On This Day January 26th.

Alf "Dutch" Skinner

January 26:  On this day in 1896, Alf Skinner was born in Toronto, Ontario. Skinner was an original member of the Toronto Arenas when Toronto was granted an NHL franchise in 1917. During the new league's first playoff season, Skinner became the first player in NHL history to record a hat trick in the Stanley Cup Finals. Skinner was a natural choice for his hometown team, Skinner had a good year, scoring 13 goals, but he was overshadowed on the championship team by such standouts as Reg Noble and Corb Denneny.

Vic Lynn

January 26:  On this day in 1925, Vic Lynn was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Lynn has the distinction of being the only player to suit up for at least one game with each of the Original Six teams. Most of his 327 total career games were with the Leafs between 1946 and 1950 where he got his name carved into Lord Stanley's Mug three years in a row. During his years as a Leaf, Vic Lynn played on a line known as the "K-L-M line" along with Ted Kennedy and Howie Meeker. In 1950, Lynn was traded to the Boston Bruins where he played for a short time before heading to the minors with the Cleveland Barons of the AHL. Then, in 1953, he got one more kick at the top with the Chicago Blackhawks where he played his final NHL games near the end of the year. From then on, Lynn embarked on a lengthy career as a minor-league and amateur player/coach with such clubs as the Saskatoon Quakers, Brandon Regals, and Prince Albert Mintos.

Darryl Sittler

January 26:  On this day in 1978, Leaf captain Darryl Sittler began an 18 consecutive point-scoring streak that remains tied as the longest in Maple Leaf team history. The Leaf streak of 18 games in a row with at least one point was duplicated by Ed Olczyk in 1989. As at the end of the 2005-06 season, the NHL record for the longest consecutive point-scoring streak is 51 games set by Wayne Gretzky in 1983-84. Mats Sundin had a 30 game point-scoring streak with the Quebec Nordiques in 1992-93.

January 26:  On this day in 1987, the Calgary Flames rallied from a 5-0 deficit at 6:02 of the third period to beat the Leafs 6-5 in overtime. The game tied an NHL record for the biggest comeback in NHL history.

Allan Bester

Calgary defenseman Al MacInnis recorded a hat trick for the Flames. The game winning goal at 1:30 of overtime was scored by Colin Patterson. In the end, the Flames had scored six goals in just 15 minutes and 28 seconds, all on Toronto goalie Alan Bester. As at the end of the 2007-08 season the Leafs have an all-time winning record against the Atlanta/Calgary Flames of W-51, L-50, T-12, O/L-3 in 116 games played. In the only ever playoff encounter between the two franchises in 1979, the Leafs defeated the Atlanta Flames 2 games to nil in a best-of-three preliminary round.