1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 17 December 1960

Can anyone slow down the Canadiens? Detroit gets a chance at home, and Toronto and New York come to the Forum to face down a Montréal club that has lost just once in the past three weeks . . .

11 December 1960 - Toronto (7) at Chicago (2)

The Chicago tailspin continued as the Maple Leafs scored six consecutive goals in the final two periods to blow apart what had been a tight game in the early going. Murray Balfour scored just twenty-three seconds into the game to put the Hawks out front, but Red Kelly answered midway through a period that ended at 1-1 with chances at goal hard to come by for both squads. But Toronto, or more accurately Dave Keon, changed all of that with three goals in a five-minute stretch in the middle of the second - the second of which was short-handed - and suddenly Chicago was facing a three-goal deficit. Matters went further south in the third; Billy Harris' goal at 6:29 made it 5-1 and Bert Olmstead and John MacMillan piled on before Bill Hay finally snatched a consolation prize with two minutes left. The Hawk's frustration level at their recent form spilled over into fisticuffs as Reggie Fleming faced off against Frank Mahovlich in the first period, and Moose Vasko made Bob Pulford a gloveless offer he couldn't refuse in the third. [box] [stats]

Dave Keon's second-period natural hat trick crushed Chicago

11 December 1960 - Montréal (5) at Detroit (0)

Jean Beliveau scored twice and Charlie Hodge thwarted all twenty-seven Red Wing shots as the Canadien Express roared through the Olympia. Beliveau's first goal came at 6:51 of the first period and made it 2-0 Montréal after they had strangled Detroit to the tune of only four shots in twenty minutes. His second came barely a minute into the middle period, and put a nail in the Wings' coffin which Bernie Geoffrion hammered home just eight seconds later. Detroit found a little more fight to offer as the game wore on, but they were already beaten and Hodge made sure they found no satisfaction. In addition to his three points, Boom Boom had a hit and two blocked shots. [box] [stats]

Boom Boom Geoffrion gave Detroit the business at both ends of the ice

11 December 1960 - Boston (5) at New York (1)

The Bruins stung the Rangers with three first-period goals and Bruce Gamble made 37 saves to make them last as Boston won on the road for the first time in nearly a month (also a win at Madison Square Garden). The visitors had their way with New York in the opening twenty minutes, outshooting the Rangers and beating Gump Worsley three times with John Bucyk, Doug Mohns and Jim Bartlett doing the honors. When Bronco Horvath scored on the power play at 12:00 of a penalty-filled second period to make it a four-goal Boston lead, the game seemed to have gotten beyond New York's reach. But Pat Hannigan scored with forty-five seconds to go in the period to send some sign of a heartbeat, and the Rangers then roared to life with a 21-shot attack at the Bruins goal in the final period. The story then became the young Bs goaltender, who parried aside shot after shot as the puck became locked into the Boston end of the rink, and NY could not find a way to get the puck past him while the Bs managed to score again while accumulating just five shots. Harry Howell had three hits, while Andy Bathgate and Johnny Wilson each had five shots at Gamble without reward. [box] [stats]

21 third-period saves from Bruce Gamble thwart NY

14 December 1960 - New York (2) at Chicago (1)

Johnny Wilson and Andy Hebenton scored second-period goals and Gump Worsley shut out the Hawks for the final fifty-five minutes as the Rangers won narrowly in Chicago. It was the home team's game in the early going, as they racked up fifteen shots in the first-period and got on the board after five minutes when Pierre Pilote slammed the puck past Worsley from the top of the left circle. That was all of the scoring until early in the second; New York had begun to skate into the game gradually, and the first reward came when Wilson converted the rebound of John Hanna's shot at 3:38. About four minutes later, the visitors took the lead when Earl Ingarfeld sent Hebenton across the blue line with space and the right winger zipped the puck under Glenn Hal's glove arm to make the score 2-1. Although the Black Hawks were at home, were desperate for a win, and were trailing by a goal, it was the Rangers who had most of the play in the third period and Chicago had to kill two penalties just to keep it close; Gump would have it his way, though, and a scoreless period meant two road points for New York and Chicago's forth straight loss and tenth straight game without a win (0-8-2) stretching back nearly a month. [box] [stats]

Andy Hebenton's second-period score was the game-winner

15 December 1960 - New York (2) at Detroit (6)

The Red Wings dominated the Rangers from pillar to post, scoring the first six goals of the game and racking up a better than two-to-one advantage in shots on goal on their way to an easy win. Marcel Pronovost, Gordie Howe and Norm Ullman tallied in the first period to grab control of the game, and Len Lunde, Allan Johnson and Howe added to the total in the second. New York wasn't putting up much of a fight - only three second-period shots - and two goals in the final period did little to wash the bad taste out of their mouths. Ullman had four points and a +4, Parker MacDonald fired seven shots from the third line, and Bill Gadsby gave his best effort to keep NY in the game with two hits and two blocked shots. [box] [stats]

