1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 18 February 1961

Toronto tastes defeat for the first time in over a month and, cruelly, find themselves relegated to second place as a result - but that would only be the start of their difficulties . . .

12 February 1961 - New York (2) at Boston (3)

After getting hammered by six goals a week ago in New York, the Bruins were probably playing for nothing but pride as the two clubs glided onto the Garden ice. It started well for the Black-and-Gold when Charlie Burns broke the scoreless tie after eight minutes, but it was the Rangers who left the ice at the end of the period smiling after Camille Henry scored twice in response, the second coming at a man disadvantage with Pat Hannigan in the box for hooking. The Bs came out for the second, however, as if they did have something at stake - they took thirteen of the eighteen shots in the period, and one of those was a Jerry Toppazzini score that leveled the game at 14:34. The final period was much more evenly contested, and neither side could break through until there were less than two minutes left; a scrum at center ice kicked the puck loose to Don McKenney who flipped it into the Ranger zone where Tom McCarthy took a shot at goal which Gump Worsley redirected to his right . . . directly into the path of a barrelling Jim Bartlett, who whacked it past Gump off the bounce for the game-winning goal. Burns and Murray Oliver combined for 16 of Boston's 32 shots. [box] [stats]

Jim Bartlett's goal with 1:52 left was the game-winner for Boston

12 February 1961 - Montréal (4) at Chicago (0)

Jacques Plante made 31 saves and Bernie Geoffrion scored twice to lead the Canadiens to a win in Chicago. The visitors were actually quite hard-pressed in the opening period, the Black Hawks attack spitting out eighteen shots, but Plante was in front of everything and Dickie Moore took a long pass from Doug Harvey to score on the counterattack at 13:00 and put Montréal in the lead. Early in the second, Geoffrion scored with thirty seconds remaining on Tod Sloan's interference penalty, and Boom Boom then assisted late in the period when Jean-Guy Gendron got the best of a tangle of sticks around the crease to poke the puck under Glenn Hall for a three-goal lead. The verve the Hawks had shown in the first period had dissipated to almost nothing at this point, and they went rather meekly to the shutout defeat with only five shots on Plante in the final twenty minutes. Geoffrion (6 shots) and Jean Beliveau each had three points. [box] [stats]

Jacques Plante was unbeaten by Chicago's 32 shots on goal

12 February 1961 - Toronto (0) at Detroit (3)

Detroit kept the game close for forty minutes, and then overwhelmed the Leafs with a seventeen-shot third period that yielded two goals and ended Toronto's unbeaten streak at 18 games (12-0-6). Alex Delvecchio opened the scoring at 12:18 of the first period, but the Maple Leafs were controlling much of the play and the second period saw the Wings held to just two shots on goal. Hank Bassen was keeping things in check at the other end of the ice, though, and the game entered its final third with Detroit still clinging to the lead provided by that initial goal. Since last tasting defeat on New Year's Day in New York, Toronto had been able to find an answer to every challenge, but the Red Wings stumped them with a pair of goals in thirty seconds early in the period. Parker MacDonald made it 2-0 for Detroit at 4:12 when he converted an odd-man rush, and Norm Ullman (five SOG) produced a third at 4:44 when he busted into the clear entering the offensive zone at the end of an Allan Johnson pass. Not only did the Leafs not have the answer this time, they were in fact swept off the ice by constant Detroit pressure, and only Johnny Bower's 15 saves in the period kept the score from getting out of hand. Bassen only had to stop five Toronto efforts to complete the shutout win and bring to an end Toronto's six-week reign of terror. [box] [stats]

