On This Day in Sports: March 24, 1936
On March 24, 1936, the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Maroons began the longest game in NHL history. The score remained 0–0 through regulation and five complete overtime periods at the Montreal Forum. At 2:25 the following morning, rookie Mud Bruneteau scored 16 minutes 30 seconds into the sixth overtime, giving Detroit a 1–0 victory after 176 minutes 30 seconds of total playing time.
Conditions grew worse as the night continued. Arena crews did not resurface the ice with modern machinery; they swept it between periods, leaving cracks and heavy snow that slowed the puck and exhausted skaters. Players missed narrow chances, goalies Normie Smith and Lorne Chabot refused every shot and spectators fought sleep in the stands while early newspaper editions were already reporting on a game still in progress.
Detroit coach Jack Adams searched his bench for the freshest legs and sent out Bruneteau with Hec Kilrea and Syd Howe. Kilrea carried the puck forward and found the 21-year-old winger moving past the defense. Bruneteau’s shot beat Chabot and stayed in the net, ending a scoreless struggle that had extended nearly three full games and setting an overtime record that has never been approached.
The victory opened Detroit’s semifinal series, which the Red Wings swept before winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. Bruneteau’s goal transformed a lightly used rookie into a permanent part of hockey history. Modern playoff games still produce long sudden-death nights, but improved conditioning, resurfaced ice and deeper benches cannot diminish the 1936 standard: six overtimes, one goal and a finish deep into the next morning.
The game began March 24 and ended at 2:25 a.m. March 25.
Detroit and Montreal played six sudden-death overtimes.
Mud Bruneteau scored at 16:30 of the sixth extra period.
The total playing time reached 176 minutes 30 seconds.
Detroit goalie Normie Smith completed the historic shutout.
The Red Wings went on to win their first Stanley Cup.
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