Game 143
Maple Leafs 2, Canadiens 1
Thursday, March 18, 1937
Forum de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
Gordon Drillon’s third period goal gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 2-1 victory over the Canadiens here tonight. The win gave the Leafs the necessary points to finish the season with a better record than the New York Rangers, whom they will meet in the playoffs.
Broda made a stabbing catch of Haynes’ hard smash to a top corner, then tossed aside a drive from “Babe” Siebert, as the Canadiens’ first stringers held the scoring Leaf line in check. There was a lot of scrambling around the goalmouths, but the goalies had a comparatively easy time, Cude easily stopping two rushes led by Fowler.
The Leafs went ahead at 11:04, after the first lines came back. “Hap” Day started the rush, giving the puck to Syl Apps after both had rushed through the Canadiens’ defence. Apps slid a short poke under Cude as the goalie came out to meet him. Seconds later, McGill had Broda all alone, but the Leaf goalie outguessed him.
With nothing at stake for his Canadiens, Cecil Hart mixed his lines, keeping only the first string intact. It was dull hockey, with little bodychecking and few close-up chances.
In the closing minutes, as the Canadiens played five up while “Red” Horner served a tripping penalty, Cude came far out to try for a bouncing puck. It went over him, and Davidson flipped it goalward, only to have Joliat appear suddenly and skate off with the puck as it touched the line.
The Canadiens went in fast for the first few minutes and kept Broda hopping. Siebert and Desilets broke from a Leaf ganging attack, but the play was muffed when Desilets failed to handle the Babe’s fast pass. The Frenchmen maintained the pressure, and Haynes came close on one try as he, Gagnon and Joliat buzzed around the Leafs’ defence. A couple of hard drives by Conacher were all Cude handled in seven minutes.
Lorrain tied the game at the eight minute mark, scoring with a slow shot from a few feet after Brown’s pass sent him close to Broda. The game was delayed while the cleaners scraped nags of sand off the ice, hurled there by the “millionaires” in protest of Horner’s bodychecking tactics.
Story originally published in The Globe & Mail, March 19, 1937
BOXSCORE
1st Period
TOR GOAL – 11:04 – Apps (Day)
TOR PEN – Horner
2nd Period
MTL GOAL – 08:00 – Lorrain (Brown)
3rd Period
TOR PP GOAL – 18:46 – Drillon (Shill, Conacher)
MTL PEN – Buswell
GOALTENDERS
TOR – Broda (W)
MTL – Cude (L)
ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: Turk Broda. Defence: Hap Day (C), Jimmy Fowler, Reg Hamilton, Red Horner. Forwards: Syl Apps, Buzz Boll, Charlie Conacher, Bob Davidson, Gordie Drillon, Frank Finnigan, Busher Jackson, Nick Metz, Jack Shill, Bill Thoms.
MTL – Goaltenders: Wilf Cude. Defence: Walter Buswell, Bill MacKenzie, Georges Mantha. Forwards: George Brown, Joffre Desilets, Johnny Gagnon, Paul Haynes, Aurèle Joliat, Pit Lépine, Rod Lorrain, Jack McGill, Bill Miller, Armand Mondou, Babe Siebert (C).
TEAM RECORDS
TOR – 21-21-5 (.500)
MTL – 24-17-6 (.574)
Two Solitudes 