1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 7 January 1961

The NHL rolls into the New Year of 1961 with a full slate of games, kicked off by the return engagements of three New Year's Eve - New Year's Day home-and-homes (was the League trying to schedule the players out of the bars?) . . .

1 January 1961 - Montreal (3) at Boston (4)

The Bruins backed up their shock defeat of the Canadiens at the Forum with the double - after spotting Montréal a 3-0 lead in the first period, Boston stormed back to win on Jim Bartlett's goal with twenty-one seconds left. The visitors got off to a fast start in their search for revenge for the previous night's defeat and their big guns carried them to a big early lead - Dickie Moore and Boom Boom Geoffrion each scored a goal, and Geoffrion and Jean Beliveau then set up a score by Jean-Guy Talbot to give MTL a 3-0 lead at 16:39 of the opening period. Vic Stasiuk got Boston off the deck with a goal in the final minute, but the three Montréal goals on ten shots didn't seem to bode well for Bruce Gamble and the Bs. The Boston defence responded to the pleas of the Boston Garden crowd, however, and clamped things down tight in the second period. The Canadiens got off only four shots while the Bruins were firing thirteen pucks at Charlie Hodge; one of those, off the blade of Gerry Oullette at 9:25, made it a one-goal game and left the outcome in doubt heading into the second intermission. When Moore hooked Johnny Bucyk to the ice early in the third period, Boston got its fifth power-play chance of the game and this time they converted with Don McKenney putting away the rebound of Leo Labine's shot at 3:25 to tie the score. The home team had a slight edge in positional play over the final twenty minutes, but the game appeared headed for a tie when the Bruins won a late face-off in the Montréal end; Vic Stasiuk drew the puck back to Bob Armstrong at the point who fired on net, and Bartlett was the first to react to a loose puck just outside the crease by batting a backhand inside the the right-hand post for the game-winner. Stasiuk and Bartlett each collected three points for Boston. [box] [stats]

Vic Stasiuk had a goal and two assists, and his face-off win set up the late game-winner

1 January 1961 - Detroit (5) at Chicago (1)

Gordie Howe had two goals and an assist as the Red Wings built a 3-0 lead and then put the game way with two late goals in Chicago. The game got off to a poor start for the Black Hawks when they surrendered a short-handed goal just 3:30 into the contest, Gerry Melnyk scoring while Ed Diachuk served penance for interference. Overall, it was a fairly nip-and-tuck affair for most of the first two periods until the Wings stamped their authority on proceedings late in the second. At 16:05 Howe buried one on a beautiful feed from Norm Ullman and then, two minutes later, Howie Glover picked the pocket of Warren Godfrey and skated in alone to beat Glenn Hall for a 3-0 Detroit advantage. Bill Hay recovered one for Chicago early in the third, but Ullman scored thirty seconds after Ab McDonald got caught hooking at 16:04 and Howe got his second just nine ticks of the clock after the ensuing face-off. Howe and Ullman each had three points on six shots and Terry Sawchuk made 23 saves. [box] [stats]

Gordie Howe leads the Wings with three points in Chicago

1 January 1961 - Toronto (1) at New York (2)

Gump Worsley and the Ranger defence held the Maple Leafs in check for much of the game, and managed to beat Johnny Bower's strong performance for two goals that were just enough to win at MSG. The home team controlled play throughout, but scoring chances were hard to come by and the two goalies appeared to be a match for nearly all of those. New York broke the ice at 11:52 of the first when Andy Hebenton whipped home a drop pass from Camille Henry and Dean Prentice made it 2-0 almost exactly twenty minutes later. While the Rangers certainly had the upper hand heading into the final period, Allan Stanley's goal just five minutes after the restart made any outcome possible. But New York held Toronto to just seven shots in the final twenty minutes and Gump (23 saves) stopped the other six of them as the home team held on for the win. Bill Gadsby and Lou Fontinato had two hits each to backstop the Ranger defence. [box] [stats]

