Boston 11 Toronto 0: Jan 18,1964

Background
In 1962-63, the Toronto Maple Leafs finished in first place and won the Stanley Cup. The Boston Bruins finished in last place. On Saturday, January 18, 1964, the Leafs were solidly in third place and the Bruins were still mired in last place. So when the Bruins visited Toronto on January 18, 1964, the Leafs were expected to win.

The Game
The Leafs had Pete Stemkowski playing his first NHL game and Arnie Brown playing his third game. Second-string goalie (and former Bruin) Don Simmons was in net but the slaughter was not all his fault. None of the Leafs could do anything right that night.

The Bruins scored a goal in the first minute of play. They would go on to a 6-0 lead at the end of the first period in which no penalties were called. During the second period, Bob Leiter hit Eddie Shack into the side boards causing the short glass to shatter over a young fan. Leiter and Shack fought and Andy Hebenton completed a Hat trick six minutes later. Near the end of the period, Stemkowski got on the scoresheet, for his first NHL penalty, a too many men on the ice infraction. The Bruins added four third period goals and with less then four minutes in the game, Arnie Brown also got on the scoresheet, taking a double minor for roughing after a brief fight with Orland Kurtenbach. The 11-0 rout is still a Bruins team record for the largest shutout victory. The last place Bruins got three goals each from Andy Hebenton and Dean Prentice, two goals from Murray Oliver, and singles from rookie Gary Dornhoefer, Leo Boivin, and Jean-Guy Gendron. Prentice added three assists for a six point night and Orland Kurtenbach also got three assists. Leafs Allan Stanley was a -7 while Tim Horton was -6.

Ironically Simmons was not supposed to start the next game on Sunday, January 19 in Chicago against the powerful Black Hawks. But an airplane malfunction grounded the plane that was bringing Al Millar to start the game. Simmons, instead, started the game and shutout the Hawks 2-0 in a complete reversal for the Leafs.

Meanwhile on that same night the Bruins, fresh off that terrific game, tied the first place Montreal Canadiens 1-1 at Boston.

The game probably led Leafs General Manager and coach Punch Imlach to make a blockbuster trade with the New York Rangers on February 22, 1964. Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney, two veteran top scorers, joined Toronto in exchange for Bob Nevin, Dick Duff, Bill Collins, Rod Seiling, and Arnie Brown. The Leafs gave up a lot of their future but they did win the Stanley Cup in 1964, despite being on the wrong end of an 11-0 score during the season.

Trivia

 * The Bruins nearly repeated the shutout victory over the Maple Leafs during Game 1 of the 1969 Quarter-finals, beating them 10-0.
 * The largest margin of victory for the Maple Leafs over the Bruins is 12-3 on January 8, 1944.

Video
A short video of Bob Leiter hitting Eddie Shack, causing glass on the side boards to shatter and then the fight between the two, January 18, 1964.