Play gets underway as the clubs skate out of training camps and onto the ice for the first week of the regular season . . .
Reggie Fleming’s shot through traffic lit the lamp with only fifteen seconds remaining to grab a home win for Chicago at the expense of the Red Wings. It was a closely-contested affair throughout, although it seemed like Detroit would grab the upper hand early - Len Haley scored in the game’s first minute to put the Wings ahead, but the teams largely skated on level ice in the opening period. Midway through the second, the Hawks equalized on Kenny Wharram’s goal and the momentum seemed to be swinging in the direction of the visitors, who had shown more energy in the middle frame. But the Wings had a little more zip in their legs in the final twenty minutes, and it looked as if a goal were more likely to come for Detroit than for Chicago until the waning seconds of the game when Ron Murphy fed Fleming at the point and his drive somehow eluded both a scrum of bodies in front of the net and the reach of Terry Sawchuk to snatch the win for the Black Hawks. The home side dished out eleven hits from nine different players, and Sawchuk and Glenn Hall each made 27 saves. [box] [stats]
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| Reg Fleming scores the game-winner with fifteen seconds to go |
The Rangers built an early lead and then somehow withstood a third-period Boston siege to win the season opener at Madison Square Garden. Andy Hebenton and Ted Hampson scored in the first period and, despite Johnny Bucyk’s short-handed goal in the second, took a two-goal lead into the final twenty minutes after Earl Ingarfield tapped home the rebound from a Lou Fontinato shot four minutes prior to the final intermission. The Bruins came out flying to start the final period, and closed their gap to a single goal when Don McKenney cashed in Fontinato’s hooking penalty. With New York offering no resistance at all (only two SOG in the final period), Boston kept up the pressure but Gump Worsley (33 saves) knocked aside all but one of the B’s fifteen shots in the stanza to steal two points for the home team. Leo Labine had ten SOG without finding the net for the visitors. [box] [stats]
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| Gump Worlsey's 33 saves hold Boston at bay |
The Red Wings scored twice in a 33-second span late in the second period to take the lead, and held on to win narrowly over the Hawks in Detroit. It was all Chicago in the early going, as they outshot the Wings 10-3 in the first period, but their inability to beat Terry Sawchuk came back to bite them early in the second when Gary Aldcorn fired underneath Glenn Hall to get the first goal of the game for the home team despite their lack of possession. Chicago punched right back, however, Ed Litzenberger tying the game about two minutes later and the third Black Hawk line struck again just thirty seconds after that with Tod Sloan doing the honors this time. But the balance of play started to shift towards Detroit as the middle period wore on, and they turned the game around in rapid-fire fashion with about seven minutes remaining in the period. Allan Johnson redirected a Pete Goegan shot at 13:28 with Moose Vasko in the box, and Gerry Odrowski one-timed the go-ahead goal past Hall at 14:01 to put Detroit ahead 3-2; they held on through a fairly even third period as neither team could convert their sparse chances. Goegan had two assists, three shots and a hit for the winners while Pierre Pilote had three hits and two blocked shots on the blueline for Chicago. [box] [stats]
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| Pete Goegan controlled the backline for Detroit |
The Canadiens overwhelmed their neighbors from Ontario with five second-period goals on their way to an impressive Opening Night win at The Forum. After a scoreless first period where Montréal looked the better team, the goals began to come early in the second. Bernie Geoffrion started things off a little over two minutes after the break, and Don Marshall followed two minutes later. After Bob Nevin (five SOG) stemmed the tide temporarily a couple of minutes later, Les Habitants closed out the period with three straight goals; the second lines jumped into the fray with markers from Marcel Bonin and Bill Hicke and, after Jean-Guy Talbot went to the box on a tripping call late in the period, MTL added insult to injury with a short-handed score by Andre Pronovost. The final twenty minutes were largely a formality, one that the Candiens punctuated with another goal from the top line with less than a minute to go. While Moore and Geoffrion had fourteen shots between them, the attack was pretty well-balanced as thirteen of their sixteen skaters notched at least one point. [box] [stats]
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| Andre Provonost's shortie broke Toronto's back |
An absolutely crazy affair at the Forum ended in shared honors when Bernie Geoffrion scored his hat trick goal with just under four minutes to go, completing a three-goal Montréal comeback in the final twelve minutes. The game started quietly, with no goals on the scoreboard for the first ten minutes, but two Canadiens penalties in succession midway in the period opened the door for Boston and set the tone for the rest of the game. Jerry Toppazzini scored on the PP just after the expiration of a 5-on-3, the first bit of self-damage done by Montréal on the 30 PIM they would rack up on the evening. Geoffrion tied it on a nice backhand feed foff the rebound from Jean Beliveau a few minutes later, but the home team let their guard down at the end of the period and Johnny Bucyk snuck through the defense to give Boston the lead at the break. Geoffrion started the second off strongly for MTL, scoring off their opening rush of the period to make it a 2-2 game, but the Bruins then scored three consecutive goals to seize control. Toppazzini added another PPG, and Doug Mohns scored twice on the same shift with about five minutes left in the period and only Beliveau’ score thirty seconds after the Bruins defenseman’s second salvaged some pride for the Habs. When Mohns got his third - again on the PP - six mnutes into the third period to make it 6-3 it looked certain that a shock result was in the cards. But the Moore-Beliveau-Geoffrion line was everywhere, Moore scoring at 7:52, and Albert Langlois drove a rare tally into the top shelf from the top of the right circle at 12:07 and there was real hope in the Forum crowd. Montréal weren’t dominating play, but they were now taking their chances, and “Boom Boom” got the fifth goal of the game for the top line (on fifteen shots) to tie the score at 15:54. A frenzied final two minutes saw scoring chances at both ends before the two clubs skated off exhausted with a point in hand each. Mohns finished the game with ten SOG, and Beliveau had four assists. [box] [stats]
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| Bernie Geoffrion salvages a tie for Montreal at home |
The Maple Leafs allowed six goals for the second straight game as they were punished by the Rangers in their own building. Goals by Bill Gadsby and Dave Balon gave the visitors a 2-0 first-period lead, and Toronto went to pieces after the first intermission. Andy Hebenton scored just a minute after the break to make it 3-0, and then again just 90 seconds after Ken Schinkel’s goal midway through the period to run up a five-goal lead. Bob Pulford got the Leafs on the board at 15:02, but Earl Ingarfield turned a Toronot turnover into an unassisted goal with just over a minute to go inthe period and the fans began heading for the exits at the Maple Leaf Gardens. It was obvious from the play on the ice (12 total SOG) that neither team saw much to play for in the final third of the game, and the Toronto press has already begun to question whether last season’s breakout by netminder Johnny Bower (6.00 GAA, 0.815 SV%) was an aberration. Gump Worsley finished with 35 saves, and Hebenton (+4, 6 shots) had a big night. [box] [stats]
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| Andy Hebenton leads the Rangers with a pair of goals |
Standings as of 8 October 1960
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PTS | Pct | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Rangers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1.000 | 9 | 3 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.750 | 12 | 8 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.500 | 4 | 4 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.500 | 4 | 4 |
| Boston Bruins | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.250 | 8 | 9 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 3 | 12 |
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