Hank Bassen's 22 saves spelled the end of Toronto's long undefeated stretch

15 February 1961 - New York (3) at Chicago (5)

Three third-period goals broke apart a close game at the Stadium as the Black Hawks skated away from the Rangers. The game was all New York after the puck dropped, as Floyd Smith and Andy Hebenton both scored within the first four minutes, and the puck hardly left the Chicago end of the ice. But one of the Hawks' five shots was put into the net by Tod Sloan at 15:44, and the home team found itself just one goal shy in a game in which they appeared to be digging themselves a much bigger hole. The pendulum swung towards Chicago in the second, and Bill Hay evened things up with a goal late in the period; the momentum definitely appeared to be on the home team's side now as the game entered its final period. In one of the odder twenty minutes of the season, though, the play was all New York's but the scoring was nearly all Chicago's. Eric Nesterenko put the Hawks ahead at 6:48, but Early Ingarfield's PPG five minutes later made it a 3-3 tie. Despite constant pressure on the Chicago goal, the Rangers couldn't find another goal and Bobby Hull finished off a counter attack at 14:03 to put the home team in front once again. Ron Murphy's empty-netter with seven seconds to go ended the game, and a period where Chicago had but five shots and scored on three of them. The Rangers outshot the Hawks 38-19 on the evening, yet came out empty-handed thanks in large part to Glenn Hall's 35 saves. [box] [stats]

Glenn Hall thwarts Pat Hannigan for one of his 35 saves

15 February 1961 - Montréal (7) at Toronto (4)

Their unbeaten streak was now consigned to history, but there was still the small matter of the regular-season title yet to be settled with Toronto a point up on the Canadiens and having a chance at home to create a little bit of space at the top of the standings. Montréal had other ideas, though - the visitors scored four of the first five goals of the game on their way to a convincing win at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Canadiens led 2-0 halfway through the game when Frank Mahovlich scored at 13:52 of the second period to get the Leafs back into the contest, but Carl Brewer's holding penalty three minutes later opened the door for Jean Beliveau to score on the power play with two minutes left in the period and restore Montréal's two-goal lead. Toronto would need a big third period, and they got one . . . sort of. They scored three times in the final twenty minutes, but the Canadiens scored four in a wild period that saw not only those seven goals but 34 minutes of penalties. Three times the Leafs scored to pull back within two goals, and three times Les Habs responded with a goal of their own to push them back and eventually win to take over first place. Mahovlich and Ralph Backstrom each added their second goal of the game, and Bert Olmstead and Henri Richard earned majors and misconducts after an extended altercation with five minutes to play. [box] [stats]

Bill Hicke had a goal and two assists to help Montréal take over the top spot

16 February 1961 - Boston (4) at Montréal (4)

The last-place Bruins gave the first-place Canadiens almost everything they can handle in their own building, as Montréal needed a last-gasp goal from Marcel Bonin to salvage a point at the Forum. Boston shot out of the gate with a goal five minutes into the game courtesy of Don McKenney, and then backed that up with two quick-fire scores late in the period - Charlie Burns ripping a wrister over Jacques Plante at 14:07 and Jerry Toppazzini putting away Burns' feed one-hundred seconds later. The visitors checked the Canadiens still in the second and, even after the home team had gotten on the board through Doug Harvey's goal with five minutes left in the second period, they regained the front foot when Burns tallied again less than two minutes later. Boom Boom Geoffrion got one back in the final minutes of the frame, though, and Montréal faced just a two-goal hill climb in the final period. Henri Richard picked Aut Erickson's pocket and scored on the breakaway just 2:31 into the third, and the game was on. But Boston held firm, giving as well as they got, and still led as the game went into its final minute and Plante left the ice for Geoffrion. The Canadiens established possession in the Boston end in the final thirty seconds, and Bill Hicke scooped up the rebound of an Albert Langlois shot and and backhanded the puck to Bonin at the far post where he tapped home the game-tying goal with just twelve seconds left. Burns had two goals and an assist, while Bonin's goal came on his eight shot of the game. [box] [stats]

Charlie Burns had two goals to lead the Bruins to a surprising point

18 February 1961 - Boston (2) at Detroit (6)

The Red Wings scored three times in the first period, riding a breathtaking twenty minutes of hockey from Gordie Howe, and pulled away from Boston to win their fourth straight game. After Jerry Toppazzini had shocked the crowd at the Olympia awake with a goal less than a minute into the game, Mr. Hockey went to work. He scored an unassisted goal at 8:41, powering through four Boston defenders from his own blue line, gave the Wings the lead at 11:42 when he was on the doorstep for the lose puck after Pete Goegan's shot, and helped to set up Alex Delvecchio's PPG in the final minute of the period make it a 3-1 game. In twenty minutes, Howe had contributed two goals, an assist, seven shots on goal and a hit in a spectacular display of all-around hockey. His teammates took it from there, scoring three more times while holding the Bs to one Charlie Burns goal after the game was all but over. Marcel Pronovost tied the NHL season-high with five hits (to go with two assists) and Allan Johnson also chipped in two helpers. [box] [stats]

