The Detroit Red Wings, led by their rookie goaltender Roger Crozier, continue to be the surprise team early in the 1964-65 NHL season. Today, the Red Wings find themselves alone atop the NHL standings after they downed the New York Rangers 3-1 last night in Detroit. In the other game, Montreal and Toronto skated to a 2-2 tie.
Ullman nets game-winner
At Detroit, the Wings ran their unbeaten streak to seven games, thanks to near-flawless netminding from Crozier and a solid, all-round team performance. Norm Ullman’s second-period power play goal was the margin of victory for Detroit. The Wings also scored first and third-period goals before a crowd of 10,763.
Floyd Smith scored the Detroit marker in the first frame, while Bruce MacGregor netted his fourth in three games to close out the scoring in the third. Dick Duff was the lone Ranger marksman.
Crozier made 22 saves, and while he wasn’t as busy as his New York counterpart Marcel Paille, many of his stops were of the difficult variety. He has now given up only 15 goals in nine games. Paille faced 32 shots between the pipes for the Blueshirts.
Habs, Leafs unable to solve anything
At Montreal, a goal by defenceman Jean-Guy Talbot gave the Canadiens a 2-2 tie with Toronto. Talbot’s goal came when the Habs caught the Leafs on a bad line-change. He beat Terry Sawchuk on a close-in three-way passing play with Bobby Rousseau and Claude Larose.
The Habs had built a 1-0 lead in the first period on a power play goal by Henri Richard, playing his first game of the season, returning from that groin injury. Unfortunately for the Pocket Rocket, he re-injured himself in the second period and retired for the evening.
Rookie Ron Ellis drew Toronto even late in the first period, and the score remained deadlocked until Carl Brewer gave the Leafs a short-lived 2-1 lead near the 14-minuted mark of the second. The goal, Brewer’s first of the season, was a 30-foot drive that found its way through a four player screen. Charlie Hodge still hasn’t seen the shot.
Dave Keon’s infrequent shifts were quite noticeable. He is nursing a sore leg and Imlach didn’t want to take a chance of aggravating the injury. Toronto clearly missed his usually energetic presence.
Toronto outshot Montreal 27-22.
Aces stung by Hornets 4-3
In the only AHL contest of the night, the Pittsburgh Hornetss edged the Quebec Aces 4-3 at the Coliseum in Quebec.
The Aces had things their own way in the first period, skating off with a 2-0 lead on goals by Ray Larose and Jean-Guy Gendron. However, the score belied the play, and the Aces were lucky to be up by two.
Whatever Pittsburgh coach Vic Stasiuk said to his charges in the first intermission should be bottled and sold to coaches everywhere. The Hornets charged out in the second period and firmly took control of the game. Ted Hampson, Jerry Toppazzini and Yves Locas each counted once to put the Pittsburghers ahead 3-2 at the end of two periods.
In the final frame Red Berenson pulled the Aces even when he grabbed a loose puck in front of Hornets’ netminder Hank Bassen, who was out of position. Bassen dove back in into the play but Berenson fired the disk over him high into the goal.
That tie score actually complimented the Aces, who were putting on a lackadaisical display and never really looked like they belonged in this game. They proved it with about seven minutes left to play when defenceman Jim Watson fired a long shot from the blue line that went off an Aces’ defender’s stick. Gump Worsely, who had done a great job of keeping his club in the game, sprawled in a vain attempt to block the puck, which skittered under his portly frame.
Quebec seemed to wake up after giving up that fourth goal, but Bassen was solid and keep them off the scoresheet the rest of the way to ensure the one-goal victory for the Wasps.
Referee assaulted
The Northern Ontario Junior A Hockey Association is looking in to an incident in which a referee was knocked unconscious and carried from the ice. The official, Norman Coates of Rouyn, was butt-ended in the abdomen by Jean-Guy Thibault of the Noranda Alouettes. The league is expected to rule on the case within the next couple of days.