The Chicago Black Hawks continued their early season undefeated string last night in Montreal with a 6-4 win over the Canadiens at the Forum. In the other two scheduled Saturday evening matches, Toronto edged Detroit 4-3 at home, while the Rangers ran rough-shod over the Boston Bruins by an 8-2 count in Boston.
Hull Has Eight in Four Games
In Montreal, it was once again the Bobby Hull show. Hull is beginning to raise doubts that he is of this world, as he scored two more goals, his seventh and eighth of the season. His second goal, like his first came on the power play and was the game-winner in the final period.
The Hawks didn’t have an easy time of it in this one, and in fact, looked very much like they were going to experience the bitter taste of defeat after a first period dominated by the Habs. After Doug Mohns’ fifth of the season gave Chicago a short-lived lead before two minutes had passed, Montreal roared back with three goals by the 12:03 mark of the first. Yvan Cournoyer, Jean Beliveau and Red Berenson counted for the Habs to give them the two-goal margin.
But the wild first period continued with Hull’s seventh cutting the Montreal lead in half less than two minutes later. Not to be outdone, Cournoyer netted his second of the period before the end of the session to restore the two-goal margin.
Although Montreal again held the edge in play in the middle stanza, it was the Black Hawks who scored the only two goals to knot the score at four. Ken Wharram, with his fourth on a setup by Phil Esposito and Hull made it 4-3 just shy of the seven-minute mark. With just over four minutes to play in the second, Eric Nesterenko’s first of the year tied it up.
Worsley Injured
That set the stage for Hull’s heroics in the final frame. He drilled a quick wrist shot past Montreal goalkeeper Charlie Hodge, who replaced Gump Worsley after the second period. Stan Mikita added an insurance goal with about four minutes left to make the final score 6-4.
Glenn Hall had a rough start in goal for the Hawks, giving up four in the first period, but he settled down to shut the door the rest of the way for the victory.
The third period was a testament to the shut-down ability of this Chicago team. After being out-shot by Canadiens 24-17 over the first 40 minutes, the Black Hawks allowed the home side only four tries at Hall in the final 20. Chicago’s relentless forechecking game seemed to have Montreal completely off-balance in the third.
Hull was modest after the game, saying he appreciates the goals but he is just happy to see the team winning:
“I’ll take them and the four wins too. It’s nice to have a good start. These goals make me think I’m helping the club a little.”
Sawchuk Brilliant in Leafs Win
At Toronto, the Maple Leafs rode the spectacular goaltending of Terry Sawchuk to their narrow win over Detroit. Sawchuk made 37 saves, many of the difficult variety, to keep the Leafs ahead of the Wings. He was especially sharp in the final frame when the Wings held a 14-8 edge in shots on goal.
Bob Pulford was the offensive star for the Leafs. Pulford scored once and assisted on two others, including a nice set up on Red Kelly’s game-winner. Other Toronto scorers were Frank Mahovlich, who opened the scoring in the first period, and Orland Kurtenbach.
Detroit marksmen were Bryan Watson, Paul Henderson and Doug Barkley. Goalie Roger Crozier, despite making only 22 saves, played well, especially in the middle period when Toronto threatened to run the Red Wings right out of the rink.
Mahovlich played his best game of the young season, which was quite an accomplishment after being dazed when he was carried into the corner boards by Detroit defenseman Bob McCord early in the second period. Mahovlich got up, and skated rather aimlessly back to his own end for a faceoff but he definitely looked out of sorts and confused.
When asked about his confusion later, Mahovlich explained,
“I didn’t know quite where to go.”
Mahovlich was so stunned by the blow to his head, he didn’t realize until after he finished his shift that he had sustained a cut that required four stitches to close. He returned to the bench after a quick repair job and continued his strong game, showing no ill effects.
Rangers Get First Win
After two one-goal losses to the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers picked up their first victory last night at the expense of the home-town Boston Bruins. The Rangers added an exclamation point to the “W” as they routed the Bruins 8-2 in Boston Garden.
The Rangers may finally have found in Doug Robinson the ideal left winger to line up with Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle. Robinson was the offensive star for New York as he scored a pair of goals, the first and last for the Rangers in the game. Other Rangers goal-getters were Gilbert and Ratelle, along with Phil Goyette, Johnny McKenzie, Bob Nevin and Earl Ingarfield. Ted Green and Parker MacDonald replied for Boston, who actually held a very brief 1-0 lead in the game.
Ed Johnston gave up four New York goals before being replaced by junior Bob Ring half-way through the second period. Johnston was injured in a goal mouth pileup in the first period and by the middle of the second was unable to continue. He was taken to hospital for x-rays on his knee. It was the second poor start for Johnston and he has now been beaten 10 times in four and a half periods.
Ed Giacomin put in a workman-like performance between the pipes for Rangers, making 30 saves. He has played all three New York contests.
Emms Not Happy – Changes on the Way
Boston general manager Hap Emms was upset at his team’s third straight loss and promised major changes before the team takes to the ice again Wednesday in Chicago.
“We’ve gone three games now and I’m not happy. Three straight losses are enough. We have to make some moves now. We’re not getting anyplace and we’ll try anything.
“I’d say it was our big guns, or our supposed big guns, who are letting us down.”
It is expected that the Bruins will go to their Oklahoma farm team in the Central Professional Hockey League for reinforcements. Twenty-year-old goalie Bernie Parent is likely to be recalled to fill in for Gerry Cheevers, who will miss some time with a knee injury. Another possibility is centre Ron Buchanan, who was one of the top scorers in the OHA Junior A ranks with Oshawa last year. He had 50 goals in 49 games for the Generals.
Retired police detective, involved in hockey at all levels for over 50 years. Member of Society for International Hockey Research and presently a video analyst for the leader in advanced hockey analytics (we work exclusively for 2 NHL clubs, and provide advice on an ad hoc basis to many other clients). Currently the Assistant General Manager for the Pelham Pirates of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Previously owned the Faceoff computer hockey simulation and also provided all player ratings for the EA Sports series of NHL computer games from the late 90’s into the mid 2000’s.
