The Detroit Red Wings gained a measure of revenge for their 6-2 opening night loss to the Boston Bruins by bombing Boston 8-1 at the Olympia in Detroit last night. It was the only game on the National Hockey League schedule, capping off a light weekend on which only three games were played.
Saturday night, the Bruins came from a 3-1 deficit to tie the Maple Leafs 3-3 in Toronto. Montreal goalkeeper Gump Worsley made 33 saves as the Canadiens blanked the New York rangers in the other game at Montreal.
Wings Fire 45 Shots at Bruins
The Red Wings put up the biggest offensive display so far this season last night, scoring eight goals on 45 shots at Bruins goaltender Ed Johnston. But the game didn’t start out resembling anything that the final score represents.
Former Red Wing Pit Martin got the Bruins on the board at 3:30 of the opening frame. Martin, who seems to love playing against the Wings, scored for the seventh time in nine games against his former team. Red Wings got that one back just shy of the midway mark of the period when Murray Hall converted a Leo Boivin pass.
Andy Bathgate put the Red Wings in front for good at 11:26 of the second on a breakaway, set up by Hall. It was all down hill for Boston after that.
Ted Hampson and rookie defenceman Bob Wall scored two goals each to put this one out of the Bruins’ reach. Dean Prentice and Gordie Howe rounded out the scoring for the home side.
The rookie Wall was ecstatic at being able to contribute:
I feel a heckuva lot better. I finally played the way I can. I was getting down on myself.
Wall got more ice time than he would normally have had because of a technicality that necessitated in Bob McCord being returned to the Wings’ Pittsburgh farm team. Pete Goegan and Hampson were brought in from the American League team, and both played well, especially Hampson.
Detroit coach Sid Abel explained Hampson’s recall and praised his game:
I wanted to go with four lines and I wanted a penalty killer so I wouldn’t have to break into the lines for penalty killers. Ted is a centre and he is a penalty killer, so we brought him up and he really played well.
Hampson, who previously played for Toronto and New York, hadn’t scored a goal in the NHL since the 1962-63 season.
Young Peter Mahovlich also had a solid game for Detroit, garnering assists on both of Hampson’s goals.
Third Period Comeback Nets a Point for Bruins
A big comeback by the Bruins enabled them to steal a point from the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday night. Trailing 3-1 going into the final frame, the Bruins scored twice to gain the tie.
Eddie Westfall and Ron Murphy scored the final frame goals for Boston. For each it was his first of the year. Murphy is attempting a comeback with the Bruins after retiring part-way through last season.
John Bucyk had the other Bruins marker, also his first, at 6:00 of the opening frame.
Red Kelly was the big man for the Leafs with a goal and two assists. Frank Mahovlich and Tim Horton had the other Toronto goals.
Kelly told Lou Cauz of the Globe and Mail that he feels better this season than he has in years. This he attributes to giving up his position as a member of the Canadian Parliament:
You know, I’ve got two programs at home with my picture on them. One’s about a year and a half old, and the other is from last week. You wouldn’t believe them.
I must look at least 10 years younger in the recent one as compared to the one taken a year or so ago. Those pictures tell the story of how I feel now. That’s what happens when you get out of politics.
Boston’s rookie phenom Bobby Orr didn’t disappoint the capacity Gardens crowd. He was dangerous all night, blocked shots and very nearly scored a game-winning goal late in the contest when he rang a bullet shot off the crossbar.
Most energetic Toronto player was John Brenneman, who handed out more body checks than any of his mates. Bob Pulford looked to be in mid-season form in his first game of the season and Wayne Carleton made several excellent passes.
Toronto played the game with only four defencemen dressed. Marcel Pronovost and Bobby Baun were still nursing injuries.
Provost Pair Powers Habs
Claude Provost scored two goals and Gump Worsley stopped 33 shots as the Montreal Canadiens dumped the New York Rangers 3-0 at the Forum in Montreal Saturday evening.
Worsley was especially sharp in the first period when the Rangers looked like they might run the Canadiens right out of their home barn. New York fired 18 shots at the Montreal goalkeeper in the opening 20 minutes. Worsley held firm and made Claude Provost’s goal at 10:33 of the first stand up.
