Bill Barilko’s Forgotten Goal: The Last Tie Game in Stanley Cup Playoff History

Most hockey fans remember Bill Barilko for his legendary overtime goal that won the Toronto Maple Leafs the 1951 Stanley Cup. Immortalized in The Tragically Hip’s “50 Mission Cap,” that goal was not only Barilko’s last but also one of the most iconic in NHL history. It sealed game five against the Montreal Canadiens, capping off a series in which every game went to overtime.

But Barilko’s first goal in the 1950-51 playoffs carries historical weight as well, though it's largely forgotten today. In game two of the semi-final series against the Boston Bruins, Barilko scored Toronto’s only goal in a 1-1 tie at Maple Leaf Gardens. It wasn’t just a clutch goal, it became part of a unique NHL milestone. This match would go down as the last time an NHL Stanley Cup playoff game ended in a tie.

Why? Because of the Ontario Sunday Curfew Law, which forbade starting a new period after midnight. After one overtime period, officials were forced to halt the game. The stats counted, Barilko racked up 21 penalty minutes, but the result stood as a tie.

Toronto, down 1-0 in the series before that game, used it as a turning point. The Leafs bounced back with four straight wins to eliminate Boston and advance to the Finals.

Just months later, tragedy struck. In August 1951, Barilko vanished on a fishing trip in Northern Ontario. The floatplane carrying him and pilot Henry Hudson crashed, and their remains weren’t discovered until 1962, just after the Leafs won their next Stanley Cup.

Barilko’s final, famous goal is etched in hockey history. But his earlier tally in that same playoff run marks the end of an era, the last Stanley Cup playoff tie, forever shaped by curfew laws and forgotten circumstances.

About Bill Barilko

Because of his untimely death, Bill Barilko played a modest 252 regular season and 47 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1946-47 and 1950-51 all with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In four of those five years, Bill helped the Leafs to Stanley Cup championships. In the only season during his time that Toronto didn't win, they took the Detroit Red Wings to the full seven games in the semi-final before being eliminated.

In 1947-48, Barilko led the NHL with 147 penalty minutes, an 18 PIM edge over runner-up Ken Reardon. In 1948-49, two of his five goals were scored shorthanded. In a game against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 8, 1949 at Maple Leafs Gardens, Bill's shortie at 12:17 of the third tied the score at 3-3. The Leafs had been down 3-1 midway through the game before coming back. Interestingly, Toronto's first goal of the game was scored by Ted Kennedy, also shorthanded.

1950-51 NHL Season By The Numbers

 

1950-51 was quite an important year in the National Hockey League. Many say that that season marked the NHL’s entry into the modern era. For the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was an infamously significant season. The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup championship on an overtime goal by Bill Barilko. However, Barilko would die in a plane crash not long after the celebration. Take a look back at the 1950-51 season by the numbers.

1

Milt Schmidt won his only Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. Schmidt played his entire NHL career with the Boston Bruins from 1936-37 to 1954-55, appearing in 776 regular season games in an era of much shorter schedules. Milt was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

In 1950-51, Milt totalled 61 points in 62 regular season games, finishing fifth in the NHL. His 22 goals placed him ninth in the league while his 39 assists placed him fourth. Milt helped the Bruins squeak into the Stanley Cup playoffs, finishing just one point ahead of the New York Rangers for the final post season position. The Toronto Maple Leafs were too much for the Bruins in the opening round, winning the series in five games. Boston was able to score just five goals on the Maple Leafs over the series.

3

Three future Hockey Hall of Fame players played their first NHL games in 1950-51. Alex Delvecchio appeared in one game for the Detroit Red Wings and would play his entire NHL career with the club. Delvecchio appeared in 1,550 regular season games between 1950-51 and 1973-74 with Detroit. He directly followed that up with a four year stint as the head coach of the Red Wings.

Montreal greats Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion and Jean Beliveau both began their careers with the Canadiens in 1950-51. Geoffrion played 18 games in 1950-51 and posted an impressive 14 points. Bernie played with Montreal until the end of the 1963-64 season. Beliveau played just two games for the Habs in 1950-51 and wouldn’t be a regular with the team until 1953-54. Jean played his entire NHL career with the Canadiens, retiring after the 1970-71 season with 1,125 regular season games under his belt.

Delvecchio entered the Hall of Fame in 1977 while both Geoffrion and Beliveau were inducted in 1972.

5

Each of the five games in the Stanley Cup finals series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens went to overtime. With each of the games decided by a single goal, the Toronto outscored Montreal 13-10 over the series. The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in overtime of the fifth game when defenseman Bill Barilko pinched in and scored on Montreal goalie Gerry McNeil.

10

It took the Toronto Maple Leafs ten games to win the 1951 Stanley Cup. As with any Original Six era season, there were just two rounds of playoffs with only four teams qualifying for the post season. In the first round, Toronto took out the Milt Schmidt led Boston Bruins in five games. In the other semi-final, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings in six. Toronto took five more games to eliminate Montreal and win the Cup.

11

Terry Sawchuk shutout his opponents eleven times, en route to earning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Sawchuk’s total while playing all of Detroit’s 70 games was equalled by the duo of goaltenders in Toronto, Al Rollins and Turk Broda. Toronto was the first team in the NHL to use a two goalie system.

Terry had appeared in seven games for the Red Wings the previous season but it was not enough to erase his rookie status. Sawchuk’s 1.99 goals against average was not enough to win the Vezina Trophy in 1950-51 but he won the award three out of the next four years. He was a four time Vezina winner over his National Hockey League career.

13

The Chicago Black Hawks won just 13 games in 1950-51, while the Detroit Red Wings lost just 13. Highlighting Chicago’s disastrous season was an 11-3 loss to Detroit, a 10-2 loss to Boston and a 12-2 loss to Montreal. Chicago finished 25 points behind the fifth place New York Rangers in the six team league. Detroit ended the year with 65 more points.

