{"id":439627,"date":"2026-01-27T00:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439627\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T00:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:51:08","slug":"sittlers-10-point-game-still-stands-as-nhl-record-50-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439627\/","title":{"rendered":"Sittler’s 10-point game still stands as NHL record 50 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Darryl Sittler<\/a> remembers the usual noise in the newspapers.<\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> owner Harold Ballard \u2014 mercurial, headline-seeking, controversial \u2014 had sounded off to the press about his team\u2019s lack of a centre to play between Lanny McDonald<\/a> and Errol Thompson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that was totally Ballard,\u201d Sittler, a centre, recalled. \u201cHow he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the usual bluster coming from Maple Leaf Gardens\u2019 corner suite, head coach Red Kelly<\/a> kept Sittler with McDonald and Thompson when Toronto hit the ice at home against the Boston Bruins<\/a> on Feb. 7, 1976.<\/p>\n

It turned out to be the correct decision.<\/p>\n

Sittler put up a jaw-dropping 10 points \u2014 six goals and four assists \u2014 that stunning Saturday to set an NHL record that still stands almost 50 years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us really know why the magic was there that night, but it was,\u201d Sittler said in a phone interview. \u201cHere we are all these years later. It\u2019s still a record, and still people are celebrating.\u201d <\/p>\n

Those celebrations will again take centre ice Tuesday when the Maple Leafs honour an achievement that has stood for nearly a half-century when Toronto hosts the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> in the team\u2019s final home date before the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad that I\u2019m still alive to enjoy it, to share it with the fans, to share it with my teammates, to share it with my family,\u201d Sittler said.<\/p>\n

The game played 50 winters ago, broadcast across the country on \u201cHockey Night in Canada,\u201d ended as an 11-4 final. Sittler broke the record of eight points previously set by Maurice (Rocket) Richard in 1944 and matched by Bert Olmstead<\/a> in 1954. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was certainly a crazy night,\u201d McDonald recalled. \u201cBut it was a great night.\u201d<\/p>\n

A total of 11 different players have registered eight-point contests in the NHL \u2014 Wayne Gretzky<\/a> and Mario Lemieux<\/a> each did it twice \u2014 with Sam Gagner<\/a> being the last to accomplish the feat in 2012. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I had the record that night, I didn\u2019t know how big it really was or how big it was going to continue to be,\u201d said Sittler, who turned 75 in September. \u201cWhen both Gretzky and Lemieux were going through their careers in the 1980s, I really thought each one of these two guys was going to tie or break it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things got going with a pair of assists in the first period before the Kitchener, Ont., product scored a hat trick and set up two other goals in the second to give him seven points. The Maple Leafs\u2019 statistician rushed down from the press box during the intermission to let Sittler know he sat just one point shy of equalling Richard and Olmstead\u2019s mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when the guys in the dressing room knew that there was a record to possibly tie or break,\u201d Sittler said. \u201cWe went out in the third period, and it just kept rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old captain scored his fourth goal just 44 seconds after the restart off the rush and set a new high-water mark when he fired another puck home midway through the period.<\/p>\n

Sittler then capped the performance with a sixth goal \u2014 and 10th point \u2014 when his pass from behind the net caromed in off the skate of Bruins defenceman Brad Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just having so much fun,\u201d said McDonald, also a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, who finished with four points that night. \u201cPlayers jumping on giddy thinking, \u2018OK, maybe if I stay out a little late with Darryl, I\u2019ll get a point.\u2019 It was so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruins head coach Don Cherry<\/a> left rookie third-string goaltender Dave Reece<\/a> in for all 11 goals because Gerry Cheevers<\/a> was back from the World Hockey Association and scheduled to make his homecoming at Boston Garden the following night after 3 1\/2 seasons playing for the Cleveland Crusaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like Dave Reece<\/a> was a bad goalie,\u201d Sittler said. \u201cWhen you watch the goals, not to freaking boast about it, but a lot of them were just inside the post or a deflection or whatever it might have been. Some nights that happens to players and happens to goalies. The puck has eyes.\u201d <\/p>\n

And to this day, fans still stop Sittler to talk about a banner moment for an Original Six franchise that hasn\u2019t had many through the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that, unfortunately, we haven\u2019t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, this is a feel-good story that continues on,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn today\u2019s world, it\u2019s nice to have feel-good things.\u201d <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Darryl Sittler remembers the usual noise in the newspapers. Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-439627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}