Maple Leafs shutout same opponent back to back; First time since 1954.

The Maple Leafs are simply eating up the North Division of this strange season of NHL hockey. They shut out the Edmonton Oilers in back to back games, this is the first time they have shut out the same opponent in consecutive regular season games since doing it to the Detroit Red Wings in November, 1954.

On November 11, 1954 at the Olympia in Detroit the Leafs beat the Red Wings 1-0. Harry Lumley (on his 28th birthday) turned aside 45 Detroit shots and Sid Smith scored in the last minute of the second period. This was the first Toronto win in Detroit in 13 games, dating back to November 1952. Al Nickleson of the Globe and Mail described the frantic finish; "Leafs had plenty of trouble getting the puck out of their own end. They practically were skating on their knees, they were so tired from two games in as many nights. But they were dead game."

November 13 saw the same 1-0 victory for Toronto again on a goal from Sid Smith, this time in the first minute of the final frame. This goal, like the goal in the previous game, was assisted by Ted Kennedy. "Kennedy carried in and his shot hit the remarkable backstop, goalie Terry Sawchuk. With players all around, the rebound popped out to Smith, who clicked from 10 feet out for his fifth of the term." as described again by Nickleson.

Interestingly, unlike the previous match, the newspaper boxscore for this game included playing time for each player. This stat was being kept track of at Maple Leaf Gardens at the time. Red Kelly , Marcel Pronovost, Jim Morison and Tim Horton each played over 30 minutes, and Hugh Bolton has only 2 seconds shy. And Ted Lindsay played just over 28 minutes as a forward, crazy.

Toronto would go on to finish in third-place in 1954/55 with 70 points, an exactly .500 record. They would be swept in four straight by first-place Detroit, the last game by shutout.


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