The New York Rangers finally snapped an 11-game winless streak last night with a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden in one of three National Hockey League games. The contest was marred by a second-period brawl that lasted over 10 minutes.
The other games saw Toronto down Boston 3-1 and Chicago edge Detroit 5-4.
Hillman Scores the Winner
In New York, the Rangers winning goal in the third period came from an unusual source. Defenseman Wayne Hillman scored his first goal at the 9:12 mark to power the Blueshirts past the Canadiens.
Rangers had a 2-0 lead on a first-period Phil Goyette goal and one by Rod Gilbert in the middle frame.
Claude Larose drew Montreal to within one when he scored at 11:06 of the second. Dick Duff then tied the score at two with his fifth of the season at the 4-minute mark of the final period.
That set the stage for Hillman’s winner just over five minutes later.
A major brawl broke out in front of the Rangers bench at 2:43 of the second period. The festivities carried on for over 10 minutes as players from both teams left their respective benches to join the fray.
Harris, Ingarfield Skirmish Sparks Brawl
A skirmish between Montreal’s Ted Harris and Rangers’ Earl Ingarfield seemed to touch things off. Rangers Vic Hadfield then became involved and ended up fighting both John Ferguson and Larose. Larose, after finishing with Hadfield, took on New York’s Arnie Brown.
Dick Duff, Terry Harper, Henri Richard and Jean Beliveau of Canadiens left their bench and skated across the ice after a couple of Rangers sitting on their bench started grabbing Canadien sweaters and holding them back.
Referee Frank Udvari took copious notes and handed out 32 minutes in penalties to each team. Included in those totals were 10-minute misconduct penalties to Harris, Richard, Hadfield and Ingarfield.
Ranger goalie Don Simmons, making his third start of the season, won his first game as a member of the Rangers.
Shack Leads Leafs Past Bruins
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Eddie Shack continues to raise eyebrows around the NHL, and last night he did it with his scoring exploits. Shack scored two goals to power the Leafs past the Boston Bruins by a 3-1 score at the Boston Garden. Shack has 13 goals in 19 games since being recalled from the American Hockey League Rochester Americans.
The Leafs are now unbeaten in six straight games.
Leafs jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Shack and Orland Kurtenbach and the Bruins never recovered. Shack’s goal was on a power play. Kurtenbach’s came as he exited the penalty box after serving two minutes. Kurtenbach picked up a drop pass from Bobby Pulford and beat Bruins goalie Eddie Johnston with a neat backhander.
Broken Stick Leads to Goal
Shack upped the margin to 3-0 in the middle frame on an unusual goal. The big winger let a wicked slap shot go from about 25 feet, but broke his stick in the process. The blade went one way and the puck another, and this seemed to throw Johnston off. The stick blade ended up in the corner of the rink, the puck in the corner of the net.
Johnston maintained that Shack’s shot would have beaten him even without the distraction of the flying blade:
The fact that the broken blade traveled as fast as the puck didn’t make any difference. It was a good shot, had me beaten all the way.
Parker Macdonald got one back for Boston before the second ended. Five Leafs for some reason stood by as spectators as MacDonald waltzed in unmolested to beat Leaf netminder Johnny Bower.
The third period was scoreless and the Leafs went home with two points.
Bower Sharp
Bower, in goal for the Leafs after a rough night against the Rangers on Saturday, was brilliant. He made 30 saves and if not for his work, the end result may have been much different.
Leafs coach Punch Imlach says he is very happy with his streaking club. He informed reporters that Wally Boyer, who played his sixth game since his recall from Rochester, will be staying with the team. Having played more than five games, Boyer will now have to clear waivers if the Leafs want to return him to the AHL.
Stapleton’s Late Score Wins It For Hawks
Defenseman Pat Stapleton, who started the season at St. Louis in the Central Professional Hockey League, scored the winning goal with 10 seconds left in the game to give the Chicago Black Hawks a 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Stapleton’s goal, a 30-footer from the right boards, was his second of the year and ruined a great night by Detroit’s Bruce MacGregor. MacGregor fired three goals for the Red Wings.
The Red Wings led after the first period on markers by MacGregor and Jimmy Peters, who notched his first NHL goal. Phil Esposito got the Hawks on the board with his 10th.
Eric Nesterenko and Bobby Hull of the Black Hawks netted the only goals of the middle frame to put Chicago up 3-2. For Hull it was his first of two on the night.
The entertaining final 20 minutes began with MacGregor scoring two quick ones to restore the Red Wings to a one-goal lead. That lead evaporated when Hull scored his second of the night and 23rd of the season to tie things up at 12:43. That set the stage for Stapleton’s heroics at 19:50.
Russians Hammer Spokane Jets
The Russian national team had an easy time of it as they demolished the Spokane Jets of the Western International Hockey League 6-1 in a game at Spokane, Washington.
The Jets actually held their own against the tourists in the first period, but the Russians gradually took over the game to win by five. Spokane’s only goal was scored by Buddy Bodman with just over five minutes left in the game.
Russia’s 20-year-old goalie Viktor Zinger continued to impress with a 31-save performance. Jets goalie Dave Cox made a similar number of stops for the home side.
Alexander Striganov led the scoring parade for the Russians with two goals.
Canada Whips Finns
Gary Dineen and Paul Conlin scored two goals each as the Canadian national team outclassed the touring Finnish nationals 10-4 in an exhibition game last night in Vancouver.
The Canadians scored four times in the first period and that really spelled the end of things for the Finns.
Other Canadian scorers were Fran Huck, Al McLean, Ray Cadieux, Gary Begg, Jean Cusson, and John Russell. Juha Rantisala scored twice for Finland. Lasse Oksanen and Jarkko Behmanen rounded out the scoring.
Ken Broderick and Wayne Stephenson shared the netminding duties for Canada. They combined for 26 saves.
Notes:
- Rosaire Paiement scored two third-period goals to bring Niagara Falls Flyers back from a 4-2 deficit to gain a 4-4 tie with Toronto Marlboros in OHA Junior A play. Mike Byers had two goals for Toronto.
- Peterborough Petes extended their unbeaten streak to 14 games with a 8-2 win over the London Nationals. Danny Grant scored three times for the Petes.
- Larry Pleau scored two goals for Montreal Jr. Canadiens as they skated to a 3-3 tie with Hamilton Red Wings.
- Kitchener Rangers and St. Catharines Black Hawks battled to a 3-3 tie thanks to outstanding goaltending by Hawks’ Pete McDuffe and Rangers’ John Voss.
- Serge Savard of Montreal Junior Canadiens has suffered torn knee ligaments and is likely out for the rest of the season.
