This Day in Hockey History – March 23, 1944 – Rocket Gets All the Goals and Stars

Mar 23, 2020

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At the beginning of the 1943-44 regular season, Montreal Canadiens head coach Dick Irvin elected to combine three of his forwards into what became a scoring trio that was almost unstoppable. Elmer Lach centered the line with Toe Blake on his left and Maurice Richard on the right. A result of their “scoring punch” this line has gone down in the history books as the Punch Line.

While it wouldn’t be until the 1944-45 season that Maurice Richard would become the first NHL player to score 50 goals in 50 games, during the 1944 playoffs he put on a scoring clinic during the second game of the semi-finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The game took place at the Montreal Forum on March 23, 1944, before a crowd of 12,243 fans who definitely got their money’s worth—well if they were cheering for the Canadiens. Going into the game, Montreal was down one game, having lost the first of the series two nights prior, falling 3-1 to the Leafs.

“It was a fighting mad Canaden team that hit the ice tonight, and while the Richard-Lach-Blake line was outstanding, every Canuck turned in a stellar effort. Bill Durnan was tops in the the nets and showed the crowd tonight what he had failed to demonstrate in the opening game—why he took the Vezina Trophy as the league’s leading goalie during the regular season,” wrote Harold Freeman of The Ottawa Journal.

Going into the second game the Leafs believed that if they could limit Richard’s scoring that they would be able to win the game. Unfortunately, the “Rocket” didn’t get that memo and instead the Leafs found themselves unable to do anything about Richard or the rest of his Punch Line linemates.

During the first game, Leafs defenseman Bob Davidson had been assigned the task of keeping Richard off the scoresheet, and it had worked so well, that their plan was to have Davidson do the same thing in the second game. However, Coach Irvin had decided how he could get around that approach by playing Richard on all three of his forward lines. That meant that Davidson couldn’t be out there to stymie Richard all the time.

“Half the time he was out there, Davidson was sitting on the bench and Richard made a monkey of the younger Leafs who tried to take over the task of shadowing him,” reported Dink Carroll of The Gazette.

Richard was kept off the scoresheet during the first period. He notched his first goal 1:48 into the second period assisted by Mike McMahon and Blake. Seventeen seconds later, Richard had his second goal of the game, this time assisted by Blake and Lach. While Richard was sitting for the first of his two penalties in the middle frame, Toronto was able to cut the lead in half, when Reg Hamilton was able to get one past Durnan. However, Richard reinstated the two-goal lead when he got his third goal of the game just 3:14 before the end of the second period.

Richard’s fourth goal was scored at the one-minute mark of the third period, while on the power play. And he went on to put a fork in it and declare it done when he notched his fifth goal of the game at 8:54 of the final period. And perhaps it was fitting that his fifth goal was the most impressive.

“This time he grabbed Toe’s pass and went around Reg Hamilton on one foot, circled over in front of [Paul] Bibeault and poked the puck between the Toronto netminder’s slightly spread feet,” wrote Carroll.

“The veteran Hector (Toe) Blake was in on every Montreal goal and Elmer Lach was in on the last four. Mike McMahon got a point via No. 1, for all five were double-assist scores,” reported The Windsor Star.

Richard’s fifth goal of the game set a new record for number of goals by a single player in a playoff game and linemate Blake set a record for number of assists. Prior to Richard’s explosive scoring during this game the most goals scored by a single player during a playoff game had been three. Four players had been able to accomplish that: Bryan Hextall, Frankie Boucher, Busher Jackson, and Don Metz.

Richard also became the first player to be awarded all three stars of the game as a result of his five goals. However, The Ottawa Journal’s Freeman believed that some of the accolades and applause should have been given to Blake and Lach. “But while it was Richard who drew the thunderous applause of the sell-out 12,000 fans, it was hard working Elmer Lach and Toe Blake who set up the plays that brought the goals.” Freeman went on to refer to their passes as “flawless.”

The Punch Line continued through the 1947-48 season, ending only when Blake retired. All three of them have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame: Richard in 1961, with Blake and Lach following in 1966.

Additional Sources:

Dink Carroll, “Flashy Habitant Sets New Play-off Scoring Record—Lach, Blake Stand Out,”The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), Friday, March 24, 1944, p. 16.
Harold Freeman, “Richard’s Five Goals Set Record When Canadiens Beat Leafs,” The Ottawa Journal (Ottawa, Ontario), Friday, March 24, 1944, p. 19.
“Richard Gets Every Goal, For Record, As Habitants Win 5-1,” The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario), Friday, March 24, 1944, Second Section, p. 3.