The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second night in a row to move in to third place in one of three National Hockey League games played last night. The Wings whipped Toronto 5-1, while in the other games, Boston shocked Montreal by skating with them in a 4-4 draw and Chicago thumped the New York Rangers 6-2.
Leafs Offence Inept
At Detroit, the Red Wings were actually outshot by the Leafs 34-29. Toronto’s inability to put the puck in the nets allowed the home side to win by four. The fine work of Detroit goalie Roger Crozier only exacerbated the ineptitude of the impotent Toronto attack.
The teams swapped goals in an evenly played first period. Norm Ullman’s 11th of the season opened the scoring. That was a power play marker coming while Eddie Shack of the Leafs was in the penalty box. Ullman got hold of a loose puck in front of the Toronto net after Doug Barkley had fired a shot from the point. He lifted a backhand shot over a prone Terry Sawchuk.
Shack fired home his seventh and only Toronto goal of the night to even the ledger after one. The Entertainer took a pass from Orland Kurtenbach and beat Crozier with a screamer from about 30 feet.
The Leafs dominated the second period territorially, firing 16 shots at Crozier, compared to eight drives at Terry Sawchuk of the Leafs. The only goal of the middle stanza was scored by Alex Delvecchio.
The third period belonged to the Wings and Gordie Howe. It didn’t take long to establish that fact, as Howe tallied twice in the first minute and fourteen seconds of the period. He scored his first at 56 seconds on a setup from Delvecchio. His second came only 18 seconds later, as he cashed in on a well-crafted three-way passing play with Doug Barkley and Ullman. Ab McDonald finished the evening’s scoring activities just before the four-minute mark. Floyd Smith and former Leaf Andy Bathgate earned helpers on that one.
Habs Salvage a Point in Boston
Thanks to their ability to come back from well behind, the Montreal Canadiens took three of four available points this weekend. Last night, for the second game in succession, the Habs had to claw their way back from a 3-0 deficit, this time against the lowly Boston Bruins. The comeback wasn’t quite as successful as Saturday’s win over the Rangers, and the Canadiens settled for a 4-4 draw with the Bruins at the Garden in Boston.
For the Bruins, the point was a huge victory for a team that was decimated 10-1 by the Chicago Black Hawks on home ice just 24 hours earlier.
Boston built their 3-0 lead on a first-period goal by Johnny Bucyk and two second-period markers by Bob Dillabough. The goals were the first of Dillabough’s NHL career. Claude Provost put Montreal on the scoreboard with a fluke goal at 15:24 of the second. The veteran winger tried a pass in front from behind the net and the puck bounced in off Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers’ backside.
A wild third period saw Canadiens roar into a 4-3 lead with three goals in the first 7:11. Claude Larose started the goal parade with a nice deke of Cheevers at 5:22. Bobby Rousseau then split the Boston defence thanks to a brilliant pass from Jean Beliveau just eight seconds later. Less than under two minutes later, Jacques Laperriere’s blast from the point found the back of the net and Montreal was in front by one.
To their credit, the Bruins didn’t sag as has been the case on so many occasions this season. Forty-four seconds after Laperriere’s goal, Ron Stewart notched the equalizer when he beat Gump Worsley with a 30-footer.
Bruins coach Milt Schmidt was happy with the point, especially after his team had squandered the three-goal lead.
“Once they went ahead, I didn’t think we could come back. Blowing that 3-0 lead is typical of the way things have been going for us. But I guess we should be satisfied with a tie. Canadiens are first and we’re last.”
Happy with the tie, Montreal coach Toe Blake wasn’t enthused with the fact his team had to come back from three goals down once again.
It looks like we’re developing a habit. I don’t know how long we can keep this up.
Mikita Rampage Continues
Stan Mikita of the Chicago Black Hawks, a three-goal scorer on Saturday evening against the Boston Bruins, duplicated that feat last night, and added an assist to boot, as the Hawks dumped the New York Rangers 6-2 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Chicago is the hottest club in the NHL on the road, and if they could equal their away game record at home, they would be making a runaway of the NHL standings. The Hawks have now won nine of 10 road starts. The two weekend wins enabled Chicago to edge past the Montreal Canadiens into sole possession of first place.
The game started out on a wide-open note, with Rangers outshooting the visitors 18-13 in the first period. Rangers defenseman Arnie Brown drew first blood at 3:52 when he rapped home Rod Gilbert’s rebound. Doug Mohns tied it for the Hawks just before the 16-minute mark. New York was two men short at the time.
