1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 4 March 1961

With the remaining schedule dwindling into the single digits, fierce contests are underway for both the regular-season laurels and, surprisingly, the final seat at the playoff table while a new name appears atop the League goal-scoring chart for the first time since the opening week of the season . . .

26 February 1961 - Boston (3) at Chicago (1)

Bruce Gamble stopped 34 shots and Murray Oliver scored all three Bruins goals as the Black Hawks' woes continue. Bobby Hull gave the home team the lead midway through the first period, and Chicago stifled the Bs offense on just sis shots, but they couldn't put away the League's worst team while playing in front of their own home crowd, and it came back to haunt them. Oliver got the visitors level with about three minutes to go in the second, and then game them the lead at 8:45 of the final period when Bob Armstrong (two assists, three hits) and Willie O'Ree combined to find him unmarked at the right face-off dot. With their backs against the wall, both in the game and in the playoff hunt, Chicago couldn't assert itself and a tripping call on Moose Vasko thirty seconds after the go-behind goal gave the Bruins a chance to put a stake into their hearts. Oliver (seven shots on goal) was happy to take that chance, completing his hat trick on the power play off the rebound of Fern Flaman's shot from the point, and two more precious points went begging for the Hawks.  [box] [stats]

Murray Oliver's hat trick was enough to beat the Hawks

26 February 1961 - Toronto (4) at Detroit (2)

Frank Mahovlich recorded his fourth hat trick of the season, his final two goals breaking a 2-2 tie midway through the game, and Cesare Maniago stopped eighteen Red Wings shots in the third period to preserve the win for the Leafs. Leo Labine's goal at 4:03 got the visitors off to a nice start, and they held that lead until Mahovlich whistled his 42nd of the season past Hank Bassen with about four minutes to go in the opening period. Detroit again got on top behind Allan Johnson's score seven minutes into the second period, but Howie Young's hook led to a PPG by Red Kelly just fifteen seconds into the man advantage and the game was tied once again. The final six minutes of the period were Frank's time to shine - he scored at 13:47 to break the tie, and again after a goalmouth scramble at 18:01 to pad the Leaf lead. Maybe Toronto thought they had it sewn up as they went to the room for the second time, but Detroit had other ideas. They came out flying in the third period, forcing TOR into taking three penalties (Eddie Shack racked up 19 PIM on the evening) and firing pucks from all angles at Maniago, but the rookie was unflappable and unbeatable; the puck stayed in the Maple Leaf end for almost the entirety of the third period, but not once did it cross the goal line. [box] [stats]

Frank Mahovlich scored three times (42, 43, 44) to carry Toronto over Detroit

26 February 1961 - Montréal (2) at New York (6)

The Rangers stunned the Canadiens with three goals in the first twelve minutes of the opening period and then played the League leaders to a standstill the rest of the way to earn a shocking win. A scoreless ten minutes to start the game evaporated in the blink of an eye when Camille Henry scored twice in fifteen seconds to jab Montréal in the mouth and get the MSG crowd on its feet; when Andy Hebenton made it 3-0 just 0:36 later, the patrons on hand just looked at each other in disbelief. Montréal was still being held scoreless late into the second before Henri Richard got them on the board at 14:32, but The Eel answered less than three minutes later and the bowlers and fedoras rained down on the ice. in acclamation. Doug Harvey's goal in the waning seconds of the period gave the visitors a fighting chance, down 4-2 with twenty minutes left to play, but Hebenton put an end to that discussion with his second just three minutes after the restart and Bill Gadsby scored his 12th of the season to finish off the scoring at 12:35. Henry scored his three goals on just four shots, and he and Earl Ingarfield skated off the ice with tidy +5 marks next to their names on the box score.  [box] [stats]

Camille Henry (three goals) had Montréal off balance all night

28 February 1961 - Chicago (2) at Detroit (4)

Norm Ullman scored twice to bring the Red Wings back from an early deficit, and the Hawks were eventually buried beneath an avalanche of Detroit scoring changes despite 39 saves by Glenn Hall. Bill Hay broke the ice in the visitors' favor ten minutes into the game, pouncing on a Detroit miscommunication at the red line during a shift change to go in alone and beat Hank Bassen high to the stick side. But that was one of just six Black Hawk shots in the period, and the weight of Detroit's possession advantage eventually told - with less then thirty seconds left in the stanza, Ullman and Allan Johnson broke into the Chicago zone on a two-on-one and "Noisy" finished it off to tie the score at one. Detroit continued to dominate play in the second, and Murray Balfour's slash as yet another Wing flew past him into open space at 6:29 opened the door for Ullman to take advantage of a man advantage once again, this time on the five-on-four. Gordie Howe's goal ninety seconds later made it 3-1 as the home team hammered Hall with seventeen shots in the period. Despite the tilted ice, which didn't level off in the third period, Chicago found itself somehow right in the game when Ed Litzenberger scored to make it 3-2 with ten minutes to go, but another ill-timed transgression by the most-penalized team in the NHL (this time, it was Jack Evans for high-sticking) opened the sin bin door for Vic Stasiuk to salt the game away with a PPG with about five minutes left. [box] [stats]