Bill Gadsby and the Ranger defence stymied the Leafs

4 January 1960 - Chicago (3) at New York (1)

Glenn Hall made 35 saves and Bobby Hull had a goal and an assist as the Black Hawks withstood a furious first-period Ranger rush to win on the road. New York amassed twenty-one shots in the opening twenty minutes, but Hall allowed only one of them to get past him, a Camille Henry effort from point-blank range at 6:49, but that would not be enough to give them a first-period lead despite their overwhelming shot advantage. Earl Balfour leveled the score at 16:10 and Hull slapped Tod Sloan's pass under Gump Worsley's left armpit for a 2-1 Chicago lead less than a minute later. After the outburst of offensive activity by New York in the opening period, the game quickly settled into a chess match of sorts - while there was little physical play on offer (a total of eight hits in the game), the puck struggled to get out of the neutral zone for long stretches and by the time the game reached its final third the two clubs could mount only twelve combined shots on goal. But it was still a one-score game, and it wasn't decided for certain until Stan Mikita bullied bis way to the front of the net with ninety seconds to go and slipped the puck under Worsley's pads to make it 3-1. Henry had eight shots and Bill Gadsby fifteen penalty minutes for New York. [box] [stats]

There was just too much Glenn Hall for the Rangers to overcome in New York

4 January 1961 - Detroit (1) at Toronto (1)

Perhaps showing the effects of a grueling holiday schedule, the Wings and Leafs skated to a less-than-enthusiastic 1-1 tie in Toronto. It looked at first as if it might be a different sort of game when Alex Delvecchio lit the lamp after only forty seconds but this was not, in fact, a sign of things to come. The rest of the opening period expired without incident, each team killing a single man advantage, and the second had also started to run through the hourglass before Frank Mahovlich got the home team on the scoresheet at 6:14 by driving the puck home from the left dot after nice work by Allan Stanley and Bob Baun to quickly reverse the puck around the perimeter to get the Detroit defence out of shape. It was still a 1-1 game as the final period got underway and, while the scoring rate would not increase, the level of chippniess would - after about thirteen more goalless minutes had gone by Ed Diachuk and Dick Duff got into a shoving match and them, less than a minute later, this exploded into an all-hands-on-deck fracas when Murray Oliver took exception to Mahovlich's stick blade in the ribs and the two dropped gloves. Detroit could not capitalize on the late power play, though, and the game ended after 34 straight minutes of scoreless hockey. While Terry Sawchuk (26 saves) and Johnny Bower (29 saves) were the main attractions, Mahovlich added two hits to his goal and seven PIM and Red Kelly and Parker MacDonald each had seven shots on goal. [box] [stats]

Red Kelly's seven shots weren't enough to prevent Toronto from dropping a point at home

5 January 1961 - Chicago (2) at Boston (4)

The Bruins' recent run of good form continued, as they bagged a well-earned victory over the Hawks at home and in doing so shrunk the distance between the bottom two rungs of the League ladder. Boston took the lead in the dying moments of a dull first period, Gerry Ouellette scoring with just fourteen seconds to go, and then took control of the game in the second. Pierre Pilote's holding infraction in the first minute of the period gave the Bs an early opportunity, and Willie O'Ree cashed in at 1:13 to double the lead. Then, three minutes from the end of the period, Leo Boivin slipped one through traffic from the point to make the score 3-0 with twenty minutes to play. Chicago did have a rally in them, as Ron Murphy scored twice - once in the first three minutes, and again on the power play at 13:33 - and Boston would be forced to fight for its prize. They had largely controlled play in the third period, despite the two Hawk goals, and this edge told with five minutes left when Boston's top line cashed in the insurance policy. John Bucyk and Jerry Toppazzini combined to find space for Don McKenney and the center-iceman made no mistake with the shot the cinched it for the Bruins. Bucyk had two assists and four shots, while Fern Flaman was a +3 to lead the Boston defence. [box] [stats]