Gordie Howe (three points) forechecks Leo Boivin off the puck

18 February 1961 - New York (3) at Montréal (6)

After pulling themselves back to the top of the League, the Canadiens are firing on all cylinders again; they scored the first four goals of the game to brush aside the Rangers as Jean Beliveau reached the 40-goal plateau for the third time in his career. Marcel Bonin, Dickie Moore and J.C. Tremblay got Montréal going in the first period, and Moore's second score four minutes into the second stanza made it a four-goal start for the home club. Johnny Wilson's PPG was a bump in the road, as Beliveau followed with his 40th goal on a tip of an Albert Langlois shot that skittered between the legs of Gump Worsley, returning to the forty-goal level he last reached two seasons ago. It was a three-goal game entering the third and, as soon as NY thought they might have restored the slim chance at a miracle after Dean Prentice scored with 0:21 left, Beliveau (also with two hits and a blocked shot) skated across the blueline after the face-off and ripped the puck past Worsley for his second goal of the game. Bernie Geoffrion had three assists, and Wilson led the Rangers with seven shots on goal. [box] [stats]

Jean Beliveau tips home his 40th goal of the season

18 February 1961 - Chicago (2) at Toronto (1)

Two goals by Ed Litzenberger on the same shift late in the third period stunned the Maple Leafs and gave the Black Hawks their second straight win as they continued to fight for their playoff lives. An up-tempo opening period produced no scoring, and so the two clubs got down to the business of late-season, tight-checking hockey. A second period which was sparse in scoring chances resulted in one early goal, a Frank Mahovlich shot in the first two minutes, but the teams went to the dressing room for the second time locked up in a close, low-scoring affair. The minutes passed in the third with no change, but the Leafs had most of the puck and seemed poised to see out their advantage, if not expand it. But, with five minutes to go, the Chicago third line took the ice and changed the game - at 15:29, Litzenberger found himself at the end of a sequence of passes from Eric Nesterenko and Ron Murphy with the side of the net open and he made no mistake to tie the game. Nineteen seconds later, the puck was loose in the neutral zone after the face-off and Litzenberger took it in stride to split the Toronto defence and go in alone on Johnny Bower, lifting the puck onto the top shelf with his backhand to put the visitors on top. Glenn Hall and the Hawks defence ground out the final four minutes for the victory, and the recently invincible Maple Leafs were suddenly looking very vincible at the very worst possible time. [box] [stats]

Ed Litzenberger took over for a third-period shift that won it for Chicago

Standings as of 18 February 1961

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	Pct	GF	GA
Montréal Canadiens	57	35	13	9	79	0.693	234	146
Toronto Maple Leafs	58	33	16	9	75	0.647	198	144
Detroit Red Wings	56	25	21	10	60	0.536	161	148
Chicago Black Hawks	57	20	30	7	47	0.412	135	166
New York Rangers	57	18	32	7	43	0.377	162	218
Boston Bruins	57	15	34	8	38	0.333	145	213

League Leaders

Goals	Team	G
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	41
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	39
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	37
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	33
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	28

Assists	Team	A
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	52
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	47
Kelly, Red	Toronto	47
Harvey, Doug	Montreal	40
Nevin, Bob	Toronto	38

Points	Team	PTS
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	93
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	84
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	69
Kelly, Red	Toronto	68
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	65
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	65

Penalty Minutes	Team	PIM
Fleming, Reggie	Chicago	139
Pilote, Pierre	Chicago	124
Richard, Henri	Montreal	117
Talbot, Jean-Guy	Montreal	116
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	84

Plus/Minus	Team	+/-
Johnson, Tom	Montreal	57
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	56
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	54
Langlois, Albert	Montreal	52
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	45

Goals-Against Average	Team	GAA
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	2.37
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	2.38
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	2.56
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	2.69
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	2.74

Save Percentage	Team	PCT
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	0.921
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	0.920
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	0.914
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	0.907
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	0.906

(Boxscores and stats from the BlueLynx hockey spreadsheet.)