This Day in Hockey History – February 2, 1977 – Turnbull’s High Five

The Toronto Maple Leafs were playing host to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday, February 2, 1977. Going into the game, Leafs defenseman Ian Turnbull was experiencing a bit of a dry spell in the scoring department. According to The Ottawa Journal’s article on February 3rd, he “hadn’t scored in his last 30 National Hockey League games.” In looking at the statistics for the 1976-77 season it wasn’t quite as bleak as that, he had managed to score three goals—one in the Leafs away game against the Minnesota North Stars on January 23, 1977 and two goals in their away game against the Los Angeles Kings on January 18, 1977. However, aside from those two blips, Turnbull had no goals in the 25 other games, with his previous goal dating all the way back to November 30, 1976 when Toronto was at Nassau Veterans Memorial Arena playing against the New York Islanders.

Despite his difficulties Turnbull got the opportunity to play in the 1977 All-Star game on January 25, 1977 in Vancouver, after teammate Darryl Sittler was unable due to injury. However, he spent most of the game warming the bench. Prince of Wales Conference Coach Scotty Bowman gave him a couple of shifts at the start of the All-Star game, and then sat the d-man.

Bowman was quoted in the Daily News-Miner newspaper of Fairbanks, Alaska in the February 3rd edition, “I don’t care what he thinks of me for not playing him and I don’t think the fans do, either.”

Perhaps the hockey gods wanted to show Coach Bowman that he’d made a mistake, or maybe Turnbull simply used that benching as motivation, because he would accomplish something in the game against the Red Wings that no defenseman had ever done before.

Ian Turbull

After a terrible first period that had the Maple Leafs’ fans booing their team, Turnbull would put Toronto on the scoreboard 1:55 into the second period with his first shot on net in the game, off a pass from Lanny McDonald.  As the period continued, Pat Boutette, Don Ashby and Dave Williams would add three more goals before the period was half over. Then at 10:26, on his second shot on goal of the game, Turnbull, unassisted, “on a breakaway while the teams played with three skaters on each side because of penalties,” Turnbull would add his second of the game and Toronto would go into the second intermission up 5-0.

As the third period began, the Red Wings sat goaltender Ed Giacomin and played Jim Rutherford for the final twenty. It wouldn’t stop the Leafs though, as they would notch two more in the first ten of the final frame. Turnbull got this third, again unassisted, at 4:58, giving the Maple Leafs six goals. McDonald got the team’s seventh at 6:13. It would take the Red Wings more than 46 minutes to get on the score sheet, when Danny Grant finally scored for Detroit at 16:18. Turnbull wasn’t done though. He got his fourth of the game at 17:10 and his fifth at 18:30 to put the Maple Leafs up 9-1.

“It was a tough drought, although I had just as many chances in the last 30 games and nothing happened.” Turnbull told reporters. “When they go in, you smile. When they don’t you try again.”

Even with them going in, Turnbull didn’t stop trying. And by the end of the game he had become the first defenseman to get five goals on five shots on net.

“No defenseman had even scored four since Hap Day, also of the Maple Leafs did it against the old Pittsburgh Pirates on Nov. 19, 1929,” stated the Daily News-Miner.

Turnbull, who had been drafted by Toronto in 1973 in the first round (15th overall), would go on to play five more seasons with the Maple Leafs—a total of nine—before playing with the Los Angeles Kings during the 1981-82 season and finishing up his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1982-83. He retired having played 628 games in which he scored 123 goals and had 317 assists for 440 points.

Additional Sources:

• “New goal mark for Turnbull,” Daily News-Miner (Fairbanks, Alaska), February 3, 1977, p. A-14
• “Turnbull sets record,” The Ottawa Journal, February 3, 1977, p. 22.