NY Islanders legend Bryan Trottier had his best night 45 years ago vs. the NY Rangers

In a lifetime of hockey moments and memories, New York Islanders legend Bryan Trottier never had a better individual performance than the one he had 45 years ago on Dec. 23, 1978, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Islanders routed the crosstown rival New York Rangers 9-4, extending their unbeaten streak on home ice to 16 (12-0-4) to start the 1978-79 season, but it is Trottier's record-breaking six-point second period that is most remembered in Islanders lure more than four decades later.

The game started off normal enough when Trottier scored the first goal of the game and 20th of the season at 13:20 when he poked a rebound shot by Gerry Hart past Blueshirts' goaltender Wayne Thomas. The game was tied 1-1 heading into the second period, and that's the 20 minutes where Trottier would go on to make history.

Trottier scored three goals and assisted on three more as the Islanders scored a franchise-record seven goals in the period. He scored his third goal of the game and fifth point of the period with 1:21 remaining, assisted by Mike Bossy and Clark Gillies. Then, in the closing seconds of the period, Stefan Persson was originally credited with a power-play goal to make 7-2 Isles. Video replay later showed that Persson's shot was deflected in by Trottier's stick for his fourth goal of the game and sixth point of the period.

Trottier scored his fifth goal of the game on the power play at 7:38 of the third period to give him eight points for the game, an Isles team record. "It was just one of those nights where things were going well, Trottoer said years later. "That night was my night; everything I touched was golden."

Only one player in NHL history has scored more than eight points in a single game, that being Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston on Feb. 7, 1976. Trottier was the only player to register six points in a period until the Rangers' Mika Zibanejad did it with three goals and three assists in a 9-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Mar. 17, 2021.

Trottier went on to score 47 goals and 87 assists for 134 points in 1978-79, winning the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer and the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.