

Of note, Jordan Staal is just three points shy of 600 and should he reach this mark, he’ll become only the 349th player through over a century of NHL competition to reach this feat.

Other area NHLers to accomplish this were:

Alex Delvecchio (1,281); Eric Staal (1,034); Charlie Simmer (711); Chris Pronger (698) and Patrick Sharp (620).

RECORD DATE NEARS: It’s coming up on 70 years ago, back on March 23, 1952, that Bill Mosienko of the Chicago Blackhawks established a record for the ages.

On that night at Madison Square Garden in a 7-6 victory over the New York Rangers, the Chicago captain scored three goals, in just 21 seconds, during the third period to set a NHL mark for fastest trio of tallies, which still stands today.

What you might not know about those even strength markers is local standout Gus Bodnar assisted on all three of those goals to register a record of his own for quickest set of helpers in succession, that has also yet to be broken.

Looking back further, the most assists by a NHL player from the Lakehead during a single NHL game is four.

Alex Delvecchio achieved this on six occasions, ranging from 1962 through 1971.

Bodnar did it twice in 1944 while Eric Staal and Patrick Sharp each dished out four helpers, three times in their careers.

You also had Walt Poddubny do it with the New York Rangers against the Los Angeles Kings back on October 22, 1986 as did Jordan Staal with the Carolina Hurricanes in a win over the Dallas Stars on November 13, 2017.