MARLEAU'S MARATHON

Game 1 was against the Oilers

While Patrick Marleau dressed for his historic 1,768th NHL game Monday in Las Vegas, breaking Gordie Howe’s seemingly unassailable record, it should be noted that it all started against the Edmonton Oilers 24 years ago.

On Oct. 1, 1997, the then 18-year-old recorded a quiet 13 shifts over 12:15 with three shots on Curtis Joseph.

Little did we know ...

It was a 5-3 Sharks loss in San Jose, as Jason Arnott had two Oilers goals and Doug Weight had three points. Ron Low was behind the bench, Kelly Buchberger was the captain and Kevin Lowe was winding down his Hall-of-fame career on defence.

The Sharks had Darryl Sutter as head coach and Marty Mcsorley, Bernie Nicholls and Tony Granato to mentor and protect the teenager.

Flash forward to today.

“It’s crazy to think what he’s done. He’s a thousand and 300 games ahead of me. It’s a great achievement, we’re all happy for him and know this is a great milestone,” said Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl, who played his 466th game Monday against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

To put his NHL longevity into perspective, Oilers captain Connor Mcdavid was five months old, in his crib, when Marleau played his first NHL game.

“You wondered if anybody would ever break the (Howe) record, but you have to give Patrick credit.

“Lots of players when they get to a certain age they hesitate to put the work in that it takes to get back in shape in the summer and push, but he’s been committed to that for years and years,” said Oilers coach Dave Tippett, a good Saskatchewan boy like Marleau.

The coach in Tippett would have loved to have the forward in Marleau to send out shift after shift.

“He’s been a very, very good player for a long time. He’s been on national teams, he’s been on two (gold-medal) Olympic teams. He’s played all parts of the game and done very well. It’s a credit to his work ethic — and one last thing: When a guy hangs around that long, he’s a good teammate and good person. Phenomenal accomplishment,” said Tippett.