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Gordon Berenson, the “Red Baron” of the St. Louis Blues, became a shooting ace on November 7, 1968. The center who had never scored an NHL hat trick suddenly scored two, in the same game. This made him the runner-up for the record for most goals scored in a single game. Since Berenson scored four of them in the second period, he tied the record for most goals scored in a single period. 

Berenson’s feat took place exactly one month and one day before his 30th birthday. He had started his NHL career with Montreal during the 1961-62 season. After the Canadiens traded him to the New York Rangers in June 1966, he skated with them for about a year and a half.

On November 29, 1967, in one of his first acts as GM and coach, Scotty Bowman traded to bring him to St. Louis. Berenson acknowledged Bowman saying, “I owe him a lot. He’s had enough faith in me to let me play. And by playing, I’ve gained confidence in myself.” After Berenson’s six-goal game, Bowman praised, “He’s the best forward in the West Division. He plays defensive hockey and he’s a class guy, too. I think he’s getting better all the time. He showed moves like this in practice for years and now he’s getting free in the games.”

The game took place at Philadelphia’s Spectrum for 9,164 Flyers fans. A delayed flight meant that they did not arrive in Philadelphia until 2:40 in the afternoon, which meant they had to rush through eating their “pre-game steaks” and checking in to the hotel. Berenson and his roommate “shaved in the dark before the game” because their room had “only one small light bulb.” While St. Louis’s team did not arrive happy, they left much happier. Both expansion teams established in 1967, the 8-0 score gave the Blues their highest single-night goal total and the Flyers their worst-ever defeat.

Doing the math, Berenson scored six of the Blues’ eight goals, three quarters of the total. He did so with ten shots on goal, one third of the 30 shots made by the team. Berenson netted the first five goals of the game, on five consecutive shots. He then cleaned up with the final goal of the game.

With the first goal, at 16:42 into the game. Berenson skated the puck from zone to zone “and shifted goalie Doug Favell out of position before lifting a high backhand shot into the cage.” At that point, he was merely relieved to get out of his rut. “All I could think was, ‘Thank God I can still score.’” From that point on, he had goalie Favell totally confused. By the end, Berenson was stunned. “I just couldn’t believe the puck was going in that often, but every time I looked up the light was on.”

During the latter half of the second period, a span of 9:09, Berenson scored four goals. After the first two of these, he had his first hat trick. He commented, “I picked up the puck then. After all, who expects to get more than three goals in a game?” With the addition of the latter two, he tied the record for most goals scored in a single period. He was the ninth NHLer to accomplish this act. Since then, eight others have succeeded in meeting the record. It took over 12 years before anyone matched Berenson, and that was Wayne Gretzky in 1981. The most recent match, by Patrick Marleau, was in January 2017.

The final goal, Berenson scored at 14:04 of the third period. Although they cheered for the home team, the Philadelphia fans gave him a standing ovation in recognition. They also began chanting, “Go, Red, go” and “We want Red.” “That was real sportsmanlike of the fans,” said Berenson. “I think I’ve been cheered in an opposing rink before but it never was anything like that.” He also remarked, “I couldn’t believe that the crowd actually wanted me to score more. But let me tell you. It was one of the greatest thrills of my life.”

Back in January 1920, Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs managed to score seven goals in one game. After that, five skaters (including Malone, Newsy Lalonde, brothers Corb and Cy Denneny, and Syd Howe) scored six goals in one game before Berenson matched them. There had been nearly a quarter of a century between Howe’s 1944 game and Berenson’s in 1968. Since then, only Darryl Sittler (in 1976) has managed six goals in one game.

Holding back his enthusiasm, Berenson chalked up his success as part luck. “I think that just about duplicates the thrill of paddling a wilderness river. Everything went right. It’s like planting trees. Some years you plant 12 and five or six come up; some years you plant 12 and none come up. Tonight everything was going in.” He then said, “This is really something. I’ve never even had a hat trick before in the NHL. Tonight I was just in the right place and the shots went in the right place.”

Berenson even added an assist to his point total. On the second of two goals not scored by him, he helped Camille Henry tally his 270th goal. Henry remarked, “I’m quite happy to take a back seat tonight. I once scored six goals in the American League, but that’s not like the NHL. Red deserves every headline he gets.” This bumped Henry up to 13th for the all-time goal scorers list. Naturally, Berenson was happy with his own performance, but he said, “It’s a great thrill, but to tell the truth, I think I’d just as soon have had seven assists, instead of six goals and one assist.”

While the Blues were busy scoring, their goalie, 39-year-old Jacques Plante earned his 65th shutout. With 26 saves, Plante remarked, “It was an easy shutout. What made it easy was the way Red was going. His early goals gave me a cushion and I just sat on it.” Plante had been Montreal’s goalie back when Berenson was just starting out there. According to Plante, “He’s our Super-Star so we sort of expect these things from him. He’s big, he’s fast, he has the quick moves. And, when he’s on, no goalie is going to stop him.” Poor Favell had just returned after resting his aching back for five games when he let in Berenson’s six goals and the two others.

At the end of the 1968-69 season, Berenson finished in the top ten for goals, assists, points, goals created, goals per game, and points per game. In February 1971, St. Louis traded him to the Detroit Red Wings, where he remained until he was traded back to St. Louis in December 1974. Berenson’s NHL playing career ended at the end of the 1977-78 season. He then coached the Blues for three seasons.

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