Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Brit Selby scored a natural hat trick to lead his team to a resounding 6-1 drubbing of the Boston Bruins in one of three National Hockey League games played last night. In the other games, Montreal took Chicago 6-4 and the Rangers and Red Wings skated to a 4-4 tie.
Selby Loves the Bruins
Selby’s hat trick gives him seven goals in seven games versus Boston this season. With a total of 11 goals this season, it’s easy to see why the first-year left-winger highly anticipates Toronto’s meetings with the Bruins.
Selby’s three markers constitute a true hat trick. After Kent Douglas gave Toronto a 1-0 lead 4:17 into the game, Selby scored his first goal about four minutes later. He outraced Boston defenseman Ted Green to catch up to a breakaway pass from Ron Ellis. He skated in alone to beat goalie Bernie Parent from close range.
Green seemed to take Selby’s success on the play personally and made it his personal mission to make the rookie’s life miserable the rest of the game. It didn’t work as the quick left-winger stood up to the Bruins bruiser.
Selby followed up the first one with two goals within 47 seconds starting at 9:01 of the middle frame. Both came on rebounds off shots by Marcel Pronovost and Dave Keon.
Green scored Boston’s goal late in the second to make the score 4-1, but he didn’t take any satisfaction from the marker. He continued harassing Selby all night, including taking a needless cross-checking penalty on him with only three seconds left in the game.
Bob Pulford and Red Kelly closed out the scoring for the Leafs in the third period. The final 20 minutes could only be described as nightmarish for Parent, who faced 22 Toronto drives. The Boston freshman netminder was solely responsible for the Toronto total being kept to single digits.
Leafs coach Punch Imlach was thrilled with Selby’s performance, especially how he stood up to Green:
Green was testing him, see. And the kid didn’t back up an inch. Green bumped him, Selby bumped him right back. That’s the kind of stuff that shows you’ve got a professional hockey player.
Rookie Scores Three but Hawks Lose
The Montreal Canadiens upset first-place Chicago Black Hawks by a 6-4 score at the Montreal Forum. The Hawks got a three-goal performance from rookie Ken Hodge but that wasn’t enough in the high-scoring, wide-open contest played before 15,443 ecstatic Canadiens fans.
Yvan Cournoyer led the Montreal attack with a pair of power play goals. Claude Provost, Ralph Backstrom, Gilles Tremblay and Henri Richard added singles. Hodge with three, and Stan Mikita with one scored for Chicago.
Cournoyer, like Selby of Toronto with the Bruins, thrives on playing the Black Hawks. The two goals give him 13 on the season, seven of those coming versus Chicago.
For the second game in a row, Black Hawks superstar Bobby Hull was kept off the scoreboard. The Habs stole a page from the Boston Bruins notebook by having a good defensive right-winger shadow the Golden Jet throughout the game. On this night, it was veteran Claude Provost who stuck to Hull like gum on the bottom of a shoe. Provost must had relished the assignment, finding time to score a goal and set up three others for a four-point night.
Chicago coach Billy Reay played a hunch and started freshman goalie Dave Dryden, giving veteran Glenn Hall a rest. Dryden was a less than adequate replacement for Hall, although he did contribute to the offence, drawing an assist on Hodge’s second goal of the night early in the second period.
Pulling Goalie Works for Rangers
While many people question the strategy, pulling the goaltender in the final minute of play for the extra attacker, that strategy paid off for the New York Rangers last night in Detroit. Jean Ratelle scored with 54 seconds remaining on the clock and goalie Cesare Maniago on the bench to pull the Blueshirts into a 4-4 stalemate with the Red Wings.
Norm Ullman scored the first two goals of the game to pace the Red Wings. Bill Gadsby had their third goal of the game and Paul Henderson, with yet another important tally, the fourth.
Other Rangers scorers were Harry Howell, Doug Robinson and Reg Fleming. For Robinson, it was his first since being recalled from Baltimore, and Fleming’s goal was his first as a Ranger.
Notes:
- Hockey Hall of Fame member Patrick (Paddy) Moran, 88, has passed away in Quebec City. The goalkeeper played eight years with the Quebec Bulldogs, beginning his career in 1902.
- Providence Reds have suspended defenseman Bob Blackburn for an “indifferent attitude and insubordination” according to the AHL team’s general manager Fern Flaman.
- Kent Douglas of Toronto says Chicago’s Pierre Pilote didn’t break his thumb when he landed a punch on Douglas’ head. Douglas says the thumb was injured when he threw Pilote to the ice and the Hawk defenseman fell awkwardly.
- Former Leafs Billy Harris, Don McKenney and Gary Jarrett are playing on a line for the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL.