This Day in Hockey History – December 12, 1963 – It Takes Two

There are some games that if you happen to miss the first couple of minutes it’s no big deal. When the New York Rangers visited the Montreal Canadiens playing before 12,818 at the Montreal Forum on December 12, 1963, if you missed the first 90 seconds you missed a lot.

Going into the game, the Canadiens were missing three of their regulars: Bill Hicke and John Ferguson, along with rookie defenseman Jacques Laperriere—who had suffered a broken bone in his left foot when the Canadiens took on the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago Arena on Sunday, December 8, 1963. In place of Laperriere, the Canadiens slotted in rookie Bryan Watson who was making his first NHL appearance.

“The first three goals, two by Canadiens six seconds apart and one by the Blues 12 seconds later, may have set some kind of record. They came in the space of a minute and 16 seconds after the opening whistle and 18 seconds apart,” said Pat Curran of The Gazette.

Indeed, it was a record—the fastest two goals scored by two teams.

Within 58 seconds of the initial puck drop Montreal found themselves up 1-0 when Dave Balon was able to put in a rebound from Ralph Backstrom’s shot, scoring on his former team.  Six seconds later Gilles Tremblay “drilled a 25-footer through Villemure,” to give the Canadiens a two-goal lead at 1:04 of the first. The Rangers responded 12 seconds later, when Camille Henry got his tenth of the season, assisted by Rod Gilbert and Phil Goyette.

The fans in attendance would have to be patient after that flurry of goals, though the Habs would be up 5-1 by the end of the opening period. At 8:15, while Rangers’ Jim Neilson was off in the sin bin for high sticking, Jean Beliveau gave Montreal a 3-1 lead with a power play goal. Just a little more than six minutes later at 14:33, Tremblay notched his second of the game and the period, this time a power play goal, assisted by Beliveau and Bernie Geoffrion. Geoffrion would add another marker for the Bleu, blanc et rouge at 19:09 with assists from Jean-Guy Talbot and Bobby Rousseau.

It seemed like the game was a given for the home team going into the first intermission, as they led 5-1 at that point.

During the second, there was but a single goal scored, and this one was for the “blueshirts,” when Vic Hadfield gave the Rangers their second of the game. “Hadfield deflected McKenney’s shot from the side [past] Hodge at 15:58,” reported the Daily News.

Things still looked good for the Canadiens who had a three-goal lead going into the third frame and added another off forward Red Berenson, with assists from Henri Richard and Rousseau at 3:38. However, the Rangers weren’t done, refusing to roll over and quit. Rod Gilbert notched two for New York in the third. His first came at 7:52, assisted by Goyette, and he followed that up at 11:27 with another, this time the helpers went to Don McKenney and Jim Neilson. With 8:33 remaining in regulation the Rangers were within two goals of a tie.

The Canadiens’ bench boss, Toe Blake, wasn’t too pleased with his team, despite their pulling out the 6-4 win at the final horn.

“They thought they were going to fill the net with goals behind that young netminder and got point hungry,” said Blake.

His reference was to rookie goaltender Gilles Villemure, who was playing in just his fifth NHL game. He’d been brought up from the Baltimore Clippers while the Rangers regular goalie, Jacques Plante, was recovering after having injured his shoulder. Villemure made his debut against the Boston Bruins on November 20, 1963. His first three starts he had managed to help his team to three ties, however, a lack of support by New York’s defensemen when the Rangers lost to the Chicago Blackhawks at Madison Square Garden the night before the Rangers were to play in Montreal had resulted in his first loss. He’d let in six goals that night too.

“The Blueshirts defense was at its worst, which is pretty awful. The result was the most one-sided beating the Blues have taken at home this year and the first loss for Gilles Villemure, the rookie goalie who is serving as stand-in for injured Jacques Plante. Until last night, Villemure had tended well enough to get three ties,” reported Joe Trimble in the Daily News.

It was perhaps this performance that had Blake’s Montreal players seeing goals a plenty as a likelihood, especially after they went up 5-1 in the first. The Canadiens’ vice president, Ken Reardon, gave the credit for the win to their goaltender, Charlie Hodge. “If it hadn’t been for Goalie Charlie Hodge, the score might have been 6-5 New York in the second period.”

Reardon’s comments made it sound like the Rangers had vastly outshot the Canadiens, but the shots were relatively close, with the Rangers edging Montreal 40-39.

Additional Sources:

• Pat Curran, “Habs Outlast Rangers 6-4, Almost Collapse After 5-1 Lead,” The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), Friday, December 13, 1963, p. 22.
• “Canadiens Clobber Rangers, 6-4,” Daily News (New York, New York), Friday, December 13, 1963, p. 23C.
• Joe Trimble, “Hawks 6-2 Blues; Stan: 3,” Daily News (New York, New York), Thursday, December 12, 1963, p. 107.