Henri Richard’s goal after only 30 seconds of play in the middle stanza seemed to completely demoralize the Rangers, who couldn’t mount any offence after that. Provost added his second later in the period and the Habs cruised the rest of the way.
It wasn’t Montreal’s best game of the season, but they did just enough to win. The Habs were without two left wingers, with Gilles Tremblay and Dick Duff both still missing with injuries. The game was a dull contest, with virtually no body contact.
The game marked the first time Bernie Geoffrion had played at the Forum in enemy colours. Geoffrion had a couple of decent scoring opportunities for the Rangers, but was rebuffed by Worsley. The former 50-goal scorer did receive a warm welcome from Montreal fans.
Amerks Get Weekend Sweep of Reds
The Rochester Americans, off to just a so-so start this season, seemed to put the car back on the rails with a pair of victories over the Providence Reds in American Hockely League play this weekend. The Amerks doubled the count on the Reds 4-2 last night after hammering Providence 6-1 on Saturday.
Other Saturday AHL matches saw Baltimore edge Cleveland 2-1, Buffalo over Hershey 4-2, and Springfield and Pittsburgh battle to a 1-1 tie.
In the only other game on Sunday Springfield whipped the Buffalo Bisons 6-1.
A pair of grizzled NHL veterans led the Rochester attack in their two games. Dick Gamble had three goals in the Saturday win over Providence. Bronco Horvath scored once on Saturday and netted the game-winner on Sunday. Eddie Joyal scored twice for the Amerks as well on Sunday.
Springfield’s defence continued to be their big story. The Indians have allowed only 10 goals in their six games this season.
Buffalo’s win on Saturday was mainly thanks to veteran Billy Dea’s two goals.
Nationals Upset Marlies
London Nationals coach Turk Broda, one of the game’s greatest all-time netminders, had to draw some satisfaction from his 4-2 upset win over the Toronto Marlboros yesterday in an Ontario Hockey Association Junior A game at Maple Leaf Gardens. Broda’s protégé, Nationals goalkeeper Rocky Farr, was the star of the game for London.
Farr, a little guy with loads of confidence, made 44 saves to stymie the Marlboros at every turn. He faced 20 shots in the second period alone.
Broda was beaming after the game:
If we get that kind of goaltending in every game we’ll be in first place by the end of the year.
Moe St. Jacques led the London attack with two goals. Stan Allen and Brian Murphy added singles. Richie Bayes and Gerry Meehan replied for the Marlboros.
London’s defence pair of Jim Dorey and Billy Horton also was dominant for the winners.
Farr credits Broda with his team’s fine play early in the season:
Turk worked us really hard in camp and in the early part of the season. Some of the guys weren’t used to this type of coaching. But we learned. Turk has helped me a great deal. There’s not much he doesn’t know about playing goal. I used to wander a lot but he’s curing me of that.
In the only OHA game on Saturday, Oshawa defeated Peterborough 5-3 with three goals in the final seven minutes of the third period. Billy Little, Bill Scott, Peter Nevin, Chris Roberts and George Babcock scored for Oshawa. Joey Johnston, Mickey Redmond and John Vanderburg replied for the Petes.
Other Sunday games saw Kitchener Rangers and Niagara Falls Flyers tie 6-6 while St. Catharines downed Oshawa 4-2. The Hamiton-Montreal game was postponed.
At Kitchener, six players shared in the Niagara scoring. Tom Webster, Clem Tremblay, Marty Buchar, Don Marcotte, Derek Sanderson and Steve Atkinson were the goal-getters. Danny Seguin had two for the Rangers, with singles from John Barber, Jack McCreary, Wayne Gowing and Jim Krulicki.
St. Catharines came back from a 2-0 deficit to dump the Generals. Bob Sicinski, Jean-Paul Leblanc, John Fisher and Larry Gibbons had the Hawks markers. Jerry Dionne and Peter Nevin had given the Gens the early lead.
Notes:
- Larry Regan, scouting the NHL for the new Los Angeles Kings, says that Doug Harvey should be good enough to play in the expanded NHL next season.
- Bobby Baun will be back in the Toronto lineup for their Wednesday game against the Montreal Canadiens
- Bob Brown scored 3 goals to pace the Knoxville Knights to a 5-4 win over Greensboro in Eastern Hockey League play. (Historical note – one of the Greensboro scorers was future NHL coach Doug Carpenter)