1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 14 January 1961

The NHL cavalcade grinds towards the dog days of winter, with the holidays in the rear-view mirror and another matchup looming between the Leafs and Canadiens as just a few points separate the two clubs at the top of the standings . . .

8 January 1961 - Toronto (1) at Chicago (1)

A pair of second-period goals were not enough to determine a winner at the Stadium, but that's all the fans got in a tense visit by the Leafs. The Hawks skated fluidly in the opening twenty minutes, but neither team could produce a goal, and half of the second had also expired without a tally (although there was an ugly shouting match between Eddie Shack and a linesman after a fight between Eddie and Ab McDonald) before Al Arbour slapped one home at 12:03 to put the home team in front. (The goal snapped Johnny Bower's scoreless streak at 211 minutes and 23 seconds.) On the next shift, however, Toronto got even when George Armstrong snapped off a shot at the end of Bob Baun's cross-ice pass; Chicago had a 27-8 shot advantage through forty minutes but only a draw to show for it. The final frame was played very close to the vest, with thirteen total shots, and Bower and Glenn Hall nursed the tie until the end. [box] [stats]

Al Arbour's goal gave Chicago the lead, briefly

8 January 1961 - Boston (0) at Detroit (4)

The Red Wings blitzed Boston with a 45-shot attack, and the visitors were somewhat fortunate to escape with only a four-goal defeat. The play was lopsided from the opening faceoff - Detroit put seventeen shots on Bruce Gamble in the first period, while Boston managed only four - and a Parker MacDonald power-play goal at 12:33 opened the scoring. Another one-sided period followed in the second, as did another man-advantage goal (the Wings would cash in three of their eight power-play opportunities) when Alex Delvecchio scored at 8:50. While the Bs put up a slightly better fight in the third period, the only real drama was whether Hank Bassen would complete the shutout, and he turned aside ten Boston shots to earn the whitewash while Gamble left the ice an exhausted loser after making 41 saves. Murray Oliver had three points on eight shots for the home team. [box] [stats]

Murray Oliver had a goal and two helpers

8 January 1961 - Montréal (10) at New York (5)

When Camille Henry scored at 13:39 of the first period to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead at home after a frenetic start to the game, you could have been forgiven for believing that New York had a real chance to upend the League leaders. But things went sideways, in a hurry and in a big way, at MSG for the Blueshirts as the Canadiens scored seven of the next eight goals to thump NY, tying their own League season-high for goals and setting the single-game high watermark for shots on goal. After Jean Beliveau and Claude Provost had scored early in the second to the tie the game at three, the Rangers took the lead again - fleetingly, and for the last time - when Bill Gadsby sneaked into the slot to beat Charlie Hodge. But Phil Goyette and Bernie Geoffrion scored in the final four minutes of the period to put Montréal back on top, and two more goals in the first minute of the third put the game away for the visitors. That didn't mean the scoring was over, however, as Les Habitants poured in five goals total in the last period to reach double digits on fifty-one shots. Ten different Canadiens had at least two points, Doug Harvey leading the way with four, and Bill Hicke fired eight shots; Andy Hebenton led NY with three points while the beleaguered Gump Worsley collected 41 saves. [box] [stats]

Doug Harvey (goal, three assists) led Montréal to a rout in New York

11 January 1960 - Detroit (4) at Chicago (4)

The Hawks scored twice in the second half of the final period to come back from a three-goal deficit and salvage a point at home against the Wings. Detroit, missing Gordie Howe from the lineup, used goals from John McKenzie, Alex Delvecchio and Parker MacDonald to grab a 3-0 lead at the first intermission, but Chicago got two of those back in the second from Eric Nesterenko, who scored twice in a span of eighty-two seconds. McKenzie got his second of the game late in the period, though, and the Black Hawks had their work cut out for them with just twenty minutes left to play. But the bruising Chicago right-winger Nesterenko was not going to be denied on this evening; he scored his hat trick goal at 10:17 of the third and it was game on in the Windy City. Both teams had their chances in the final period, but it was McKenzie's roughing call at 12:11 that put its thumb onto the scale in Chicago's favor; just over a minute into the power play, Murray Balfour (seven SOG) finished off a rush with Bobby Hull and Bill Hay to tie the game and neither club had much left to give after that. [box] [stats]

Eric Nesterenko (center) tells Hull and Hay all about his hat trick

12 January 1961 - New York (4) at Boston (5)

The Bruins scored the first three goals of the game, and then had to weather a Ranger rally in a game that ended up being much closer than the stats indicated. Bronco Horvath scored two  goals a minute apart to give Boston a 3-0 lead after just eleven minutes of a first stanza in which the home team was having everything its own way. But a roughing call on Fern Flaman late in the period provided a seam, and Camille henry barged through it with a PPG out of traffic in front of the net and New York went into the first intermission with some hope. Doug Mohns scored for Boston in the first minute of the second to tamp down their enthusiasm somewhat, and the two teams traded goals in the final minutes of the period to leave the Bs with a three-goal cushion heading into the third period. It turned out that they would need all of this - Brian Cullen scored five minutes after the restart, and Dean Prentice made it 5-4 with more than five minutes left on the clock. Aut Erickson was binned for hooking with three minutes remaining, and the visitors had a golden opportunity to finish off the comeback against the League's worst (76.1%) penalty-killing unit, but ton this evening they were good enough to hold on for the final ticks of the clock and preserve two points that should have been already securely in the bag. [box] [stats]

