The Vancouver Canucks spent their inaugural 1970-71 NHL season knocking on the door of history, but a shutout always seemed just out of reach. Eleven times that year, Vancouver held opponents to a single goal, yet the franchise’s first clean sheet never came. That milestone finally arrived early in the 1971-72 season.
On October 27, 1971, at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, Canucks goaltender Dunc Wilson etched his name into team history by recording the first shutout in Vancouver Canucks history. The performance came in a tense, scoreless 0-0 tie, fittingly against one of the era’s premier netminders, Bernie Parent.
Wilson was sensational, turning aside all 34 Toronto shots. Jim Dorey led the Maple Leafs’ attack with six shots, while Paul Henderson and Mike Pelyk chipped in five apiece. Time and again, Wilson stood firm, frustrating a Toronto club that controlled much of the play.
At the other end, Bernie Parent was equally sharp but faced a lighter workload, stopping 20 Canucks shots to preserve the draw for Toronto.
The shutout marked the first of eight in Dunc Wilson’s NHL career. Two of those came with Vancouver, while he also recorded one with the Maple Leafs. His finest season came in 1976-77 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, when Wilson posted five shutouts in 45 games, the best total of his career.
For Bernie Parent, the night represented his first of three shutouts with Toronto during the 1971-72 season and the 12th of his NHL career. Parent would go on to record 54 career shutouts, earning a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame following a legendary run with the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Stories From The Epic History Of NHL Hockey (Volume IV)
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