Most Goals in an NHL Game: Joe Malone’s 7-Goal Record
Joe Malone holds the NHL single-game record with seven goals. See every six-goal game, the five-goal playoff record and the separate team scoring marks.
The most goals scored by one player in an NHL game is seven. Joe Malone set the regular-season record for the Quebec Bulldogs in a 10–6 win over the Toronto St. Patricks on January 31, 1920. No player has matched it, according to the NHL’s single-game goals record, as of October 14, 2026.
That is the individual record. The regular-season records for one team and both teams combined are different: 16 team goals and 21 combined goals, respectively.
Malone’s seven-goal game
Malone scored four times across the first two periods, then added three consecutive goals against replacement goalie Howard Lockhart in the third. The NHL’s historical account confirms the seven-goal performance and the 10–6 final score.
His contribution was 7 ÷ 10 = 70% of Quebec’s goals. That is his share of team scoring—not a shooting percentage, which would require his shots-on-goal total.
Malone also scored six goals in another game that season. He remains the only NHL player with two games of at least six goals.
Every NHL game with six or more goals by one player
Seven performances sit one goal below Malone’s record. These are all eight games at the top of the NHL’s regular-season single-game list.
| Player | Team | Date | Opponent | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Malone | Quebec Bulldogs | Jan. 31, 1920 | Toronto St. Patricks | 7 |
| Newsy Lalonde | Montreal Canadiens | Jan. 10, 1920 | Toronto St. Patricks | 6 |
| Joe Malone | Quebec Bulldogs | Mar. 10, 1920 | Ottawa Senators | 6 |
| Corb Denneny | Toronto St. Patricks | Jan. 26, 1921 | Hamilton Tigers | 6 |
| Cy Denneny | Ottawa Senators | Mar. 7, 1921 | Hamilton Tigers | 6 |
| Syd Howe | Detroit Red Wings | Feb. 3, 1944 | New York Rangers | 6 |
| Red Berenson | St. Louis Blues | Nov. 7, 1968 | Philadelphia Flyers | 6 |
| Darryl Sittler | Toronto Maple Leafs | Feb. 7, 1976 | Boston Bruins | 6 |
Sittler’s game is the most recent six-goal performance. He also had four assists, producing the separate NHL record of 10 points in one game. Malone’s seven goals and no assists gave him seven points: the goals record and the points record belong to different players.
Wayne Gretzky’s single-game high was five goals, achieved four times in the regular season—not seven. Those games also appear in the NHL’s goals record list.
Most goals by a player in an NHL playoff game
The playoff record is five goals, shared by five players:
- Newsy Lalonde, Montreal, March 1, 1919, against Ottawa.
- Maurice Richard, Montreal, March 23, 1944, against Toronto.
- Darryl Sittler, Toronto, April 22, 1976, against Philadelphia.
- Reggie Leach, Philadelphia, May 6, 1976, against Boston.
- Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh, April 25, 1989, against Philadelphia.
The NHL playoff record book lists all five performances. Regular-season and playoff records are kept separately; Malone’s seven-goal game was not a postseason game.
If you mean the most goals in the whole game
For team scoring rather than an individual player’s total:
- One team: 16 goals. Montreal beat Quebec 16–3 on March 3, 1920, setting the one-team regular-season record.
- Both teams combined: 21 goals. Montreal’s 14–7 win over Toronto on January 10, 1920, and Edmonton’s 12–9 win over Chicago on December 11, 1985, share the combined regular-season record.
For those scorelines and the separate team playoff marks, see the highest-scoring NHL game records.