Game 446
Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 4
Thursday, November 29, 1962
Forum de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
The Montréal Canadiens scored three goals during a three minute onslaught early in the third period here tonight to salvage a 4-4 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a helter-skelter National Hockey League game.
The Leafs went into the third period with a 4-1 lead, after scoring four goals in the second period, but the Canadiens jolted them with an explosive rally that was reminiscent of their powerful offence of a few years ago.
As a result of the tie, the Leafs and Canadiens remained in a tie for third place.
A crowd of 14,086, mindful of the Canadiens’ unimpressive home record in recent games, derided their heroes throughout the second period, but they corrected this vocal faux pas in the final 20 minutes. In their last seven games at the Forum, the Canadiens have won one, tied three and lost three.
Henri Richard, Bernie Geoffrion, Gilles Tremblay and Claude Provost scored for the Canadiens. It was Tremblay’s 11th goal of the season. Frank Mahovlich, who played one of his best games of the campaign, scored twice for the Leafs, his 10th and 11th of the schedule. Ron Stewart and Ed Shack were the Leafs’ other scorers.
Neither team placed much stress on defensive hockey, and as a result, it was an exasperating evening for goalkeepers Jacques Plante of the Canadiens and the Leafs’ Don Simmons.
Pregame speculation that Johnny Bower would play in goal for the Leafs was not clarified until shortly before game time by Leafs manager-coach George Imlach.
Jean-Guy Talbot, the Canadiens’ all-star defenceman, missed the entire second period while he retired to the Forum clinic to have treatment for infected tonsils. His replacement, Jean Gauthier, couldn’t cope with the Leafs’ attack, and they concentrated on his indecision to score two goals. He was sitting in the penalty box when they scored a third. Talbot returned in the third period to stabilize Montréal’s defence.
Richard scored the only goal of the first period, after Rousseau romped down left wing and around the Leafs defence. Rousseau threw a pass to the other side of the rink and Richard, who cut in sharply from right wing, shot the puck in the right side before Simmons could move to block it.
Gauthier was off for holding Mahovlich early in the second period when the Leafs’ big left winger scored his first goal. Defenceman Kent Douglas slid a pass in front of the Montréal net, and Mahovlich thrust the puck past Plante.
Pulford launched a hard shot out of the right corner in the Montréal zone, and Stewart steered it int the net for the Leafs’ second goal. Mahovlich made it 3-1 with a whirlwind rush down the left boards.
He didn’t even nod at Gauthier as he swept by him and, from an awkward angle near the boards, he drove a hard shot into the opposite side of the net.
Shack, in his first and only appearance on the ice, scored the Leafs’ fourth goal less than a minute later. While cruising in front of the Montréal net, he flipped Harris’ pass into the goal while the besieged Plante shook his head.
There was a great deal of pro-Toronto cheering at this point, but it should have been saved. The Canadiens tied the score with three goals in two minutes and 48 seconds in the third period.
Geoffrion, although being checked by Toronto defenceman Tim Horton in front of the Leafs’ goal, cuffed a short backhander inside the left post at the 14 second mark. Gilles Tremblay drove a shot in the right side after Richard had circled the Toronto net to set up the score. Provost, back in action after a three game absence, tied it with a backhand shot, after trapping a pass from Don Marshall.
Imlach announced tonight that forward Jim Mikol, 24, acquired from the Cleveland Barons last summer, has been returned to Cleveland. Imlach said Mikol has been loaned to Cleveland, subject to immediate recall.
Mikol’s departure cuts the Leafs’ roster down to two goalies, five defencemen and 11 forwards, to comply with NHL regulations.
Up until December 1 a club is allowed to carry 17 players, exclusive of goalies, but after that date the league limit is 16 plus the goaltenders.
Story originally published in The Globe & Mail, November 30, 1962
BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL GOAL – 11:33 – Richard (Rousseau, Johnson)
TOR PEN – 19:04 – Horton, hooking
2nd Period
MTL PEN – 01:44 – Gauthier, holding
TOR PP GOAL – 01:57 – Mahovlich (Douglas, Harris)
TOR GOAL – 05:33 – Stewart (Pulford)
TOR GOAL – 14:30 – Mahovlich
TOR GOAL – 15:18 – Shack (Harris, Brewer)
3rd Period
MTL GOAL – 00:14 – Geoffrion (Béliveau)
MTL GOAL – 01:24 – G. Tremblay (Richard, Johnson)
MTL GOAL – 03:02 – Provost (Marshall, Goyette)
TOR PEN – 11:20 – Brewer, tripping
MTL PEN – 19:42 – Johnson, delay of game
GOALTENDERS
MTL – Plante (T, 28-32)
TOR – Simmons (T, 29-33)
ROSTERS
MTL – Goaltenders: Jacques Plante. Defence: Lou Fontinato, Jean Gauthier, Tom Johnson, Jean-Guy Talbot, J.C. Tremblay. Forwards: Ralph Backstrom, Jean Béliveau (C), Red Berenson, Bernie Geoffrion, Phil Goyette, Bill Hicke, Don Marshall, Dickie Moore, Claude Provost, Henri Richard, Bobby Rousseau, Gilles Tremblay.
TOR – Goaltenders: Don Simmons. Defence: Bobby Baun, Carl Brewer, Kent Douglas, Tim Horton, Red Kelly, Allan Stanley. Forwards: George Armstrong (C), Dick Duff, Billy Harris, Dave Keon, Ed Litzenberger, Frank Mahovlich, Bob Nevin, Bob Pulford, Eddie Shack, Ron Stewart.
TEAM RECORDS
MTL – 8-6-6 (.550)
TOR – 10-9-2 (.524)
ATTENDANCE
14,086
Two Solitudes 