![Sawchuk’s crucial save ignites Red Wings to historic first playoff sweep in NHL history Sawchuk’s crucial save ignites Red Wings to historic first playoff sweep in NHL history](https://i3.wp.com/media.d3.nhle.com/image/private/t_ratio16_9-size50/v1716902407/prd/m7uyb0nukgvddfppdcav.png?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as “The Hockey Maven,” shares his humor and insight with readers every Wednesday.
This week looks back on seven decades of one of hockey’s greatest goalies, when a young Terry Sawchuk credited a save in the 1952 Stanley Cup Playoffs with giving him the confidence to lead the Detroit Red Wings to the first eight-game sweep in playoffs in NHL history.
After Terry Sawchuk’s first full season in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings in 1950-51, there was no doubt about his future stardom. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year and would soon be named to the first of the NHL’s first seven All-Star teams. His goals against average was a surprising 1.97.
Former NHL goaltender and New York Rangers general manager Emile Francis would later call Sawchuk “the greatest goaltender of all time.” Max McNab, former general manager of the New Jersey Devils, who played with Sawchuk in the minors, said: “Terry was a big, happy puppy who eventually became the best goaltender I’ve ever seen.”
However, in the spring of 1952, his second season at age 22, Sawchuk still had doubts about his ability even though the Red Wings finished first in the NHL, 26 points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were in third place and that they had won the Stanley. Cup four times in the previous five years.
Still, rumors about the “sophomore’s withdrawal” had reached Sawchuk’s ears. He felt that he had more to prove.
“I knew the playoffs would be the big test for me,” Sawchuk recalled. “Beating Toronto would be huge for us; and it would mean the first opportunity for me to play for a potential Cup winner. I still felt like I had a lot to prove, like not just being a one-year wonder.”
Sawchuk got off to a good start against the Maple Leafs in the first game of the NHL semifinals at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium on March 25, 1952. His play was impeccable en route to a 3-0 victory.
“Sawchuk was excellent in goal and completely frustrated the Leafs,” author Charles L. Coleman wrote in “The Trail of The Stanley Cup.”
It was just a game and Sawchuk knew there was more to accomplish. The second game was, in fact, his ultimate confidence builder. It was also one of the reasons it remained the game he never forgot, all thanks to one remarkable save.
Looking back, he would later admit that the salvation in question had lasting ramifications. He inspired him to accomplish a feat never thought possible in League history: sweeping all eight playoff games. The notable save came late in Game 2 with the Red Wings leading 1-0 on a power-play goal by Johnny Wilson at 15:33 of the first period.
“I desperately wanted that shutout,” Sawchuk said, “because it would have given me two in a row in the playoffs and that would have been very special. But we got into trouble late in the game and were down two men when things almost went wrong. hands.
“Knowing that we had two men in the penalty area, I thought it was now or never to save the lead. I also felt that if we could weather this storm, we would win the game. At that time the goalkeeper’s main focus was the creative center of the Leafs, Max Bentley, who was Toronto’s power play quarterback.”
Herb Ralby, the Boston Globe’s longtime hockey writer, recalled the iconic play in a story he wrote in the April 1956 issue of Hockey Pictorial magazine.
“Bentley got the puck,” Ralby remembers, “and suddenly the lane opened up for him to attack Terry. Meanwhile, Detroit’s three beleaguered penalty killers tied up three Leafs, but ‘Maxie’ had Sid Smith , another good scorer, with him.”
Sawchuk said: “I thought Max was going to try to take me down, so I decided not to move. Bentley faked it and then passed to Smith, who unleashed a shot. I was really tagged, but I managed to kick in time. To stop him with my foot I had made the save on the right moment.
“That was Toronto’s big threat. Our guys rallied before they could do any damage and we won 1-0 to take a two-game lead in the series.”
That same night, I was driving to Toronto from my home in Brooklyn with four friends. We had tickets to Game 3 at Maple Leaf Gardens and were eager to see how good Sawchuk really was. Detroit coach Jack Adams didn’t need to be told.
“I was so sure that Terry would be great,” said Adams, “that after we won the Cup in 1950, I changed my championship goalkeeper, Harry Lumley, and gambled on
Sawchuk.”
Watching Sawchuk in Game 3, I couldn’t find any flaws in his style or skill and the Red Wings won easily 6-2. They completed the sweep three nights later with a 3-1 victory, and now Sawchuk faced a tougher test.
Normally, the first-place team would open the Stanley Cup Final with two home games, but due to a prior commitment, the Montreal Canadiens were only able to play two of their games at the Montreal Forum. The Red Wings agreed and the remaining five games, if necessary, of the best-of-7 series would be played in the Motor City.
When the finals opened in Montreal on April 10, 1952, Sawchuk was facing a loaded team led by the iconic Maurice “Rocket” Richard and one of the NHL’s best two-way defensemen, Doug Harvey.
Once again Sawchuk was stingy. Only defenseman Tom Johnson beat him, as the Red Wings cruised to a 3-1 victory and followed it up with a 2-1 win. Detroit was now just two wins away from the first eight-game sweep in NHL playoff history.
“The Red Wings didn’t need more than two home games to conclude the series,” Ralby wrote. “If that were possible, Sawchuk reached a new, even higher level in Detroit, but what put the icing on Terry’s cake was posting another pair of 3-0 shutouts in his final two home games.”
The fact that Sawchuk denied Toronto and Montreal a single goal in Detroit during the two series had never been accomplished before. It was enough to firmly strengthen his self-esteem and set him on the path to endless success.
“The four goals at home gave me a lot of confidence,” Sawchuk admitted. “It was a combination of those wins and winning the first Stanley Cup, but I want to be clear that I didn’t do it alone. I couldn’t have done it.
“It was definitely a team effort. The Wings gave me such a big cushion in those last two games that I just had to get those shutouts…and those playoff emotions!”
Adams added another compliment on top of the praise: “Thanks in large part to Terry Sawchuk, that was the best team I’ve ever had!”
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