Don Cherry had a rule about goaltenders. He almost never pulled one mid-game, because he didn’t want them developing the habit of glancing at the bench after conceding a couple.
On February 7, 1976, at Maple Leaf Gardens, that rule came under some strain. Darryl Sittler scored three times in the second period alone against Boston rookie Dave Reece, on his way to a night nobody has matched in the fifty years since.
After one of those goals, Cherry allowed himself a look down the bench at Gerry Cheevers, who was dressed as the backup in his first game since returning from four years in the WHA.
Cheevers answered without saying a word.
“He put a towel over his head as if to say, ‘I don’t want any part of this,'” Cherry said.
Darryl Sittler’s night, February 7, 1976:
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Goals | 6 |
| Assists | 4 |
| Points | 10 |
| Final score | 11-4 Toronto |
What is the NHL record for most points in a game?
Maurice Richard had owned it since 1944, when he put eight points past Detroit in a 9-1 win, with Bert Olmstead matching the figure in 1954. Sittler drew level with both of them 44 seconds into the third period, then added two more before the night was out. Eleven players have reached eight points in the half-century since, and nobody has got to nine.
Cherry left Reece in for all of it, and had a reason that wasn’t stubbornness.
“I wanted to save Cheevers for the next night because we were back at home and it was a homecoming for him,” Cherry said. “I know I took a lot of slings and arrows for keeping Davey in there. But I always felt sometimes you had to lose a battle to win the war.”
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The war went his way. Cheevers and the Bruins beat Detroit 7-0 at Boston Garden the following evening to start a four-game winning run, Boston finished top of the Adams Division, and Cherry won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.
The battle cost somebody else entirely. Reece was sent to the minors after that night and never played another NHL game, leaving professional hockey a season later and building a career as a high school guidance counselor. He has handled it with more grace than most would, joining Sittler for a television special marking the 30th anniversary and attending the ceremony for the 40th.
Sittler, for his part, had been motivated by a newspaper story that week in which Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard said he wished the club could find a center to play between Lanny McDonald and Errol Thompson.
“It was a shot at me,” Sittler said.
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