Maple Leafs Scoring at 50 year Low

Last night's broadcast of the Maple Leafs/Dallas Stars game made a mention on the current team's goal scoring ineptitude (of course they would then score four in this game). The note was made that the Leafs 20 goals scored through their first 10 games of the season was their fewest since 1956/66...50 years.

Here's a look back to that long gone season and how the Leafs stood at the same point as the current campaign. It should be noted that in contrast to this years Leafs who won their 11th game,  the 1965 Leafs were shutout by the last place Boston Bruins 2-0.

Maple Leafs , Nov 15, 1965
3-6-2, 11GP 19 GF, 38 GA

  • Pulford         2-5-7
  • Mahovlich    2-3-5
  • Ellis              2-3-5
  • Kelly             1-3-4
  • Stanley          1-3-4
  • Horton           1-3-4
  • Armstrong     1-3-4
  • Keon              2-1-3
  • Selby              2-1-3
  • Kurtenbach    2-0-2
  • Shack             2-0-2
  • Douglas         1-1-2
  • Joyal              0-2-2
  • Pappin            0-2-2
  • Pronovost       0-1-1
  • Stemkowski   0-1-1
Somewhat surprisingly, the 3-6-2 record and 8 points still had Toronto in a fourth place playoff position at this point in the season. The Bruins and Rangers would win a combined 33 games the entire rest of the season to finish entrenched in 5th and 6th place. Toronto, even with the slow start would end up with 208 goals over 70 games only 32 less than league leader Chicago. Leafs would finish 3rd with a record of 34-25-11 and be swept in the playoffs by Montreal.
As bleak as the team scoring appeared on Nov 15 with no player at more than 2 goals scored, as usual, it evened out in the end. Mahovlich scored 30 goals over the team's last 60 and topped the squad with 32. Keon, Shack and Pulford potted 24, 26 & 28 each, a more than respectable total in those days.
It's interesting to look at the NHL leaders at the same point of the 1965/66 season also. After 9 games, Bobby Hull had 12 goals and 18 points for Chicago. He would slow down only slightly to finish with 54 goals, 97 points in 65 games. Montreal's Bobby Rosseau was tied with Hull with 18 points and scored 60 in his final 59 games to maintain 2nd in the scoring race, his best season by far. 
Chicago's Doug Mohns was perhaps the biggest surprise early on in 1965 with 7 goals and 14 points through 9 games. He ended up playing all 70 games and had 22 goals, 49 points. As mentioned, usually, things will even out in the end.





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