Who Scored The Most Goals In A Single NHL Game?

Like any other sport in the world, there are formidable records in Ice Hockey too. Today, we will be discussing a very distinguished one; Who Scored the most goals in the NHL game? 

That being said, there are the different nitty-gritty of this topic that should be mentioned in this article. We will be going over different statistics, legendary names and records about the most goals in one NHL game! Don’t miss it!

Who Scored The Most Goals In One NHL Game? 

To answer this question, we have to reflect back to the 20th century. To be precise, let’s start from 1910s, a whole century ago. 

It was November 1917, when NHL was founded. There was a player who joined Montreal Canadiens from Quebec. The name is Joe Malone, whose records are still standing even after 100 years. 

In one of the first-ever games of NHL after its inauguration, Joe Malon scored 5 goals in one game! 

An Overview Of The Event

On 31st January of 1920, The ‘Phantom’ was playing for the Quebec Bulldogs in their debut season of NHL. The match was against Toronto St. Patricks. A fixture in which the Bulldogs weren’t the favourite side by far due to their shaky performances before. 

After the first two periods, Quebec Bulldogs were leading the scoreboard by 6-4, while Malone already had 4 goals to his name with only one period left to play in the normal gameplay. 

In the third period, St. Patricks started getting back into the game as they pulled two goals back and the match stood at 7-6 in the Bulldogs’ favour. 

Right there, Joe took the game by storm and went on to score another natural hat-trick. Scoring 7 as the scoreboard showed 10-6 victory for the Quebec side. 

Who Was Joe Malone? 

Joe Malone was one of the most prolific scorers in the early years of the National Hockey League. A native of Quebec, Malone played for the Quebec Bulldogs and Montreal Canadiens. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950. 

Joe was one of the players from Quebec who were distributed in the NHL after the NHA fell down in 1917. It was Montreal Canadiens who got him, as we mentioned before.

But later in 1919, he re-joined his former team Quebec Bulldogs after they became part of the NHL. Though he stayed only one season there, the most significant record of his career; the 7 goals in one NHL game came in Bulldog colours for him. 

Wait, there’s more to it. Not only does he scored the most goals in one game, but he is also the only player who has scored 5 or more goals in 5 different games. Now, that’s something incredibly rare.

It’s over 100 years since he was at the peak of his powers, and we don’t think anyone will surpass his feats in near future. 

Why Players Don’t Score More In One Game Now? 

If we take a look back to the NHL of the 20th century, we would notice a difference there in comparison to the 21st century NHL.

Players and teams scored a very high number of goals back then. And now, it’s quite rare and far less than the past. 

There can be many possible reasons. But, like any other sport in the world, Ice Hockey has advanced, the tactics have changed and technological improvement has played its part.

The goalies are efficient, the game traditions are changed as forwards play a role in team defending rather than just concentrating on the goals. And many other factors that we all can count on.

As a result, the goal-scoring patterns have decreased more than in the previous century in NHL. 

That might be another reason why Joe Malone’s ‘7 goals in one NHL game’ record is standing after 102 years. 

Who Scored The Most Goals In One Game In The Last 22 Years? 

By no means, we are trying to say that Ice Hockey is not thrilling and action-packed anymore. It still is, every era in all sports have its own charms. For context. We will discuss the recent goalscoring heroics in one NHL game in recent years. 

While there are many players who scored 6 goals in a NHL game. Surprisingly, there are none in the 21st century who have scored more than 5.

According to our research, these are the 5 players, who have scored 5 goals in one NHL game in the last 22 years!

Players’ Names	Goals Scored	Date
Marian Gaborik	5	20/12/2007
Johan Franzen	5	02/02/2011
Patrick Laine	5	24/11/2018
Mika Zibanejad	5	05/03/2020
Timo Meier	5	17/01/2022

Who Scored The Most Goals In One NHL Season?

Since we’ve been talking about most goals in a game today. Why not take a look at most goals in one NHL season too?

So, the player who holds this record is another special name like Joe Malone in the Ice Hockey World. It’s Wayne Gretzky.

In fact, his record is standing unbroken since 1984. Also, Gretzky occupies the top 2 spots in this regard. Here’s how:

• In the 1981-82 season, Gretzky went on to score 92 goals. That is the highest tally in the history of the NHL.
• In the 1983/84 season, Gretzky once again came out on top and set another record. He scored 87 goals in that season. 5 less than his previous record. But no one has been able to surpass even this season’s number until now!

Want to read more about the legend of Wayne Gretzky? We have a detailed article on him. Read it here!

Top 5 Players Who Scored The Most goals In NHL Game: 

Joe Malone might be the name at the top in regard to the topic today. He is the sole record holder of most goals in an NHL game for a century.

But since then, Ice Hockey has come a long way. In this extensive and long period of time, there are names who came close to breaking Joe’s long-standing record. 

In our opinion, it is an absolute necessity to mention these names here, out of respect! So, here are 3 players other than Joe Malone, who scored the most goals in one NHL game according to records.NHL.com. 

Players’ Names	Goals Scored	Date
Joe Malone	7	31/01/1920
Newsy Lalonde	6	10/01/1920
Joe Malone	6	10/03/1920
Corb Denneny	6	26/01/1921
Syd Howe	6	07/03/1921

Closing Sentences: 

The history of professional Ice hockey is littered with legends and records. One of the most impressive feats in the sport is scoring a goal, and one player has accomplished this more times than anyone else. Who scored the most goals in a single NHL game? You’ve got a detailed answer to this question with other useful information. 

We hate to say goodbye, but we have to! You won’t be missing us until next time, because you can go to our Ice Hockey section for loads of exquisite articles like this one! See you there.