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For the penultimate Original-Six season, 1965-66, the final regular-season games were played on April 3rd. Two of the three games that night offered fans record-setting moments. The Toronto Maple Leafs tied the Red Wings at the Detroit Olympia when they became the first NHL team to use three goalies in one game. Meanwhile, at Boston Garden, Bobby Hull of the Chicago Blackhawks set a new scoring record with his 97th point. Because the Bruins won that game while the New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins broke their five-season streak as the NHL cellar-dwellers.

For the 13,909 at Boston Garden, the highlights came at the very beginning and the very end. Just one minute and one second into the game, “Hull intercepted a pass behind the net and slipped the puck to Stan Mikita, who was alone in front.” The Chicago Tribune continued, “The tricky center pushed it past Goalie Ed Johnston for his 30th goal of the season.” 

The assist gave Hull 97 points, which broke a record and placed him first in the scoring race. The previous record of 96 points was set by Dickie Moore during the 1958-59 season. By that time, Hull previously had tallied 54 goals, which also set the record and made him the leading goal-scorer. Hull naturally earned the Art Ross Trophy as top scorer as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP.

The rest of the action mainly took place during the third period. Just 21 seconds into it, Chicago caught up. Boston did not let that stand and netted two goals within 30 seconds to win 4-2. As the game ended, they received word that the Rangers had lost to remain at 47 points, boosting the Bruins up to fifth place with 48 points. The fans gave a five-minute ovation in celebration of not landing in the cellar for a sixth-straight season.

Even with their loss, Chicago finished the season in second place (for the eighth time) with 82 points.

Meanwhile, over at Olympia, 14,103 fans watched Coach Punch Imlach manipulate the rule book to juggle all his goalies. The first period ended with the Leafs leading 2-0 after goalie Johnny Bower made ten saves. Despite being “flawless,” Imlach removed Bower on the grounds of illness and set him to work helping coach. According to Imlach, “Yeah, he said he was sick, but I asked him if he could stand up. He said he could and said all right, it might make you feel better anyway.”

In the second period, with Terry Sawchuk replacing Bower in net, the Leafs scored again. Sawchuk made seven saves but let Norm Ullman slip one past him with less than three minutes remaining. With his .875 save percentage, Imlach pulled him for “some twinges in a bad knee.”

For the final period, Imlach sent Bruce Gamble to the net. Unfortunately, the goaltender was “shaky … fighting the puck and losing it several times.” He allowed two goals in under a minute at about the midway mark. His nine saves left him with a save percentage of .818. Meanwhile, in the other net, Roger Crozier made up for the three he allowed at the beginning by making 30 saves and ending the game with a .909 save percentage. The Leafs’ experiment of using a goalie per period had left them to settle with a tie.

Toronto was the first team to use three goalies in a game because it was usually a “bit illegal unless there is an emergency.” Thus, Detroit complained of their irritation with Imlach “playing with” the code, but they “got nowhere.” Imlach bluntly remarked, “I declare it an emergency, that protects me with the rules.”

Their matchup made no difference to the standings. Toronto came in third with 79 points, and Detroit followed them in fourth with 74. The two Canadian teams would play each other in the semi-finals while the two Midwest teams would faceoff simultaneously. Montreal swept Toronto, and Detroit beat Chicago 4-2. In the Stanley Cup Final, Montreal won the championship.      

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