Chicago was not without big name players. Roy Conacher, Bill Mosienko, Doug Bentley, Gus Bodnar and Bill Gadsby were in the lineup. In net was eventual member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Harry Lumley.

70

1950-51 marked the first season the National Hockey League moved to a 70 game schedule. The previous season, each team played 60 games. The 70 game schedule would remain an annual tradition until the expansion year of 1967-68 when six teams and four games each were added. At that point, the schedule increased to 74, changing several times over the next few decades to settle on the current day 82 games.

86

Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point-getter in 1950-51 with 86 points. Howe finished an astonishing 20 points ahead of the next player, Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard of the Montreal Canadiens. Gordie led the NHL in goal scoring with 43, just one more than Richard. He tied Ted Kennedy of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the league lead in assists with 43.

NHL Hockey Trivia: Bill Barilko of the Toronto Maple Leafs

Bill Barilko played just five years in the National Hockey League in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, yet his name remains one of the most recognizable amongst Canadian hockey fans to this day. Barilko went missing in dense Northern Ontario forest following a plane crash. His death came shortly after his overtime goal in game five of the Stanley Cup finals gave Toronto the victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of Bill Barilko with the following four trivia questions.

Q. What minor league team did Bill Barilko play for before being called up to the Toronto Maple Leafs?

A. Barilko played 1945-46 and 1946-47 with the Hollywood Wolves of the Pacific Coast Hockey League. Barilko was called away from Hollywood after 47 games in 1946-47. The Wolves finished first in the South Division that season but lost in the play-offs semi-final. It was the last season the Wolves existed. Bill was supposed to be heading to the Pittsburgh Hornets of the American Hockey League when he was called away from Hollywood. He never played in the NHL and instead went directly to the Maple Leafs.

Q. What Montreal Canadiens goaltender was in net when Bill Barilko scored the overtime game winning goal in game five of the 1951 Stanley Cup championships?

A. Gerry McNeil was the unfortunate soul to allow the game and series winning goal by Barilko. It, of course, was the last goal the Bill ever scored. McNeil played in the NHL from 1947-48 to 1956-57, all with the Montreal Canadiens. Gerry was the number one goaltender in Montreal until the end of the 1953-54 season when Jacques Plante took over and McNeil drifted off into obscurity.

Q. How many Stanley Cup winning teams was Bill Barilko a member of?

A. Incredibly, in his five years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, they won the Stanley Cup four times. In 1946-47 and 1950-51 they beat the Montreal Canadiens and in 1947-48 and 1948-49 they beat the Detroit Red Wings. In each series with the Red Wings, Toronto swept the Detroit in four games. Hap Day was the head coach of the Maple Leafs for the first three championships while Joe Primeau was the coach in 1951.

Q. How many all-star games did Bill Barilko play in?

A. In the era when Barilko played in the NHL, the all-star game consisted of the Stanley Cup winning team from the previous spring playing against the best players from the other five teams. Therefore, Barilko played in three all-star games and would have played a fourth in 1951.

2 NHL Teams With Losing Records To Win Stanley Cup

In the modern age of the NHL with 30 teams competing for 16 playoff spots, it is inconceivable that a team could win the Stanley Cup with a losing record during the regular season. In the modern era, teams with a better than .500 record often do not even make the playoffs.

Believe it or not, twice in the history of the National Hockey League, teams with a losing record have not only made it to the Stanley Cup final but have taken the Cup home as league champions. It happened once during the ‘Original Six’ era and once even before that when there were eight NHL teams split into two divisions of 4 teams.

Chicago Blackhawks – 1937-38

The first time this happened was during the 1937-38 season. At the time, the teams in the league played just a 48 games schedule and long lost teams, the New York Americans and Montreal Maroons were still going strong. The Toronto Maple Leafs took the Canadian Division during the regular season with a record of 24 wins, 15 losses and 9 ties. The Boston Bruins ran away with the American Division with a record of 30 wins, 11 losses and 7 ties.

The Chicago Black Hawks finished third in the American Division, just two points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings with a dismal record of 14 wins, 25 losses and 9 ties. The only team worse was the Montreal Maroons who were in their last year of existence. Yet, when all was said and done, the Black Hawks were crowned Stanley Cup Champs.

Chicago was coached by Bill Stewart. Never a player in the National Hockey League, it was the only year Stewart was a head coach in the league. The Black Hawks were led offensively during the regular season by Paul Thompson. Thompson scored 22 and assisted on 22 over 48 games. Two years later, Paul was the head coach for Chicago. In the playoffs, it was Russian born Johnny Gottselig that led the team with eight points.

Toronto Maple Leafs – 1948-49

The second time the situation arose was during the 1948-49 season. There were only six teams in the league and only the top four teams competed in the post season playoffs. The Detroit Red Wings took first place easily with 75 points over the 60 game season. Boston and Montreal were second and third with 66 and 65 points and the Toronto Maple Leafs rounded out the top four with 57 points on 22 wins, 25 losses and 13 ties.

Toronto went on to take their third straight Stanley Cup despite the weak regular season showing. This was the last time the feat was ever accomplished and probably will be the last time ever unless the league downsizes or changes its playoff structure in the future. It should be noted that most every season during the ‘Original Six’ era, the fourth place time had a losing record during the regular season so almost every year the opportunity was there for a severe underdog to take the Stanley Cup home.

The Hap Day coached Maple Leafs had Bill Barilko in the lineup and were led offensively by Harry Watson during the regular season. In the playoffs, it was Ted Kennedy leading the way with eight points. Turk Broda played goal for all of Toronto’s regular season and playoff games.