1060-61 NHL Replay - week ending 21 January 1961

It's really become a nip-and-tuck race at the very top of the standings as Toronto and Montréal take turns knocking back the rest of the League in order to grab first place . . .

15 January 1961 - Toronto (6) at Boston (4)

The Maple Leafs blew apart a tie game by scoring three unanswered goals in the third period, skating away to victory behind a four-goal performance (the NHL's first of the season) from Frank Mahovlich. The opening period was a show for the fans, but not for the goaltenders, with five goals tickling the twine on only eighteen shots. Boston led 2-1 after eleven minutes and the crowd at the Carlton Street Cashbox was starting to get restless when their young star, who celebrated his 23rd birthday just five days ago, started to take over. He took a George Armstrong pass and busted through the Bruins defense to tie the game at 13:26, and then finished the period with a hustle play in front of the net that found him in prime position with seven seconds left to jam home the loose puck from Larry Regan's flip-in towards the Boston goal. Boston upped their game in the second, and got back even when Johnny Bucyk scored at 16:36, but things would come unglued for the visitors early in the third. It looked like they would have a chance to get the upper hand when Tom Horton was exiled for tripping after three minutes, but it was Toronto that struck the blow as Red Kelly got a head-man pass from Mahovlich and beat Bruce Gamble for the shortie that put TOR on top. Less than two minutes later, Frank got his hat trick, and the fourth came at 11:40 on a tip of Bob Baun's shot. Mahovlich finished with five points, eight shots, two penalties, a blocked shot and a +4 mark. [box] [stats]

What an evening for Frank Mahovlich - four goals and five points!

15 January 1961 - New York (2) at Chicago (4)

The resurgent Black Hawks used three points apiece from Bill Hay and Bobby Hull to shrug aside New York at the Stadium. Hull and Hay assisted on the opening goal of the game, from linemate Murray Balfour at 4:51 of the opening stanza, and Hull pumped one home at 10:28 to double the lead. It wasn't quite all unicorns and rainbows for Chicago, however, as Floyd Smith scored late in the first and Brian Cullen early in the second to tie the game at two despite the Hawks controlling the play in the middle frame. It was Hull (seven shots) who got the Black Hawks back in front at 9:42 when Moose Vasko slapped a pass to Hay, who redirected it to The Golden Jet in the slot. A slow-paced final period saw no change in the status of the contest until Ed Litzenberger put the game away with a goal with just over three minutes left. [box] [stats]

Bobby Hull's two goals led the Hawks over the Rangers

15 January 1961 - Montréal (5) at Detroit (3)

The Canadiens rallied from an early 2-1 deficit by scoring four straight goals in the final two periods to win comfortably in the end at Detroit. After Jean Beliveau padded his League-leading total with his 35th goal of the season just five minutes in, the Red Wings took over the game (18-5 shots in the period) and responded with two goals from their star pivot; Norm Ullman scored unassisted on the power play at 12:17, and then again at 19:26 with help from Gary Aldcorn and Pete Goegan. The second period was something of a mirror image of the first, as suddenly Detroit couldn't find an opening and Montréal was everywhere in the Red Wing end. Goals three minutes apart from Jean-Guy Gendron and Dickie Moore midway through the period turned the score around as well, and the Canadiens took a 3-2 lead into the third period. The final third of the game was even more lopsided from a territorial standpoint, MTL outshooting DET 21-8, and the levee (and Hank Bassen) broke after fifteen minutes; Phil Goyette and Jean-Guy Talbot scored ninety seconds apart, and Allan Johnson's late goal was just a whimper in the night. [box] [stats]

Jean-Guy Gendron scored the tying goal and assisted on two others

18 January 1960 - Montréal (2) at Chicago (3)

Chicago rode a rampant second period to a two-goal lead and then held on to win behind a stingy defensive effort. A very slow-moving first period saw the Canadiens get a skate up when Claude Provost converted at 4:26, but both the pace of play and the scored would swing drastically in the second. The Hawks came out firing (18 shots of goal) and beat Charlie Hodge three times - Murray Balfour got a PPG in the first minute of the period, and then Kenny Wharram and Moose Vasko scored a minute-and-a-half apart just after the midpoint of the frame. The visitors put up more of a fight in the third, and Dickie Moore got them to within a single score with 3:30 to go with Pierre Pilote out of the game for the Hawks on a match penalty, but Vasko (two blocked shots) and the rest of the defense held Montréal down for the victory. The Canadiens' 21 shots were their second-fewest of the season. [box] [stats]

Moose Vasko jumped to Chicago's defense in a stalwart effort against Montréal

18 January 1961 - New York (2) at Toronto (4)

Red Kelly scored twice and assisted on a third as the Maple Leafs used late goals in the first two periods to bury the Rangers in Toronto. After Red Sullivan had scored on the power play at 8:03 to give New York the early edge, the Leafs ripped control of the game away in the period's waning moments. Kelly scored from Frank Mahovlich and Bob Nevin at 17:24 and then Bert Olmstead gave them the lead a minute later when he deflected Larry Hillman's shot past Gump Worsley. It remained 2-1 for almost the entire second period, but the suddenly irrepressible Frank Mahovlich made it a two-goal game with a minute to go and Kelly got his pair right off the ensuing faceoff. Camille Henry recouped one for the Rangers in the third, but Johnny Bower stopped 24 shots to secure the win for the Maple Leafs. [box] [stats]

