Game 386
Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3
Thursday, October 16, 1958
Forum de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
Dickie Moore’s second goal of the game, with fewer than three minutes of playing time remaining, gave the Montréal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in a bitterly fought National Hockey League game here tonight.
The Leafs, who were down 2-0 at one time in the first period, fought back fiercely and went into the third period leading 3-2. But, despite superb play by goalkeeper Johnny Bower, they capitulated to incessant Montréal pressure in the final 20 minutes.
Maurice Richard and Bernie Geoffrion were the other Montréal scorers. Bobby Pulford scored two for the Leafs, 47 seconds apart in the first period, and Dave Creighton sent them into the lead in the second period.
This was the third win in four starts for the Stanley Cup champions, and the Leafs’ third successive loss.
But this was a more vigorous, more determined Toronto team than the one which dropped two games to the Chicago Black Hawks last weekend. The Leafs played a magnificent second period, kept on the offensive most of the time, but produced only one goal for their furious effort. Then they tried to play it safe in the third period, but nobody yet has perfected a safe system against the Canadiens.
Geoffrion tied the score for the Canadiens at 7:41 of the third period, on a power play with Leafs defenceman Tim Horton in the penalty box. Geoffrion blazed in a backhander after Bower had made three great stops seconds before.
Then, 10 minutes later, Moore and Henri Richard combined on one of their sweeps. Moore took Richard’s pass in the clear, and he rifled a 10-footer past Bower for the winning goal. The Leaf defence was scrambling in the middle of a relief shift at the time.
Maurice Richard opened the scoring at 8:36 of the first period, expertly drawing out Bower and shoving the puck in the net. Moore made it 2-0, swiping his own rebound into the net with Bower flat on the ice.
Pulford, aided by Brian Cullen’s fine playmaking, then went to work to tie the score. For his first goal, he grabbed Cullen’s trailer pass and lobbed a shot to the top right hand corner of the net. For his second goal, he split the defence of Tom Johnson and Jean-Guy Talbot and hammered a low shot past Jacques Plante.
The only goal of the second period was credited to Creighton. Allan Stanley drove a hard shot from the point, the puck hit Creighton’s stick and skimmed past Plante.
NOTES: Frank Mahovlich and André Pronovost had a scuffle in the first period. Mahovlich broke away from the linesmen and tried to keep the bout going…All Star defenceman Doug Harvey didn’t play for the Canadiens, and it was obvious he was missed…Leafs Dick Duff and George Armstrong got involved in an argument with rinkside fans at the end of the second period…Bert Olmstead of the Leafs was given a misconduct in the second period when he raised his stick at linesman Art Skov in a faceoff.
Story originally published in The Globe & Mail, October 17, 1958
BOXSCORE
1st Period
TOR PEN – 01:47 – Stanley, interference
MTL GOAL – 08:36 – M. Richard (H. Richard, Turner)
TOR PEN – 09:37 – Brewer, holding
MTL PEN – 13:17 – Pronovost, interference + fighting major + misconduct
TOR PEN – 13:17 – Mahovlich, fighting major + misconduct
MTL GOAL – 15:51 – Moore (H. Richard, Johnson)
TOR GOAL – 17:24 – Pulford (Cullen, Horton)
TOR GOAL – 18:11 – Pulford (Cullen, Stanley)
MTL PEN – 20:00 – Provost, slashing
2nd Period
TOR PP GOAL – 01:36 – Creighton (Armstrong, Stanley)
MTL PEN – 05:58 – Marshall, tripping
MTL PEN – 08:20 – M. Richard, holding
TOR PEN – 13:29 – Mahovlich, hooking
TOR PEN – 13:29 – Olmstead, misconduct
MTL PEN – 19:26 – Johnson, charging
3rd Period
TOR PEN – 05:55 – Horton, cross checking
MTL PP GOAL – 07:41 – Geoffrion (Béliveau, H. Richard)
MTL GOAL – 17:09 – Moore (H. Richard, Johnson)
GOALTENDERS
MTL – Plante (W, 36-39)
TOR – Bower (L, 36-40)
SHOTS ON GOAL
MTL – 14+10+16 = 40
TOR – 13+14+12 = 39
ROSTERS
MTL – Goaltenders: Jacques Plante. Defence: Ian Cushenan, Tom Johnson, Jean-Guy Talbot, Bob Turner. Forwards: Ralph Backstrom, Jean Béliveau, Marcel Bonin, Bernie Geoffrion, Phil Goyette, Don Marshall, Ab McDonald, Dickie Moore, André Pronovost, Claude Provost, Henri Richard, Maurice Richard (C).
TOR – Goaltenders: Johnny Bower. Defence: Carl Brewer, Tim Horton, Steve Kraftcheck, Allan Stanley. Forwards: George Armstrong (C), Dave Creighton, Brian Cullen, Dick Duff, Billy Harris, Frank Mahovlich, Willie Marshall, Bert Olmstead, Bob Pulford, Ron Stewart.
TEAM RECORDS
MTL – 3-1-0 (.750)
TOR – 0-3-0 (.000)
ATTENDANCE
13,714
Two Solitudes 