The Montreal Canadiens completely dismantled the New York Rangers by a score of 9-3 last night in one of three National Hockey League games.

The other two matches saw the Toronto Maple Leafs with their second straight 3-1 upset win, this time against the Chicago Black Hawks in Toronto, and Detroit doubled Boston 4-2.

Habs Score Early and Often

The Rangers – Canadiens game in Montreal was over early, as the Habs scored six times in the opening 20 minutes to quickly remove all doubt. They actually increased their lead to 8-0 in the third period before New York struck for three quick goals.

Ralph Backstrom

Bobby Rousseau and Ralph Backstrom were the scoring heroes for Canadiens with three goals each. Rousseau added two assists for a five-point evening, good enough to boost him past Bobby Hull into the lead in the NHL individual scoring race. Jean Beliveau also had a five-point game, scoring once and adding four helpers. Other Montreal snipers were Gilles Tremblay and Dave Balon.

Bob Nevin scored his seventh and eighth goals of the year after Don Marshall netted New York’s first marker. The three Ranger goals came within a minute and 15 seconds.

Ed Giacomin, Rangers’ rookie goalkeeper, could hardly be blamed for the loss. He received virtually no support from his mates. At one point, Backstrom, on his second goal, took the puck directly from the faceoff at centre ice after Balon’s tally and walked in unencumbered on Giacomin to score only six seconds later.

Team Effort for Leafs

Dave Keon

In Toronto, the Maple Leafs came up with a solid all-round team effort to upset the powerful Black Hawks. The Leafs put their team speed to good use and outworked the visitors throughout the game. It was only Chicago’s third loss in 11 games.

Dave Keon paced the Toronto attack with two goals, with Frank Mahovlich connecting for the other. Defenseman Marcel Pronovost had two assists.

Bobby Hull’s 15^th of the season ruined Terry Sawchuk’s shutout bid. His goal had given the Hawks an early 1-0 lead in the first period. The Golden Jet drove a blazing slap shot from just inside the blue line past Sawchuk. There aren’t many goaltenders on the planet who would have been able to corral that blast.

Frank Mahovlich tied it for the Leafs about nine minutes after Hull’s tally. He fired a shot from the corner that Hawks rookie goalie Dave Dryden played awkwardly, deflecting the puck into his own goal.

Keon scored one in each of the next two periods, with Mahovlich assisting on both. It was easily Keon’s best game of the season.

Toronto dominated the game, firing 42 shots at the youngster Dryden. He played well, and could easily have sued his team for non-support. Other than the poor technique on Mahovlich’s goal, Dryden couldn’t be blamed for the loss.

Smith Pots Two for Wings

Floyd Smith

Veteran forward Floyd Smith was the scoring hero for the Detroit Red Wings, potting a pair of goals in their 4-2 win in Boston. Red Wing superstar Gordie Howe, still on a quest for his 600^th career goal, was once again blanked.

The Bruins grabbed the early lead on a goal be Eddie Westfall, his third, at 7:42 of the first. Alex Delvecchio scored just before the 14-minute mark to tie it up 1-1 at the end of one.

Boston went back in front at 7:42 of the second as former Red Wing Parker MacDonald, on a setup by former Maple Leaf Ron Stewart, beat Wings goalie Roger Crozier. Smith’s first of the night at 14:22 evened things up again. Paul Henderson notched his fifth before the end of the period to put the Wings in front to stay.

Smith added some insurance with the only goal of the final frame, thanks to a very nice pass by left winger Ab McDonald.

The Red Wings fired 38 shots, 18 in the final period, at Boston goalkeeper Bernie Parent. The Bruins had 35 tries at Crozier.

Generals, Baby Habs OHA Winners

The Oshawa Generals met little resistance from the Hamilton Red Wings as they skated to a 7-2 win over the Wings. Montreal Junior Canadiens downed the London Nationals 6-3 in the other OHA game.

Sandy Snow

Hamilton led Oshawa by 2-0 before seven minutes had passed in their game. Kevin Petit and Sandy Snow did the damage for the Red Wings. Oshawa then came back with seven straight to win going away.

Defenseman Bobby Orr and George Babcock each scored two for the Gens. Singles came off the sticks of Danny O’Shea, Chris Hayes and Bill Dussiaume.

Montreal scored three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the Nats in Montreal. Jacques Lemaire, Lucien Grenier and Serge Savard connected in the first to give the Baby Habs a 3-1 lead at the end of one. Randy Murray had the London goal.

The Nationals woke up in the middle stanza and tied the game on goals by Neil Clark and Dave Gorman.

Montreal coach Scotty Bowman read the riot act to his troops prior to the final 20 minutes and they came out like a team possessed. Jacques Lemaire’s second of the game was the winner at 2:31. Carol Vadnais and Chris Bordeleau rounded out the scoring.

Bears Maul Baltimore

Pete Conacher

The Hershey Bears mauled the Baltimore Clippers 8-2 in one of three American Hockey League tilts last night. Pittsburgh blanked Springfield 5-0 while Cleveland took care of Providence 6-3.

Wayne Rivers and Pete Conacher each scored three times to pace the Bears against the Clippers. Gary Dornhoefer and Gene Ubriaco had the other Hershey markers. Billy Knibbs and Ken Schinkel were the Baltimore goal-getters.

Murray Hall led the Pittsburgh scoring parade against the Indians with two goals. Bob Cunningham, Irv Spencer and Ted Hampson added singles. George Gardner recorded his second shutout of the season for the Hornets.

Joe Szura was a two-goal man for Cleveland in their win over Providence. Other Cleveland marksmen were Keith McCreary, Bob Courcy, Ron Atwell and Bob Ellett. Jim Mikol, Eddie Kachur and Serge Boudreault replied for the Reds.