New York Rangers captain Bob Nevin fired three goals to lead his team to a 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins in a bitterly fought game last night at Madison Square Garden. But the real news was made after the contest when Rangers president William Jennings declared he was placing a bounty on Boston defenseman Ted Green.

The other two National Hockey League games were nail-biters that saw Toronto and Chicago battle to a 1-1 tie and the Detroit Red Wings nip Montreal Canadiens 1-0.

Five Points for Nevin

Bob Nevin

The game in New York was one of the most turbulent in recent history at Madison Square Garden.  Fights, spearing majors, milestone events and 10 goals between the two clubs made for a crowd-pleasing night. Nevin was the big star with three goals and two assists for a five-point evening. The milestone hit was New York’s Earl Ingarfield’s 100^th NHL goal.

The win gave the Rangers a split with their weekend home and home with the Bruins and a four-point margin in fifth place. They remain 10 points out of a playoff spot.

Rookie Bernie Parent started in goal for the Bruins and didn’t have one of his best nights. He played the first 40 minutes surrendering five goals on only 18 New York shots. Nevin and Don Marshall scored first period goals for the Rangers, with Phil Goyette, Ingarfield and Nevin counting in the middle frame. Don Awrey got the Bruins on the board with their only goal of the second.

Ed Johnston replaced Parent in the third and the Rangers immediately seemed to intensify their attack, pouring 23 shots at the Boston cage. Only Nevin managed to beat Johnston with his third of the game, but the veteran Boston netminder was outstanding in the period, making several spectacular saves.

Ed Johnston – fine relief job.

The Bruins scored three times in the third to make the score more respectable than it should have been. Murray Oliver netted a pair with Al Langlois getting the other.

In spite of all the offence, the game had more than its share of ugliness, with Green spearheading (literally) the nastiest action. He was assessed 36 minutes in penalties and $75 in fines for various transgressions, the most serious of which was a vicious spear to the abdomen of Rangers Goyette.

The list of Green’s penalties in last night’s game reads more like something a team might incur within a week. He was nicked for (in order) a minor for high-sticking, a 10-minute misconduct for disputing a referee’s call, a minor for interference, a five-minute major for spearing, another minor for high-sticking, a major for fighting and a misconduct for receiving two majors in a game.

Green’s display raised the ire of Ranger president Bill Jennings who declared a bounty on Green’s head after the game:

I think the Bruins have wild animals on their team. When bears run wild in Maine, the state declares a bounty for shooting the bear. I declare a bounty on Green.

Goyette was the victim on Green’s spearing penalty but wasn’t seriously injured. He commented:

“Green is dangerous. All you have to do is take the puck from him and he’ll put his stick in you.”

Leafs Unhappy with Buffey

Red Kelly

On most weekends the Toronto Maple Leafs would be more than happy with a 1-1 tie at Chicago Stadium after a 5-3 win at home the evening before. But last night’s game left the Leafs livid with the work of referee Vern Buffey.

While most Toronto players declined comment on the officiating, assistant manager King Clancy wasn’t shy about voicing his assessment of Buffey’s night:

“If Hawks can’t beat us with that kind of refereeing, they’ll never beat us. That was the worst I’ve ever seen. Buffey let them get away with murder.

“Then he gives Sam (Allan Stanley) a five-minute major for high-sticking and lets Nesterenko off with two minutes after he started the whole thing. Hawks should have had at least 10 penalties.

“They got their goal while Tim Horton was off for holding and a minute before Dave Keon had to run the gauntlet in their end of the rink.”

Chicago coach Billy Reay knew his team was fortunate and laughed as he said:

“That’s the kind of game I like – plenty of thump and no cheap penalties. The referee let the teams decide the issue. It was robust but not dirty.”

Glenn Hall

Leafs had a 1-0 lead at the end of two periods on Red Kelly’s goal that was mainly the result of some great work by Bob Pulford. Pulford led a rush on the Chicago net and dropped a nifty pass to Kelly who made no mistake on his shot at Chicago goalie Glenn Hall.

Chico Maki tied the score with the third period’s only marker. Maki was the beneficiary of a patented Bobby Hull slap shot that Toronto goalie Terry Sawchuk made a great save on. Sawchuk wasn’t able to corral the rebound and Maki was Johnny-on-the-spot to whip the puck into the Toronto net.

The game was a tense affair with a definite playoff atmosphere. The great goaltending of Sawchuk and Hall contributed to the tension, with both netminders standing tall at crucial junctures of the game.

Delvecchio Detroit’s Hero

Alex Delvecchio

In the other NHL game, also with the earmarks of a playoff matchup, it was Alex Delvecchio’s goal in the final minute of the game that broke up a scoreless tie and gave the Detroit Red Wings a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

The game was close-checking with neither team giving an inch. Both goalies, Roger Crozier of the Red Wings and Montreal’s Gump Worsley were almost unbeatable. Crozier was especially great late in the game when Canadiens applied major pressure, as he made six big saves in the final three minutes.

Delvecchio’s goal came with 56 seconds left on the game clock. Worsley made a fine stop on Norm Ullman’s shot as he broke in on the left wing. Alex Delvecchio was right at the goal mouth and when the puck landed at Worsley’s feet, the Detroit captain quickly knocked it into the net.

This was the first time this season the Red Wings had managed to defeat Montreal.

OHA Busy With Four Games

It was a busy Sunday night in the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A League with four games on the docket. In the wildest game of the night, the Oshawa Generals won crazy offensive display by a score of 10-8 over the Montreal Junior Canadiens. The lowly London Knights upset St. Catharines Black Hawks 7-4, Hamilton Red Wings eked out a 5-4 win over Toronto Marlboros and Peterborough Petes handled Kitchener Rangers 5-2.

Bobby Orr scored four goals for Oshawa

At Montreal, Oshawa defenseman Bobby Orr continued his assault on the OHA record book with a four-goal performance. George Babcock added three goals, with Wayne Cashman, Billy Heindl and Danny O’Shea netting singles.

Jacques Lemaire led the Baby Habs attack with a hat trick. Lucien Grenier and Bernard Cote had a pair each, with Larry Pleau getting the other.

At St. Catharines, the Black Hawks blew a 3-0 first period lead to fall to the Knights. St. Catharines led on goals by Ken Laidlaw, Jim Stanfield and Doug Shelton only to see London roar back with four goals to start the middle frame. Gary Kyte with two, Larry Davenport and Dave Gorman with singles put the Nationals up 4-3. But Bob Sicinski tied things up for the Hawks with just less than five minutes to go in the second period to make it 4-4 after two.

The Nationals scored three unanswered markers in the final 20 minutes to salt away the victory. Kyte completed his hat trick with the game winner. Dave Gorman then followed up with a pair of insurance markers to make the final 7-4.

Sandy Snow

At Toronto, Don Giesebrecht’s goal with less than 12 minutes to play snapped a 4-4 tie and lifted the Red Wings past the Marlies.

Danny Lawson, Sandy Snow, Nick Libett and Gary Marsh also scored for Hamilton. Brent Imlach, Gerry Meehan, Jim McKenny and Barry Watson replied for the Marlboros.

Five different players scored first period goals as the Petes coasted to their win at Kitchener. Drake Jopling, Guy Dufour, Mickey Redmond, Andre Lacroix and Gary Monahan were the Petes marksmen. Jim Krulicki and John Beechy connected over the last two periods for the Rangers.