1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 31 December 1960

A Christmas Day triple-header highlights the schedule as the year, and the season's first half, winds to a close . . .

25 December 1960 - Toronto (3) at Boston (2)

John MacMillan scored twice and the Toronto defense stifled the Bruins at home. The home team took the lead at 8:38 of the first when Don McKenney scored off a pass from Jerry Toppazzini, but the Leafs potted a pair in the second half of the period on a goal from Frank Mahovlich and MacMillan's first with only thirty seconds to go. Boston had the lead, and the first period had been pretty evenly-played, but the Bs found it hard going against the Toronto defence when the clubs skated out after the intermission. They could manage only six shots, while the Maple Leafs tied the game when MacMillan got his second fourteen minutes into the period. The final twenty minutes was a grinding affair, with two fights and more penalty minutes (22) than total shots (13), but this worked to Toronto's advantage as chances were thin on the ice and Johnny Bucyk's goal with a little more than six minutes left wouldn't be enough to rescue the Bruins. Tim Horton anchored the defence with three hits. [box] [stats]

John MacMillan's two goals overcame the Bruins

25 December 1960 - Chicago (0) at Detroit (1)

Alex Delvecchio broke a scoreless ties with just two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game to earn the Red Wings the win behind Terry Sawchuk's 25 saves. The opening period was a snoozefest, with little open-ice play and no penalties; while the pace picked up in the middle twenty Sawchuk and Glenn Hall were in complete control and the game went into its final period with nothing on the scoreboard. Chicago had the better of the play despite being on the road, but it only took one of Detroit's four shots on goal to decide the game - Murray Oliver carried the puck over the center of the Chicago blue line and fed Gordie Howe off his right, Howe (three hits) then saucered the puck across the front of the crease to Delvecchio charging towards the back post and he flicked it over Hall's blocker and into the net. Sawchuk held on through forty seconds of six Black Hawk skaters to seal the shutout. [box] [stats]

Terry Sawchuk stopped every last one of Chicago's 25 shots

25 December 1960 - Montréal (5) at New York (2)

The Canadiens outshot the Rangers 40-19 and used goals from five different skaters to eventually pull away for the victory. Montréal only had an Henri Richard PPG to show for a first period which they utterly dominated. but Bernie Geoffrion also cashed in a man-advantage marker early in the second (staying out of the box would be a problem for New York all evening) to make the score 2-0. Brian Cullen cut that in half just thirty seconds later, but again it was a lack of discipline that cost the Rangers. Johnny Wilson went off for a hook at 6:53 and Jean Beliveau got the Habs' third power-play goal in less than thirty minutes to put the visitors back up by a pair. NY had only eight shots through two periods, but Ken Schinkel made it a one-goal game in the first ninety seconds of the third as the home team tried to mount some offense. Bob Turner and Jean-Guy Gendron scored in the final seven minutes to make a formality out of what had seemed to be one much earlier. [box] [stats]

Henri Richard scores the first of three Montréal power-play goals

28 December 1960 - Boston (2) at Chicago (3)

The Black Hawks scored three times in the first period and then went into a shell for forty minutes in front of Glenn Hall, surviving extended spells of one-way traffic to win a one-goal game. Bobby Hull beat Bruce Gamble twice within thirty seconds in the middle of the opening frame, and Stan Mikita got the Hawks a third at 15:38. It looked like smooth sailing for Chicago at home, but the wind came out of their sails at the intermission; they put only three pucks on Gamble in the second, while Boston got one back from Leo Labine. In the third period, they only took three shots, but Boston struggled to find any space after Johnny Bucyk had made it 3-2 three minutes in. A dust-up between Reggie Fleming and Bob Armstrong was the highlight of a fairly dull final ten minutes, as Boston's attempt at a comeback was dulled by having at least one man in the penalty box for most of the final six minutes of the game. [box] [stats]

Bobby Hull scored twice in quick succession to put the Hawks in the catbird seat

28 December 1960 - Detroit (3) at New York (0)

A desultory evening of hockey broke into a brief spell of life midway through the final period, and this was enough of a heartbeat to give the Red Wings a shutout win at Madison Square Garden. The first period saw only ten shots versus seven minor penalties, as the constant stream of players in and out of the box defused any chance of rhythm; New York managed a season-low two shots in the period. The second period wasn't much more entertaining, although the penalty parade subsided, and it was still a 0-0 game as the teams took the ice for the third period. Detroit finally broke the deadlock at 6:45 when Parker MacDonald tipped Gerry Odrowski's shot underneath Gump Worsley. About five minutes later, Len Lunde was hauled down from behind by Earl Ingarfield as he broke in alone, and the Red Wing forward put away the penalty shot to make it 2-0. An empty-netter from Marcel Pronovost completed the scoring, and the Rangers got exactly what they deserved out of a punchless offensive performance in front of their home crowd. Lou Fontiato laid down three hits (and nine PIM) for New York. [box] [stats]