Fern Flaman spearheaded the Boston defence in their win over Chicago

5 January 1961 - Toronto (6) at Detroit (0)

Terry Sawchuk had one of his few off days of the season thus far, and the Maple Leafs collected six goals from six players in an easy win at the Olympia. Red Kelly began the onslaught with a short-handed goal at 8:01 of the first period, and Billy Harris followed with a second at five-on-five less than a minute later. In the middle frame Bob Nevin, George Armstrong and Frank Mahovlich scored within five minutes of each other in the middle of the period to put the game away for Toronto and Bert Olmstead added a sixth to pad the stats halfway through the third. Sawchuk's opposite number Johnny Bower was having a much better evening, stopping all 25 Detroit shots on the way to his League-pacing fourth shutout. Red Kelly led the Toronto offence with three points. [box] [stats]

Johnny Bower and the Toronto defence combined to whitewash the Wings

7 January 1961 - New York (3) at Montréal (2)

The Canadien express has suddenly come to a screeching halt, as the Leafs used a power-play goal from Red Sullivan with five minutes left to hand Montréal their fourth straight loss and pull Toronto to within two points of the League lead. After a scoreless first period, Andy Hebenton and Doug Harvey (just returning from an injury absence) exchanged goals in the second and the clubs went to the third tied at one in what had been a fairly even contest. But when Bob Turner went off for holding at 5:46 of the last period, Earl Ingarfield capitalized for NY with a power-play marker that gave the visitors the lead. Bernie Geoffrion (seven shots) equalized for the Habs at 11:56 but it would again be discipline that hurt them in the end (seven PP opportunities for Toronto); Jean-Guy Gendron took a double minor for roughing with six minutes left (Gendron was called for four minors in the period) and Red Sullivan scored with the first man advantage at 15:36 to give the Rangers a lead they would hold tightly to the end behind Gump Worsley's 34 saves. [box] [stats]

Red Sullivan's late power-play goal dooms Montréal to its four consecutive loss

7 January 1961 - Boston (0) at Toronto (6)

The suddenly-rampant Maple Leafs rolled to their second-straight six-goal win, skating the Bruins out of the Maple Leaf Gardens behind two Frank Mahovlich goals. The score was already 3-0 by the time twelve minutes had been played, Dave Keon, Mahovlich and Tom Horton collecting first-period scores that put Boston behind the eight-ball. A second period in which neither club seemed invested (ten total SOG) gave way to another three-goal frame for Toronto in the third. Mahovlich got his second at 12:55, bracketed by goals from Eddie Shack and the Red-hot Leonard Patrick Kelly (four points). Johnny Bower stopped 25 shots for another shutout to extend his unblemished streak to 179:20. [box] [stats]

Frank Mahovlich scores his second of the game in a rout of Boston

Standings as of 7 January 1961

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	Pct	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	39	23	10	6	52	0.667	164	103
Toronto Maple Leafs	40	23	13	4	50	0.625	135	97
Detroit Red Wings	39	17	15	7	41	0.526	97	99
New York Rangers	38	13	19	6	32	0.421	94	135
Chicago Black Hawks	39	13	21	5	31	0.397	94	111
Boston Bruins	39	12	23	4	28	0.359	98	137

League Leaders

Goals	Team	G
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	32
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	29
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	24
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	19
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	18
Hicke, Bill	Montreal	18

Assists	Team	A
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	41
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	35
Kelly, Red	Toronto	30
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	30
Harvey, Doug	Montreal	28

Points	Team	PTS
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	73
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	64
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	54
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	43
Kelly, Red	Toronto	42

Penalty Minutes	Team	PIM
Fleming, Reggie	Chicago	100
Richard, Henri	Montreal	79
Pilote, Pierre	Chicago	76
Talbot, Jean-Guy	Montreal	74
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	70

Plus/Minus	Team	+/-
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	52
Johnson, Tom	Montreal	47
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	44
Langlois, Albert	Montreal	38
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	36

Goals-Against Average	Team	GAA
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	2.38
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	2.40
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	2.42
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	2.65
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	2.81

Save Percentage	Team	PCT
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	0.920
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	0.914
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	0.913
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	0.910
Hall, Glenn	Chicago	0.906

(Boxscores and stats from the BlueLynx hockey spreadsheet.)