Norm Ullman bears down on a beleaguered Glenn Hall

1 March 1961 - Boston (0) at New York (10)

The off-season got underway a few weeks early for the Bruins as they failed to appear for their late-season date with the Rangers. New York scored three times in the first two minutes of the game, and four times in a seven-minute stretch of the second period, on their way to tying the NHL season high for goals in a game (Montreal scored ten times versus Detroit on 28 December, and again on 8 January at MSG against the Rangers). Camille Henry continued his prolific scoring streak - seven goals in his last three games, fifteen over his last twelve - with three goals and an assist to break the thirty-goal barrier for the second time in his career, and Andy Bathgate also had a hat trick. Gump Worsley nudged aside 23 Boston shots for the whitewash while, perhaps unsurprisingly, a number of seasonal plus-minus marks were set in the game - Bruins Jerry Toppazzini and Bob Armstrong shared the dubious distinction of leaving the arena shackled by the League's worst single-game mark of the season (-6), while Bill Gadsby and Harry Howell set the high-water mark on the positive end of the spectrum (+6).  [box] [stats]

Andy Hebenton had one of two Ranger hat tricks in a rout of Boston

1 March 1961 - Montréal (3) at Toronto (4)

The fate of the regular-season title perhaps hung in the balance at Maple Leaf Gardens, with the game tied late in the final period and Toronto desperately needing to cut into the Canadiens' point lead, and Red Kelly's controversial power-play goal with ninety-nine seconds to go swung that balance back slightly towards the chasers. Montréal led 2-1 after one period, Don Marshall and Bernie Geoffrion bracketing a John McMillan score for Toronto, but the visitors played the second as if their lives depended upon it. Holding the Habs to just five shots, the home team got goals from Dick Duff (6:26) and Red Kelly (11:33) to grab the lead for the first time heading into the third period. But Geoffrion got his second (and 40th of the season, for the first time in his career) with just under five minutes to go and it appeared then as if a tie, which would suit Montréal just fine, was to be the end result. However, just over a minute after Boom Boom's goal, Albert Langlois was whistled for hooking Frank Mahovlich (held in check by the Montréal defence thus far) to the joy of the home crowd and the ire and derision of the Canadiens' personnel. Toe Blake was asked to leave the premises by referee Red Storey, and the remonstrations accomplished nothing else; the Leafs went on the power play and, with about thirty seconds left on the advantage, Mahovlich snapped off a shot from the high slot which Kelly redirected under Jacque Plante's glove hand for the lead. The win and top-seed life for Toronto came only after Bob Baun sold out to block Geoffrion's scoring chance in the final seconds. Cesare Maniago made 28 saves, as the young goaltender continued to give the Leafs a huge boost as Johnny Bower deals with a leg injury. [box] [stats]

Red Kelly's late power-play goal kept Toronto's regular-season title hopes alive

2 March 1961 - Detroit (4) at Boston (2)

Gordie Howe and Norm Ullman scored third-period goals to lift the Red Wings out of a surprisingly tight game at the Boston Garden. With the horror of their ten-goal defeat in New York 24 hours ago still ringing in their ears, the Bruins came out with a little bit of a chip on their collective shoulders. They skated Detroit evenly in the first twenty minutes, but a pair of goals by the Wings' third line canceled out Don McKenney's score to send Detroit to the first intermission with a 2-1 lead. But late in a second period in which Boston were the better team, Howie Young got caught hooking John Bucyk under the armpit and went ballistic after the whistle blew - his jawing and jostling of the on-ice officials (and a shove to Bucyk's back) earned him first a misconduct and then a ticket to the dressing room for the remainder of the evening. The home team took advantage of the power play as Jerry Toppazzini scored after forty-five seconds to send the game to its final third tied at two goals apiece, and with Uncle Mo apparently wearing back and gold. As has often been the case in the second half of the season, Detroit was elevated by the two-way play of Howe and the fifteen-year veteran again came to their rescue with a goal set up by Vic Stasiuk half way through the period that gave the visitors the lead. Three minutes later, Norm Ullman doubled the lead and Boston had no response in the final minutes. Marcel Pronovost had three hits for Detroit while former Wing Murray Oliver had six shots, but no points, for Boston. [box] [stats]

Gordie Howe stickchecks Leo Boivin just before scoring the game-winner in Boston

2 March 1961 - New York (2) at Chicago (0)

The fight for the fourth and final spot in the NHL postseason took a turn to the East as the Rangers came into Chicago and ripped control of that place out of the hands of the imploding Black Hawks. Chicago came into the game having lost three in a row after a tie in New York on 22 February, and they looked the poorer team almost from the start. New York outshot them 24-13 over the first two periods, but neither side could manage to score thanks to poor finishing and the exertions of Gump Worsley and Glenn Hall. There were less than five minutes left to play, and the scoreboard was still showing nothing but zeroes, when reserve winger Floyd Smith found himself with a loose puck on his stick after a rebound scramble and whacked it over the line for his fourth (and biggest) goal of the season. The frustration was evident in the faces of the Hawks, and Ed Litzenberger manifested that into physicality a minute later when his slash to the wrist of Dean Prentice earned him a two-minute rest; Red Sullivan's goal with seven seconds left on the power play sealed the game for the Rangers and brought them into a fourth-place tie with Chicago for the last ticket to the playoffs. Worsley needed to make only eighteen saves to earn the shutout. [box] [stats]