Red Kelly's three points are instrumental in the Toronto win

19 January 1961 - Detroit (5) at Boston (1)

Allan Johnson scored twice and Hank Bassen made 36 saves to help the Red Wings soar past the Bruins in Boston. Johnson's evening got off to a nice start when he scored just two minutes into the game on a one-timer from Pete Goegan's set up. At the very end of the period, Willie O'Ree went off for giving the linesman a bit too much 'advice' on his calling of the game and Howie Glover cashed in the power play with just twenty-one seconds left on the clock. Boston's discipline again let them down early in the second - Dallas Smith went to the sin bin after whacking Len Lunde in the chops with a high stick, and Alex Delvecchio scored the thrid Red Wings goal at 5:41. Marcel Pronovost again ended the period for Detroit with a bang, scoring at 19:12 off a Gordie Howe (two assists, seven SOG, three hits) pass, and it was pretty much decided with Boston four goals in arrears (and averaging 2.5 goals per game) and twenty minutes to play. Don McKenney avoided the shutout with a marker four minutes into the final period pf play, but Johnson put the cherry on top of his (and the Wings') evening with a garbage-time goal with three minutes left. [box] [stats]

Allan Johnson scored the first and last of Detroit's five goals

21 January 1961 - New York (3) at Chicago (7)

Seven different Black Hawks got into the scoring act in front of the home crowd, and Glenn Hall made 28 saves to bury the Rangers. New York held their own for five minutes before Moose Vasko opened the scoring for the visitors, and Murray Balfour's goal at 14:57 made it 2-0. After Andy Bathgate cut the deficit in half for the home club with three minutes left in the period, Eric Nesterenko restored the two-goal bulge just forty seconds later by drilling one past Gump Worsley. It was quickly more of the same in the second, as Ab McDonald made it 4-1 only a minute after the restart. Even though Earl Ingarfield made it 4-2 late in the period, it was delaying the inevitable as Chicago scored three times in the first seven minutes of the third period to put the game well out of the Rangers' reach. Kenny Wharram, Ron Murphy and Bobby Hull did the scoring and Moose Vasko (three points, three hits) anchored the defense.  [box] [stats]

Ron Murphy (+3) had a goal and an assist on three shots

21 January 1961 - Detroit (2) at Montréal (3)

Don Marshall took advantage of a wide-open affair at the Forum to score three goals, and the Canadiens needed every one of them to narrowly edge the Red Wings. The game seemed at first as if it would all go Montréal's way, as skated rings around the Wings in the first period and subjected Terry Sawchuk to twenty-one shots. But just two of these made it past The Uke, Marshall getting the better of him two times in a four-minute span in the first half of the period, and it was still a game when Detroit began to turn the game around in the second. Murray Oliver scored on the man advantage at 4:02, Norm Ullman followed that two minutes later with another, and it was a new game with more than half of the contest left to play. With five minutes to go in the period, it was Marshall again; Ralph Backstrom rushed in over the Detroit blue line and dropped the puck to Albert Langlois, who found the streaking Marshall coming right down Main Street for the hat trick and the lead. The third period was a back-and-forth affair, but the Wings were not able to penetrate the Montréal defence and Charlie Hodge finished with 31 saves. [box] [stats]

Don Marshall helps clear the puck at one end, scores a hat trick at the other

21 January 1961 - Boston (3) at Toronto (4)

Three first-period goals gave Toronto the edge in what turned out to be a tough defensive-minded game, and they ground it out for the full sixty minutes to earn the two points. After Frank Mahovlich and Ron Stewart scored inside the first seven minutes of the game, the crowd in Toronto started to sit back and relax, but that didn't last long. Vic Stasiuk scored less than minute after Stewart, and Don McKenney tied the game just two minutes after that, and suddenly the Leafs were put back on their heels. When in doubt, you turn to your stars to shine, and Mahovlich answered the call with his second of the period to make it 3-2 at 16:15. It was still only a two-goal game when Billy Harris notched the bedpost in the first minute of the second period, but the rush of goals thus far was not indicative of what was to come, as the teams still struggled to find offensive fluidity and the shots got less and less dangerous. Toronto could only muster ten shots on goal over the final forty minutes, and essentially put their fate into hands of their defence. Don McKenney made the score 4-3 when he finished off a pretty one-two with Jerry Toppazzini with ten minutes to go, but Johnny Bower and his backline held firm for the last half as the Leafs earned their fourth straight win and their eighth-consecutive game without a loss. [box] [stats]

Billy Harris' goal early in the second ended up being the game-winner

Standings as of 21 January 1961

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	Pct	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	45	27	11	7	61	0.678	188	118
Toronto Maple Leafs	46	27	13	6	60	0.652	155	110
Detroit Red Wings	45	20	17	8	48	0.533	120	114
Chicago Black Hawks	45	16	22	7	39	0.433	116	128
New York Rangers	44	13	25	6	32	0.364	112	170
Boston Bruins	45	13	28	4	30	0.333	113	164

League Leaders

Goals	Team	G
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	35
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	30
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	28
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	27
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	22

Assists	Team	A
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	43
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	37
Kelly, Red	Toronto	35
Harvey, Doug	Montreal	33
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	30
Howe, Gordie	Detroit	30

Points	Team	PTS
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	78
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	67
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	57
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	51
Kelly, Red	Toronto	50

Penalty Minutes	Team	PIM
Fleming, Reggie	Chicago	122
Talbot, Jean-Guy	Montreal	102
Pilote, Pierre	Chicago	90
Richard, Henri	Montreal	81
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	76

Plus/Minus	Team	+/-
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	53
Langlois, Albert	Montreal	48
Johnson, Tom	Montreal	47
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	44
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	37

Goals-Against Average	Team	GAA
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	2.35
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	2.43
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	2.44
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	2.59
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	2.81

Save Percentage	Team	PCT
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	0.922
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	0.917
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	0.914
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	0.914
Hall, Glenn	Chicago	0.906

(Boxscores and stats from the BlueLynx hockey spreadsheet.)