Bronco Horvath's two quick strikes got Boston off to a flying start

12 January 1961 - Toronto (0) at Montréal (0)

A spectacular display of goaltending artistry left both team's skaters frustrated as the League saw its first goalless tie of the season in a crucial contest at the Montréal Forum. The Leafs had been narrowing the gap to the first-place Canadiens over the past couple of weeks, and saw a chance to make the title race a bona fide two-horse contest. Johnny Bower and Charlie Hodge were both on form from the puck drop, and they needed to be - there were 29 total shots on goal in the first period alone, as the clubs rushed from end to end looking for a way to get the puck over the goal line. Toronto had the benefit of three power plays (including one late in the third period), to none for the Canadiens, but this wasn't enough to break down Hodge and Bower continued his own incredible run of recent form as 74 shots went unanswered. Montréal dished out ten hits, while Tim Horton and Carl Brewer combined for five for Toronto. [box] [stats]

Tim Horton's five shots and three hits weren't enough to shake loose a goal in Montréal

14 January 1961 - New York (2) at Detroit (5)

Detroit stung New York with three first-period scores, and then salted away the game with a pair of scores early in the second to win comfortably at home. Two quick goals made the game 1-1 after just three minutes at the Olympia, but Pete Goegan and Gordie Howe scored for the Wings to make it a 3-1 game just eight minutes in. The pace of play slowed somewhat from there, as Detroit were unlikely to maintain its eighteen-shot rate from the opening period and the Rangers found their legs a bit, but it was still the home team that were finding the goals. Norm Ullman scored one minute into the second period, and Allan Johnson followed at 9:07, and the game was decided. Hank Bassen made 24 saves and Howe did a bit of everything with two points, six shots, two PIM and a hit.  [box] [stats]

Gordie Howe played a 200-foot game in the Wings' win over New York

14 January 1961 - Boston (2) at Montréal (4)

The Bruins put up a good fight at the Forum, and were actually pressing the Canadiens late in the game, but the home club's depth and quality showed through in the final five minutes. A very tightly-checked opening period ended at one apiece after goals by John Bucyk and Claude Provost, and the game opened up noticeably in the second. But goals weren't easily found despite the free skating, and it was only Leo Labine's hooking penalty at 3:44 that allowed the light to go on - Jean Beliveau scoring his 34th goal of the year (8th on the power play) to put Montréal ahead. Jim Bartlett answered for Boston less than five minutes into the third period and it was anybody's game again . . . well, that is, anybody wearing bleu, blanc et rouge. Right after Bartlett's tying goal, Bernie Geoffrion took a seven-minute rest for slashing Bartlett and then driving the Bruin's head into the board with his shoulder, and it looked as if things were set up for a repeat performance of Boston's shock win here two weeks ago. But the Canadiens killed off the long disadvantage, holding Boston to just four shots (the Bs were 0-for-6 on the power play for the evening), and then struck twice after the penalties were over. Ralph Backstrom gave them the lead at 15:48 off of a Marcel Bonin feed, and Henri Richard gave the dagger a twist at 17:38 when he broke in alone to score following a center-ice turnover. Doug Mohns had seven shots and two hits for the visitors, while Doug Harvey had two assists for Montréal. [box] [stats]

Henri Richard's late breakaway goal spells the end of Boston's upset hopes

14 January 1961 - Chicago (3) at Toronto (5)

A highly-entertaining affair was decided in favor of the Maple Leafs by two quick goals with eight minutes left to play. The visitors were the first to score, on Bill Hay's effort inside of the first minute, but a PPG by Frank Mahovlich (his 20th goal of the season) and a score from Larry Hillman gave Toronto the edge after the first twenty minutes. Both Mahovlich and Hay scored again the middle period to make it 3-2 Toronto after two, and Dollard St. Laurent tied the game up less than five minutes into the third. A tense eight minutes followed before Bert Olmstead wiggled free in the crease at 12:23 to tap home Ron Stewart's pass and edge the Leafs to the front; then, only nineteen seconds later, it was Stewart (three points) putting it away for the home team by jamming home the loose puck resulting from Bob Baun's shot. [box] [stats]

Ron Stewart's three points included a goal and an assist that decided the game

Standings as of 14 January 1961

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	Pct	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	42	25	10	7	57	0.679	178	110
Toronto Maple Leafs	43	24	13	6	54	0.628	141	101
Detroit Red Wings	42	19	15	8	46	0.548	110	105
Chicago Black Hawks	42	13	22	7	33	0.393	102	121
New York Rangers	41	13	22	6	32	0.390	105	155
Boston Bruins	42	13	25	4	30	0.357	105	149

League Leaders

Goals	Team	G
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	34
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	29
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	25
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	21
Hicke, Bill	Montreal	19
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	19

Assists	Team	A
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	42
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	37
Harvey, Doug	Montreal	33
Kelly, Red	Toronto	31
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	30

Points	Team	PTS
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	76
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	67
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	55
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	46
Delvecchio, Alex	Detroit	44

Penalty Minutes	Team	PIM
Fleming, Reggie	Chicago	110
Richard, Henri	Montreal	81
Pilote, Pierre	Chicago	78
Talbot, Jean-Guy	Montreal	76
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	70

Plus/Minus	Team	+/-
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	52
Johnson, Tom	Montreal	47
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	44
Langlois, Albert	Montreal	44
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	37

Goals-Against Average	Team	GAA
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	2.31
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	2.39
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	2.42
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	2.55
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	2.81

Save Percentage	Team	PCT
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	0.924
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	0.917
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	0.913
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	0.913
Hall, Glenn	Chicago	0.905

(Boxscores and stats from the BlueLynx hockey spreadsheet.)