On December 5, 1981, the Washington Capitals faced off against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens. To say both teams were in a bad mood would be a major understatement. In all, 261 minutes in penalties were handed out. There were 12 fighting majors assessed, along with 15 ten minute game misconducts.
With the final score ending up 9-4 for the home team, there were pretty good odds that someone would end up with the Gordie Howe hat trick. With nine goals in the game, the odds were definitely in Toronto's favour.
But... in an odd twist, the team that scored just four goals had, not one, but three players get the Gordie Howe hat trick!
Dennis Maruk
A 60 goal scorer in 1981-82, it's not a surprise that Dennis Maruk would be one of the three players. Maruk had a goal and two assists in the match and accumulated 17 minutes in penalties, five of which came in the form of a fighting major.
At 13:08 of the second period, Dennis scored Washington's fourth and final goal of the game, his 22nd of the year. Assists on the goals went to Chris Valentine and Bobby Carpenter. Both those players would also get into scraps during the game with Valentine also getting the GHHT.
At 17:45 of the first period, Maruk assisted on a Valentine goal with Ryan Walter assisting. Walter was the third of three to get the GHHT. Dennis also had the lone assist on a second period goal by Valentine.
At 3:55 of the first period, Dennis got his fighting major out of the way. In the early game brawl, six fighting majors and five misconducts were handed out. Maruk also received two minutes for slashing. He would receive a ten minute misconduct later in the game during a third period brawl.
Chris Valentine
Chris Valentine played all of 105 games in the National Hockey League over three seasons, all with the Washington Capitals. 1981-82 was his rookie season and his first year went quite well, scoring 30 goals in 60 games for Caps.
On this night in Toronto, Valentine scored his fifth goal of the season at 17:45 of the first period, assisted by Maruk and Walter. A minute and ten seconds prior to that, Chris assisted on Walter's 13th of the campaign. Bengt-Ake Gustafsson also got a helper on the goal. Valentine started off the second period with his sixth of the season. His second assist for his four point night came in the second on Maruk's goal.
Chris didn't participate in the first period brawl because he was already in the penalty box serving two minutes for cross checking. However, he was fully engaged in the third period mess, racking up two, five and ten for a game total of 19 PIM.
Ryan Walter
Ryan Walter got most of his numbers out of the way in the first period. He scored a goal at 16:35, Washington's first of the game. He then assisted on Valentine's goal at 17:45. Ryan was a participant in the brawl at 3:55, assessed five for fighting and an extra two for charging. He was then straight up given a ten minute misconduct for his involvement in the third period brawl.
How About Those Maple Leafs?
No player on Toronto achieved the GHHT. However, three players were assessed over 20 minutes each in penalties. Leading the way was Bob McGill who added 34 PIM to his season total. McGill was involved in first and second period fights then got in big trouble for leaving the bench to try and join the festivities in the third.
The rough stuff overshadowed pretty decent performances by Bill Derlago, Rene Robert, Darryl Sittler and Rick Vaive. Derlago had a real hat trick with three goals while adding an assist for a four point night. Robert also had four points while both Sittler and Vaive were three point men.
Thanks to Hockey Reference for the box score info.
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