1963 - 64 NHL season The 1963 - 64 NHL season was the 47th season of the National Hockey League . Six teams each played 70 games . The Toronto Maple Leafs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings four games to three in the final series . A big trade took place in June with the New York Rangers trading Gump Worsley , Dave Balon , Len Ronson and Leon Rochefort to the Montreal Canadiens for Jacques Plante , Don Marshall and Phil Goyette . The governors noted with profound regret the death of William Northey , who died August 9th at 92 . It was decided to establish a memorial for his favorite charity , Montreal Children ' s Hospital . It was announced that Ron Andrews would replace Ken McKenzie as the NHL ' s director of publicity . Predictions . The " Canadian " magazine was a weekend supplement that appeared in the Saturday editions of many newspapers in Canada . On October 19 , 1963 , they published their annual NHL predictions by one reporter from each of the six NHL cities . Combined predictions . On the basis of 6 points for a 1st place , 5 for a second , etc . Regular season . Jacques Plante made his debut as a Ranger October 9th in Chicago and it was a rough game for him , losing 3 - 1 and being cut by an elbow of Johnny McKenzie . Gordie Howe scored two goals in Detroit ' s opener as the Red Wings beat Chicago 5 - 3 . Howe was now only two goals shy of Maurice Richard ' s all - time career goal scoring record . Montreal handed the Rangers a 6 - 2 pasting in their opener at the Forum . The fans both cheered and jeered Jacques Plante , now a Ranger . Montreal defeated Detroit 6 - 4 in Detroit , but the highlight of the game was Gordie Howe scoring his 544th goal to tie Maurice Richard and he drew a five minute ovation . Worsley was the victim of the goal . Toronto defeated Montreal 6 - 3 at the Forum October 30th in a penalty - filled game . The main event was put on by Terry Harper and Bob Pulford who drew majors . Gump Worsley badly pulled his hamstring and would be replaced by Charlie Hodge for the season . The Detroit Red Wings blanked the Montreal Canadiens 3 - 0 November 10th . While the Wings were a man short , Gordie Howe scored on Charlie Hodge for his 545th career goal , breaking Maurice Richard ' s record . Yet another record was tied by Terry Sawchuk when he recorded his 94th career NHL shutout , tying him with George Hainsworth as the all - time NHL shutout leader . Chicago defeated Toronto 2 - 0 November 28th , and Johnny McKenzie was severely injured when sandwiched by Bobby Baun and Carl Brewer . He was taken to hospital and an operation was performed on his spleen . There was a lengthy delay in the start of a game between Detroit and Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens November 30th while the ice surface was repaired . A rodeo had been held and the cleaning job took longer than expected . Despite a terrible ice surface , a ragged game was played that ended in a 1 - 1 tie . Roger Crozier was hit with a slap shot by Frank Mahovlich but returned after a ten minute rest . The plucky goalkeeper had sustained a double fracture of the cheekbone and was unable to play the next night . The game was delayed for 20 minutes while Hank Bassen was located to replace Crozier . Toronto won the game 4 - 1 . Toronto blanked Chicago 3 - 0 December 7th in a wild brawl . Three minutes before the end of the game , Reg Fleming speared Eddie Shack , and after the Chicago player entered the penalty box , Bobby Baun decided to drag him out . Both benches emptied and a free - for - all started , and seven major penalties , six misconducts , three game misconducts and $ 25 fines were assessed against 22 players who left the benches . The game was completed with each team two men short . NHL president Clarence Campbell fined coaches Billy Reay and Punch Imlach $ 1000 for allowing their players to fight . Fleming was fined $ 200 , Baun $ 150 , Larry Hillman $ 150 , Murray Balfour $ 100 , and Carl Brewer $ 50 . The 22 players that left the bench were fined $ 100 each . Johnny Bower got his third consecutive shutout January 4th with a 3 - 0 win over Chicago . Mahovlich scored two goals in the win . During the game , the Black Hawks got a bench penalty and Reg Fleming was chosen to serve it . Fleming mocked referee Vern Buffey by applauding which led to a misconduct penalty , after which Fleming bumped Buffey and was given a game misconduct . On January 18th , Terry Sawchuk broke George Hainsworth ' s record of career NHL shutouts with his 95th in a 2 - 0 win over Montreal . Hainsworth still held the major league record with 104 , 10 in the Western Hockey League . That same night , Boston , the laughing stock of the league , had some laughs of their own when they walked right into Toronto and clobbered the Leafs 11 - 0 , Andy Hebenton and Dean Prentice each scoring hat tricks . Next , the Bruins walked right into the Forum in Montreal January 25th and whitewashed the Canadiens 6 - 0 , and then shut out Toronto 2 - 0 the next night . On February 1st , Bobby Rousseau joined the elite who have scored five goals in a game when he scored five against Detroit in a 9 - 3 trouncing of Detroit . On February 5th , the Rangers had a 2 - 1 lead late in the third period when Andy Hebenton and Orland Kurtenbach scored 27 seconds of each other to give the Bruins a 3 - 2 win . A trade that was rumoured most of the season finally took place when the New York Rangers traded Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney to Toronto in exchange for Dick Duff , Bob Nevin , Arnie Brown , Bill Collins and Rod Seiling . Ranger fans did not like the deal and in the next game chants of " Muzz must go ! " were heard ( referring to Muzz Patrick , Rangers general manager . ) Wildor Larochelle , a former Canadiens player of the early 1930 ' s , died March 23rd at age 58 . Final standings . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pts = Points , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against , PIM = Penalties in minutes " Scoring leaders . " Note : GP = Games played , G = Goals , A = Assists , PTS = Points , PIM = Penalties in minutes " Stanley Cup playoffs . This playoff season saw the exact same match - ups as the previous season with the two Canadian teams , Toronto and Montreal , and the two American teams , Detroit and Chicago , matching up . As with last season , the Maple Leafs ousted the Canadiens and the Red Wings beat the Black Hawks . For the first time since the league began using the best - of - seven playoff format in 1939 , all three series went the full seven games . Stanley Cup finals . The 1964 Stanley Cup finals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings were an exciting series - - probably one of the most exciting and memorable ones ever . Toronto won the first game by one goal , 3 - 2 , and the second game was won by Detroit by one goal in overtime . The third game saw Detroit win , again by one goal , and take a two games to one series lead . The Leafs came back in game four with a 4 - 2 victory to tie the series . But game five was won , again by one goal , by Detroit giving the Wings a three games to two lead . Game six saw the second overtime of the series , but before the game went into overtime , Toronto defenceman Bobby Baun stopped a hard shot and was taken off the ice with a broken ankle . He later returned to the game in overtime , with the broken ankle , and scored the game winning goal . After six close games , game seven was anticlimactic as Toronto handily won 4 - 0 for the Stanley Cup , their third in a row . Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1963 - 64 ( listed with their first team , asterisk ( * ) marks debut in playoffs ) : Last games . The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1963 - 64 ( listed with their last team ) :