Game Seven:
“I’ve been in a few game sevens in my time,” said Le Rocket captain Bernie Geoffrion before the game, “It’s always a test of character.”
They say that big players play big in big games. Never was that truer than tonight. In the deciding contest of a classic series, the big guns for both teams came out blazing. Bill Cook opened the scoring in front of a raucous home crowd on a powerplay at 8:33 of the first, flipping home a rebound of a Harry Cameron point shot to put the home team in front. Howie Morenz responded for the visitors in dramatic fashion, scoring on a patented solo rush while Cook’s goal was still being announced on the New Jersey PA system, and then putting Le Rocket ahead little over a minute later on his next shift, following a Busher Jackson shot during a line change and deking a slap shot, before wiring a shot past Hall off the inside of the far post. With the Swamp in shocked silence, Le Rocket coach Al Arbour put on a rare display of emotion on the Montreal bench, urging his players to raise their intensity level in this do-or-die contest. The first period would end without any more scoring, with the visitors ahead 2-1.
With their season hanging in the balance on home ice, the New Jersey Devils came out charging in the second period, setting up a dangerous cycle in the Montreal zone from the first shift. The home team would carry the play for the first ten minutes, but could not solve Worsley, who made several strong saves, none better than a spectacular glove save moving across the crease on a slapshot from Pitre. The longer Worsley kept New Jersey off the scoreboard, but more the Devils seemed to lose momentum, and Le Rocket began to move more effectively out of their own zone as the period wore on. Bill Cook drew a questionable charging penalty at 16:09 after destroying Ovechkin with a check in the corner, and Montreal put on a puckmoving clinic on the ensuing powerplay, to no avail. Glenn Hall heroically kept his team in the game with a flurry of brilliant saves, and then Jack Walker sprang Cook on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box, which the big winger converted to tie the score with under two minutes to go in the period.
After 400 minutes of hockey with nothing to separate them, the Devils and Le Rocket skated into the third period of game seven knotted at two goals apiece. Surprisingly, both teams came out attacking, and it was only due to the stalwart play of both goalies that neither side was able to break through in the opening minutes of the period. At 5:20, Busher Jackson and Joe Primeau broke skated in on a 2-on-1 against Eddie Gerard, with Primeau flipping a pass over the defenseman’s stick and Jackson ringing his shot off the post. Gerard alertly collected the rebound, and immediately sent Vlad Krutov on a breakaway, but Gump Worsley caught him with a patented stick check and shuffled the puck to safety as the Russian lost his skates and crashed into the goal. The game slowed down at that point, and play got quite chippy in the middle part of the period, with the refs swallowing their whistles and letting the players fight it out. It looked like the series might be headed for sudden death overtime when Bun Cook stripped a puck from Bernie Geoffrion at the Devils blueline and quickly fed his brother at center ice. The big right wing broke in vs. Serge Savard 1-on-1 and made a beautiful outside-inside move, only to have the puck swept off his stick by the defenseman. A backchecking Jimmy Thomson collected the puck and fed a beautiful pass almost backwards to Alex Ovechkin, who one touched it to a streaking Howie Morenz. The Montreal star skated wide around the sweep check of Moose Johnson and then cut inside, firing a shot from a tight angle than beat Glenn Hall just above his blocker to complete the hat trick. With four minutes to go on visiting ice, Le Rocket would hold on for dear life, hardly leaving their zone, and mobbing Morenz at the end as the visitors escaped with the victory.
Final Score: Montreal 3 – 2 New Jersey
Three Stars: 1) Howie Morenz 2) Bill Cook 3) Bun Cook
Montreal wins series 4-3
Series Three Stars: 1) Howie Morenz 2) Ted Kennedy 3) Glenn Hall