Bobby Hull’s 17th of the year put Chicago ahead to stay at 7:23 of the middle frame. Hull beat Rangers goalie Ed Giacomin with a 35-foot slap shot that the rookie netminder likely only heard whiz by. Phil Esposito and Mikita scored just three minutes apart to round out the middle frame’s scoring.
The third saw Mikita score twice more, with his goals sandwiching one by Ranger Lou Angotti.
Once again a goal controversy took place at the Garden. Hull thought he scored a second goal in the first period when he beat Giacomin with another blazing drive. The puck clanged off the post and goal judge Lee Stark did not activate the red goal light. Hull and Pierre Pilote cornered referee John Ashley who was firmly behind Stark’s call and refused to allow a goal. Pilote banged his stick against the glass protecting the goal judge, but thankfully, neither he nor any other Hawks ventured over the glass.
Amerks Plane Sabotaged
A chartered plane scheduled to fly the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League from Rochester to Quebec City was tampered with on Saturday night. Damage to the plane caused the cancellation of the flight and the Americans made the 700-mile trip by bus.
Roger Kast, general manager of Skyway Aviation Corporation of Rochester says that the damage to the aircraft was done by someone who knows about planes.
The starboard elevators on the twin-engine DC-3 had holes cut in them. The damage apparently took place while Kast was at the Americans hockey game at War Memorial Auditorium. Kast told reports that the damage had to have been done by someone who “knew aviation.” He said that the six-inch cut on the elevator’s steel fabric was made in a way that would have allowed the plane to fly in an emergency, but would have created serious problems if the flight encountered bad weather.
Kast discovered the damage during a routine inspection of the plane before the hockey team arrived at the Rochester airport.
The effects of the all-night bus ride were felt by the Americans the next evening in Quebec. The team sagged in the final 10 minutes of the game, giving up two late goals to the Aces in a 5-3 loss.
OHA Roundup
The Toronto Marlboros won one game, lost one and tied another as they played three games in three nights on a busy weekend in the OHA Junior A Series. After beating Montreal on Friday night, they lost 6-2 to Oshawa on Saturday. Last night they were held to a 4-4 tie by the last-place London Nationals.
Other OHA games saw Kitchener and Niagara Falls skate to a 2-2 tie, Montreal Junior Canadiens get by Oshawa 4-3 and Peterborough and St. Catharines saw one off at 3-3.
The Kitchener-Niagara tie saw two players handle all the scoring. Bob Jones had the Rangers goals, while Derek Sanderson tallied twice for the Flyers.
Norm Ferguson had the game-winner for the Baby Habs against the Generals. Bobby Orr had two goals for Oshawa.
Danny Grant, Joe Johnston and Gord Tucker scored for the Petes in St. Catharines. Black Hawk marksmen were Tom Reid, Kerry Bond and Ken Laidlaw.
The London Nationals Sunday traded forward Bob Cook to the Kitchener Rangers for right winger Cliff Turner.
Angotti Blasts Rangers Brass
Lou Angotti is mad and he’s not going to take it any more. The New York Rangers utility forward, one of the most popular and exciting players on an underachieving team, is threatening to quit hockey because of a lack of playing time.
After last night’s 6-2 loss at the hands of the Chicago Black Hawks, Angotti finally let loose to reports with a tirade lambasting management on how poorly he feels he is being treated by the NHL club.
“I’m sick to my stomach over the way they’ve treated me. I had a good training camp and I work hard and still they don’t play me. Well, this is going to be my last year. Why should I sit on the bench all the time?
“They expect me to sit on the bench for most of the game, and then when I’m good and cold, go out and score. That sure as heck isn’t my idea of a fair shake.”
Coach Red Sullivan had a ready answer for Angotti’s lack of ice time.
Angotti is a part-time player. If he was a regular, he’d peter out. He’s 160 pounds, he can’t play shift after shift.
Angotti was advised of Sullivan’s statement and laughed, but there was no mirth in his demeanour.
“Me tired? I’d rather not dress than sit around and do nothing. I’d rather go to the minors. At least I’ll play there. Anyway I figure they’re going to send me down.”
General manager Emile Francis said that the Rangers have not decided who will be going to the minors, but he did indicate that Angotti is one of several players who might be cut.