On This Date in Sports January 24, 1981: The Boss

Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders becomes the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in his team’s first 50 games. Bossy equals Maurice Richard’s 1945 achievement by scoring twice in the final 4:10 as the Islanders beat Le Quebec Nordiques 7-4 at the Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum. Bossy would finish the season with 68 goals, leading the NHL as the Islanders won their second straight Stanley Cup.

It was the golden ice age on Long Island, as the New York Islanders, coached by Al Arbour, became a dynasty as the first U.S.-based team to win the Stanley Cup four straight years. The Islanders were a team of hardworking blue-color stars all acquired through the draft, as the franchise needed just eight years to go from expansion to champions. Players like Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Clark Gillies, Bobby Nystrom, Denis Potvin, and goalie Billy Smith were the team’s backbone.

After Mike Bossy became the second player with 50 goals in 50 games in 1981, Wayne Gretzky on the Edmonton Oilers took the record to a new level a year later, scoring 50 goals in 39 games. The Great One would have three 50 in 50 seasons during four years. After Gretzky, 50 goals in 50 games was accomplished by Mario Lemieux with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1988/89 season, while Brett Hull in back-to-back seasons in 1991 and 1992.

Several players unofficially scored 50 goals in 50 games, scoring 50 goals in 50 games, having missed games due to injury, but the record states it must be done in the team’s 50th game. This includes Mario Lemieux, who did it twice; Jari Kurri of the Oilers in 1985; Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres in 1993; and Cam Neely on the Boston Bruins in 1994.