Floyd Smith was the unlikely hero as NY stunned CHI late

4 March 1961 - Detroit (4) at Montréal (0)

Terry Sawchuk stoned the Canadiens with 34 saves and Allan Johnson scored twice to lead the Red Wings to a shutout victory at the Forum. The visitors had little to play for having sewn up third place in the standings, while the home team found itself locked in a life-and-death struggle for first place, yet DET drew first blood when Jen-Guy Gendron's hooking penalty opened the ice for Johnson to pick Montréal's pocket exiting their own zone and fire a 25-footer past a surprised Jacques Plante. In the second, it was Johnson again getting the business done for Detroit, this time taking Norm Ullman's touch pass at the right post and tucking the biscuit beneath Plante's pads. Leo Labine made the score 3-0 six minutes later, as the play on the ice began to swing Detroit's way in line with the score. Gordie Howe (eight shots on goal) scored midway through the final period while Sawchuk was turning Montréal away at every instance, including six stops on a single Canadiens power play late in the opening period. The Detroit defensive effort was fronted by Pete Goegan's three hits, with two more coming from both Warren Godfrey and Vic Stasiuk. [box] [stats]

Terry Sawchuk was all smiles after his 34 saves blanked Montréal

4 March 1961 - New York (6) at Toronto (3)

And suddenly, just like that, the New York Rangers have decided that it's time to roll out their impression of the mid-1940s Canadiens, brushing aside the title-chasing Torontonians to win their fourth straight by an aggregate score of 28-5. The Leafs had the better of things for twenty minutes, leading 2-1 at the first intermission while limiting the visitors to seven shots, but the next forty minutes were a ruthless display of finishing by the Rangers. Dean Prentice tied the game with the second breakway score of the game for New York, as the Leaf defence started to crack, and the white-hot Camille Henry struck twice in five minutes to give the visitors a 4-2 lead midway through the game. While they weren't generating a ton of chances they were definitely making the most of them, and this continued in the third when Bill Gadsby and Red Sullivan cashed in a minute-and-a-half apart midway through the period to put the game out of reach. All the remainder of the Maple Leaf Gardens crowd had to cheer about was Frank Mahovlich's 45th goal with four minutes left which put him into the NHL goal-scoring lead. For the second game in a row, New York got a major contribution from an unanticipated direction - this time it was twenty-year-old rookie defenseman Al LeBrun, making only his second appearance of the season for New York, with two assists and three hits and voted the game's first star by the New York media. [box] [stats]

A big night for the young man only recently called up from Guelph 

Standings as of 4 March 1961

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	Pct	GF	GA
Montréal Canadiens	63	38	16	9	85	0.675	252	166
Toronto Maple Leafs	64	37	18	9	83	0.648	219	158
Detroit Red Wings	63	29	24	10	68	0.540	183	164
New York Rangers	63	22	33	8	52	0.413	189	232
Chicago Black Hawks	63	21	34	8	50	0.397	149	183
Boston Bruins	62	16	38	8	40	0.323	151	240

League Leaders

Goals	Team	G
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	45
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	44
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	40
Henry, Camille	New York	33
Moore, Dickie	Montreal	33

Assists	Team	A
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	55
Kelly, Red	Toronto	54
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	50
Harvey, Doug	Montreal	43
Richard, Henri	Montreal	41

Points	Team	PTS
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	99
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	90
Kelly, Red	Toronto	79
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	74
Ullman, Norm	Detroit	71

Penalty Minutes	Team	PIM
Fleming, Reggie	Chicago	143
Pilote, Pierre	Chicago	138
Talbot, Jean-Guy	Montreal	123
Richard, Henri	Montreal	121
Shack, Eddie	Toronto	110

Plus/Minus	Team	+/-
Johnson, Tom	Montreal	58
Beliveau, Jean	Montreal	55
Geoffrion, Bernie	Montreal	53
Langlois, Albert	Montreal	53
Kelly, Red	Toronto	46
Mahovlich, Frank	Toronto	46

Goals-Against Average	Team	GAA
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	2.37
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	2.38
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	2.55
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	2.60
Plante, Jacques	Montreal	2.85

Save Percentage	Team	PCT
Hodge, Charlie	Montreal	0.921
Bower, Johnny	Toronto	0.920
Bassen, Hank	Detroit	0.914
Sawchuk, Terry	Detroit	0.911
Hall, Glenn	Chicago	0.906

(Boxscores and stats from the BlueLynx hockey spreadsheet.)