Parker MacDonald broke a scoreless tie with the game-winner

28 December 1960 - Montréal (2) at Toronto (3)

Frank Mahovlich's goal on the power play with 3:38 remaining kept the Maple Leafs in touch in the regular-season race. Toronto took the early lead in what was an entertaining matchup throughout when Eddie Shack tickled the twine at 9:22 of the first period. Bernie Geoffrion got the Canadiens level at 13:00 of the second - there was everything to play for in the final twenty minutes, and the clubs came out ready to play. Thirty pucks would be sent netward in the third period, and three of them would find a final resting place over the goal line. Bob Nevin gave Toronto the lead at 7:04 with Jean-Guy Gendron in the sin bin, but Claude Provost matched that four minutes later. The game entered its final five minutes still up for grabs when Ralph Backstrom got sent of for roughing, and a misconduct for good measure; this was the crack that the Leafs needed to break through, and Mahovlich (seven SOG) put a puck past Charlie Hodge one minute into the man advantage. That left it up to Johnny Bower to hold down the fort, and the Leaf goalie finished off a 29-save performance to grab two important points for the chasing Maple Leafs. Jean-Guy Talbot had three hits and a blocked shot for Montréal. [box] [stats]

Frank Mahovlich wins it with a PPG with less than four minutes left

29 December 1960 - Detroit (3) at Montréal (10)

After getting stung late in Toronto the evening before, the Canadiens came out loaded for bear at the Forum. They scored three times in the first thirteen minutes, two coming off the blade of Jean Beliveau, and led 3-1 at the first intermission having outshot the visitors 16-8. Detroit narrowed the territorial gap in the second, but they could not contain the explosive Montréal offence. A flurry of goals in the opening minutes got Detroit to within 4-3, but they were then buried under an avalanche of Canadien scores - four different Habs scored in the remainder of the period to stretch the game out to a five-goal bulge."Boom Boom" Geoffrion tacked on two in the final period to allow Montréal to drop double digits on Terry Sawchuk and Charlie Hodge kept a clean sheet in the third to sew up an easy win. [box] [stats]

Tom Johnson provided assists on two of MTL's ten goals

31 December 1960 - Chicago (7) at Detroit (1)

The Red Wings were drubbed for the second straight game, this time at home, as the Black Hawks broke out with four third-period goals. The score was 1-1 late in the second period when Pierre Pilote went off for his second high-sticking call of the period at 15:26, and it looked like Detroit was being given a chance to get a leg up. But Stan Mikita scored a shortie just before the penalty expired and then, when Murray Balfour was sent off in the immediate aftermath of the score, he did it again on the ensuing penalty to put Chicago up 3-1, earn the hat trick, and break the Wings' spirit. Kenny Wharram scored on the power play early in the third and the Hawks piled on with three more in the next eight minutes to send the home team to back-to-back embarrassing defeats. Mikita's big evening featured four points, two PIM, two hits and a +4 ledger. [box] [stats]

Stan Mikita was a one-man wrecking crew against Detroit

31 December 1960 - Boston (5) at Montréal (4)

In one of the surprise results of the season, the Bruins skated the Canadiens to a standstill at the Forum and got a late goal from Willie O'Ree to tip the balance in their favor at the Forum. The visitors scored three times in the opening period to put Montréal on alert, and the Habs returned the favor in the second to tie a wide-open game that had featured eight different goal scorers at four goals each. The teams couldn't continue quite that pace for twenty more minutes, but Boston didn't have to - at 7:32 O'Ree extended his stick to redirect Leo Labine's shot past Charlie Hodge and the Bruins unexpectedly had a late upper hand on the road against the League's best team. Boston did a valiant job of keeping the area clear in front of Bruce Gamble, and he made eleven third-period saves to hold on for the Bruins' biggest win of the campaign. [box] [stats]

Willie O'Ree's third-period goal provided the upset margin in Montréal

31 December 1960 - New York (0) at Toronto (3)

Johnny Bower made 28 saves and the Maple Leafs got two goals from its bottom-six forwards to best the Rangers. George Armstrong got Toronto started six minutes into the game, collecting the rebound of Bob Baun's shot and tucking it away behind Gump Worsley. When Dick Duff scored two minutes into the second to make it 2-0, New York was already under pressure and they didn't have a response, or at least one that was capable of beating Bower. John MacMillan (five SOG) scored a third just before the period ended, and the Leafs coasted through the third while Bower put the finishing touches on his third shutout. [box] [stats]

Johnny Bower (28 saves) was too much for the Rangers

Standings as of 31 December 1960

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	Pct	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	37	23	8	6	52	0.703	159	96
Toronto Maple Leafs	36	21	12	3	45	0.625	121	94
Detroit Red Wings	36	16	14	6	38	0.528	91	91
New York Rangers	35	11	18	6	28	0.400	88	129
Chicago Black Hawks	36	12	19	5	29	0.403	88	101
Boston Bruins	36	10	22	4	24	0.333	90	126

League Leaders

Goals	Team	G
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	28
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	23
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	22
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	16
Hicke, Bill	Montreal	16

Assists	Team	A
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	34
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	30
Harvey, Doug	Montreal	27
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	26
Howe, Gordie	Detroit	23

Points	Team	PTS
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	62
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	53
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	48
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	38
Delvecchio, Alex	Detroit	35

Penalty Minutes	Team	PIM
Fleming, Reggie	Chicago	83
Richard, Henri	Montreal	71
Talbot, Jean-Guy	Montreal	64
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	55
Pilote, Pierre	Chicago	54

Plus/Minus	Team	+/-
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	45
Johnson, Tom	Montreal	41
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	38
Langlois, Albert	Montreal	36
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	33

Goals-Against Average	Team	GAA
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	1.92
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	2.07
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	2.54
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	2.68
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	2.81

Save Percentage	Team	PCT
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	0.929
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	0.992625
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	0.916
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	0.912
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	0.904

(Boxscores and stats from the BlueLynx hockey spreadsheet.)