Game 184
Maple Leafs 8, Canadiens 0
Saturday, November 21, 1942
Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario
Although coach Dick Irvin tossed out decoy formations in a studied effort to provide a smoke screen for Gordie Drillon at Maple Leaf Gardens Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs refused to be lured into any trap.
Instead, the Leafs answered the Irvin strategy program with a rolling attack that carried them to a lopsided 8-0 victory over the Montréal Canadiens.
It was distinctly a Toronto show from the early stages of the first period. The Leafs pumped two goals past Paul Bibeault in the first twenty minute stretch, two more in the second, and four in the third.
A crowd of 13,940, the greatest of the local NHL season and the largest to salute the Canadiens since the palmy days of the late Howie Morenz, came to see what ex-Leaf Gord Drillon had to offer in enemy regalia, and stayed to watch the Toronto club blanket him into a shadow.
Coach Dick Irvin, in a surprise forward line shift, used Drillon as right wing mate for Terry Reardon and Toe Blake. He had previously been mated with O’Connor and Getliffe this season. When this new arrangement failed, Tricky Dick tried alternating Gord between two front line combinations. But it simply wasn’t Drillon’s night to howl, despite the fact the box office business had been built up on his first Toronto appearance in a foreign uniform.
The 8-0 sweep enabled Turk Broda to register the second shutout credited to any National League netminder this winter. He thoroughly deserved it.
The Canadiens were hopelessly outclassed after the early stages of the first period, when Dave Schriner and Gaye Stewart slapped pucks back of Bibeault.
In the second period, Davidson and Apps built up the Toronto margin to four goals. In the third, Carr, Poile, Schriner and Hill poured in the counters that completed the shellacking of a disappointing Montréal club.
Bibeault, the Canadiens’ netminder, was afforded weak defence protection all through the contest, and no one of Irvin’s forward line combinations was able to offer the potential scoring punch anticipated by the customers.
Before the game, Drillon was presented with a suitcase by Toronto friends. The presentation was made in the Montréal dressing room. Drillon tried to respond on the ice, but he became just another hockey player, lost in the shadows of the superior performances of his ex-mates.
Gaye Stewart’s first period goal was his eighth of the season. He had one assist. Schriner bagged two goals to bring his total to seven.
The Apps line, linking Syl with Davidson and Hill, came through with its best local showing of the early season.
Bobby Copp’s end-to-end rush and pass-out in front of the Montréal cage for the Apps goal in the second period was one of the picture plays of the night.
Story originally published in The Globe & Mail, November 23, 1942
BOXSCORE
1st Period
TOR GOAL – 11:06 – Schriner (Taylor, Hamilton)
TOR GOAL – 11:30 – Stewart (McDonald)
2nd Period
TOR GOAL – 12:22 – Davidson (Hill, Apps)
TOR GOAL – 18:47 – Apps (Copp, Davidson)
MTL PEN SHOT – Richard missed
TOR PEN – McDonald
MTL PENS – Bouchard, Drillon
3rd Period
TOR GOAL – 03:00 – Carr (Schriner, Taylor)
TOR GOAL – 06:18 – Poile (Stewart, Thomson)
TOR GOAL – 08:51 – Schriner (Copp, Carr)
TOR GOAL – 10:41 – Hill (McDonald, Apps)
GOALTENDERS
TOR – Broda (W + SO)
MTL – Bibeault (L)
ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: Turk Broda. Defence: Bobby Copp, Reg Hamilton, Bucko McDonald, Rhys Thomson. Forwards: Syl Apps (C), Lorne Carr, Bob Davidson, Hank Goldup, Mel Hill, Jack McLean, Bud Poile, Sweeney Schriner, Gaye Stewart, Billy Taylor.
MTL – Goaltenders: Paul Bibeault. Defence: Butch Bouchard, Jack Portland. Forwards: Joe Benoit, Toe Blake (C), Gordie Drillon, Ray Getliffe, Tony Graboski, Dutch Hiller, Elmer Lach, Leo Lamoureux, Buddy O’Connor, Terry Reardon, Maurice Richard, Charlie Sands.
TEAM RECORDS
TOR – 5-2-0 (.714)
MTL – 3-5-0 (.375)
ATTENDANCE
13,940
Two Solitudes 