<P> This is a list of games in which a player has scored five or more goals in a National Hockey League (NHL) game . Scoring five or more goals in a single game is considered a great feat, as it has only been accomplished 60 times, by only 44 players, in the history of the league . The most recent player to do so was Johan Franzen, who scored five goals for the Detroit Red Wings on February 2, 2011, against the Ottawa Senators . </P> <P> Joe Malone, playing in the early days of the NHL, holds the overall record with five different five - or - more goal games, including the NHL record seven goals in a game, as well as a six - goal game and three five - goal games . Overall, seven different players have scored six goals in a game--including brothers Corb and Cy Denneny, within a few weeks of each other in 1921 . A total of 40 individual players have scored exactly five goals in a game, on one or more occasions . While five - goal games continue to occur from time to time, no player has scored six or more goals since Darryl Sittler scored six in February 1976 . </P>

Most goals scored by a single player in an nhl game