Gordie Howe evades the Chicago defence to score twice

15 December 1960 - Toronto (3) at Montréal (5)

The Maple Leafs had their chances to make some hay in the standings at the Forum, with seven power-play opportunities, but failed to capitalize and were eventually overcome by the Canadiens' 43 shots and the finishing skill of Bernie Geoffrion. After Allan Stanley had given the visitors an early edge with a goal inside of the first three minutes, Geoffrion and Jean Beliveau struck within seven seconds of each other to give Montréal the 2-1 lead midway through the first period. Each team had a pair of man-advantage chances in the first twenty minutes, and it was the home team that made good - after Frank Mahovlich was sent to the box for tripping with about two minutes left in the period, Dickie Moore sent Belivau's pass into the top shelf for a goal that left Toronto chasing the game. After Geoffrion and Eddie Shack traded second-period scores, the Rangers still had a sliver of a chance down by a pair with a period left to play. But the Canadiens (19 shots) dominated the period, and it appeared to be over until, on their sixth crack, the Rangers finally solved the MTL penalty kill; Dick Duff scored with eighty seconds left and Jean-Guy Gendron (five penalties!) serving the front-end of a double minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. This got New York within a goal, and still on the power play; Gump Worsley came off for an extra skater and the Rangers had a two-man advantage for more than a minute. With fifteen seconds to go, however, Tom Johnson got possession and flipped the puck the length of the ice into the empty net and that was that. Beliveau, Geoffrion and Henri Richard each found enough open ice to squeeze off six shots on goal. [box] [stats]

Jean-Guy Gendron was whistled off five times in Montréal's win

17  December 1960 - New York (2) at Montréal (3)

Despite the near-heroic efforts of Gump Worsley, the Rangers failed to hold the lead twice and eventually succumbed to the Canadiens at the Forum. Len Ronson's PPG at 8:44 of the first period gave the Rangers the lead for the first time, and they might have expected more having outshot their hosts by a 16-4 count. The middle frame was much less openly-played, and the scoreboard showed no further movement. After thirty minutes of penalties in the first two periods, the whistles dried up completely in the third and the skaters took advantage. Jean Beliveau scored at 7:57 to tie the game, but Johnny Wilson countered 1:24 later to put New York back on top. But Montréal, as they have been for most of the season, was relentless and Gump could only hold them off for so long. Bill Hicke scored at 13:08 to tie the score, and Beliveau won the game with his second at 17:55. New York had had enough at this point and John Hanna decided to take his anger out by roughing up Jean-Guy Gendron, who needed little invitation to drop the gloves and throw some punches in the final half-minute of the game. Don Marshall contributed seven of MTL's forty shots. [box] [stats]

Don Marshall provided bottom-six support for the Habs' attack

17 December 1960 - Boston (4) at Toronto (2)

The Bruins stunned the Leafs, perhaps still thinking about their tough loss in Montréal two nights ago, by scoring three times in the first period and playing solid road hockey to hold on for a 5-3 win, their second straight win away from home. Red Kelly scored just 1:39 into the game, and it looked as if Toronto would rebound on the strength of some home cooking, but they were soon checked aside by the Black-and-Gold. Gerry Ouellette got the Bs level midway through the period, and the stanza was coming to close with the visitors not having fully cashed in on a big shot advantage when it came unglued for Toronto in the final minute. Charlie Burns scored at 18:56 to put Boston up 2-1 and, in the pushing and shoving that followed in the shift after the goal, Bob Pulford jammed his stick into Leo Labine's chops and was sent off for a double minor. This provided the opening for Doug Mohns to score a power-play goal that gave the Bruins a two-goal lead and brought out the boo-birds at Maple Leaf Gardens. While Toronto righted the ship a bit after the break, they could not find a goal until Larry Hillman scored with only nine minutes left in the game. Boston remained resolute under some pressure, and when Eddie Shack got sent away for a high-stick in the last minute Labine (G, A, six SOG) got revenge for the earlier transgression by putting the game away with a power-play goal at the death. [box] [stats]

Leo Labine plunged the late dagger into Toronto's hopes

Standings as of 17 December 1960

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	Pct	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	31	20	5	6	46	0.742	129	77
Toronto Maple Leafs	31	18	12	1	37	0.597	108	86
Detroit Red Wings	30	13	12	5	31	0.517	75	70
New York Rangers	30	11	14	5	27	0.450	84	112
Chicago Black Hawks	29	8	16	5	21	0.362	66	83
Boston Bruins	31	8	19	4	20	0.323	75	109

League Leaders

Goals	Team	G
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	28
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	23
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	20
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	16
Keon, Dave	Toronto	15

Assists	Team	A
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	34
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	30
Harvey, Doug	Montreal	27
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	25
Delvecchio, Alex	Detroit	22

Points	Team	PTS
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	62
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	53
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	45
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	36
Delvecchio, Alex	Detroit	33

Penalty Minutes	Team	PIM
Fleming, Reggie	Chicago	76
Richard, Henri	Montreal	69
Talbot, Jean-Guy	Montreal	62
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	53
Pilote, Pierre	Chicago	52

Plus/Minus	Team	+/-
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	47
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	40
Johnson, Tom	Montreal	38
Langlois, Albert	Montreal	36
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	30

Goals-Against Average	Team	GAA
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	1.70
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	2.07
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	2.54
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	2.72
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	2.81

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Save Percentage	Team	PCT
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	0.939
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	0.925
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	0.916
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	0.910
Hall, Glenn	Chicago	0.904

(Boxscores and stats from the BlueLynx hockey spreadsheet.)