Baun was unlikely hero of Maple Leafs' run to Cup in 1964

"Break a leg" is a show business expression for good luck. But could a broken ankle help a team win the Stanley Cup?
Ordinarily not. But the 1964 Cup Final between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings had absolutely nothing ordinary about it.

That included Toronto's pursuit of its second NHL dynasty, as well as what future Hockey Hall of Famer Andy Bathgate would describe as one of the greatest displays of heroism he'd ever seen.
The NHL's first dynasty -- three straight Stanley Cup championships -- was orchestrated by cool, calm and collected Toronto coach Clarence "Hap" Day, who guided the Maple Leafs to the Cup in 1947, '48 and '49. In the early 1960s, Toronto's irascible general manager-coach Punch Imlach pulled it off in a most extraordinary manner.
Hard-hitting defenseman Bob Baun had a broken ankle. Though he never finished with more than eight goals or 21 points in a season, Baun scored a series-saving goal for the Maple Leafs despite the injury.
Imlach had to zigzag around plenty of Stanley Cup Playoff potholes before Baun could skate into position for the biggest goal of his 964-game NHL career. One problem was constant harassment from his boss, Stafford Smythe, who needled Imlach at every turn, win or lose. Not that cantankerous Imlach couldn't handle it; he had become a master of the verbal counterattack.
"Something I know for [darn] sure," he told Smythe, "is that if I changed my way of coaching and managing every time someone said I was doing something wrong, I'd never know what I was doing, and neither would anyone else."
Imlach had a lot more challenges with the Maple Leafs, who set their sights on a three-peat in 1963-64. They included slumps by future Hall of Fame forwards Red Kelly and Frank Mahovlich, as well as superior second-liners Bob Nevin and Dick Duff.
"I came more and more convinced that we weren't going to win a third straight Stanley Cup, or even come close, unless I shook up the hockey club," Imlach said. "I had to do something right at the core of the team to get these guys going again. That's when I thought about a trade I'd been trying for years: to get Andy Bathgate from [the] New York [Rangers]."

This would not be easy. Bathgate, despite having a bad year, was New York's captain and only superstar. The price for the veteran right wing would be high, and Rangers GM Muzz Patrick was notorious for driving a hard bargain.
Throughout January 1964, rumors of a Bathgate-to-Toronto trade spread throughout the NHL. But just as quickly as another trade story appeared, it was denied either by Smythe, Rangers coach Red Sullivan or Patrick. Imlach himself called the odds "a thousand to one against a deal."
But as the season moved toward the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the high commands for the Maple Leafs and Rangers convened. The result was a blockbuster trade that sent Bathgate to Toronto on Feb. 22, 1964.
"I knew that for the first time, I really had a chance to play on a Cup-winner," said Bathgate, who had made the playoffs four times in his first 11 seasons with the Rangers and never gotten to the Final. "In New York we always seemed to fall short. If I allowed myself to really dream I could almost taste the champagne."
Bathgate and center Don McKenney went to the Maple Leafs, and the Rangers got forwards Duff, Nevin, and Bill Collins, and young defensemen Rod Seiling (19) and Arnie Brown (22). The critics once again jumped all over Imlach, who, as usual, had the answer.

"I figured that by getting Bathgate and McKenney, plus the mental shaking-up the trade would give the rest of my team, we could win another Stanley Cup," he said.
Still, it figured to be easier said than done. Toronto finished third and faced the first-place Montreal Canadiens in the NHL Semifinals. The Canadiens won the opener, and the teams alternated victories. Montreal took a 3-2 series lead by winning 4-2 in Game 5 at the Forum.
"It was like a war," Bathgate said. "Hand-to-hand combat."
But goalie Johnny Bower made 25 saves in a 3-0 Toronto victory in Game 6 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Back at the Forum for Game 7, center Dave Keon scored all three Maple Leafs goals -- one shorthanded, one at even strength and one into an empty net - in the series-clinching 3-1 victory.
Even then Imlach was a shaken winner. "I almost died right there behind the bench," he revealed in "Hockey Is A Battle," his autobiography. "The Stanley Cup was on the line and we went into the third period only leading 2-1.
"We could have lost it a dozen times in the next 20 minutes. I wanted to play it cozy, but both teams were racing up and down and I had no control. We should have been playing it carefully. Instead they just never stopped."
Nevertheless, the Maple Leafs figured out a way to win and moved into the Final against a Red Wings team that featured goalie Terry Sawchuk, defenseman Bill Gadsby and forwards Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio, all future Hall of Famers.
The Maple Leafs again trailed 3-2 in the series. But this time Game 6 was on the road at Olympia Stadium on April 23, 1964.

With the score tied 3-3 in the third period, Baun took a wicked whack in the ankle from a sizzling Howe shot.
"I just heard 'bang,' like a cannon going off," Baun said, "and I fell to the ice. It caved in underneath me. I tried to get up but I couldn't put any weight on it. They took me off on a stretcher. I asked the doctor, Jim Murray, to tape it up and freeze it or do something."
Baun seemed destined to miss the rest of the series with a fractured ankle. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs were without one of the cornerstones of their defensive foundation.
"Detroit was all over us," Imlach said. "They should have won it."
The Red Wings might well have won the game and the Cup had Bower not lived up to his nickname, "The China Wall."
"He was absolutely great," Imlach said. "He robbed them time and again."
Then Baun returned to the ice late in the third period, much to the amazement of his teammates.
"I knew Bob was hurting," Kelly said. "But for us it was now or never."
The game went to overtime tied 3-3. Meanwhile, Baun was given a shot of painkiller and had the ankle heavily taped. Imlach wasted no time sending him out for an early shift, and he responded as if he were skating on two good ankles.
"The doctor had frozen my leg and it felt all right," Baun said. "I couldn't feel anything."
Baun, positioned at the right point, trapped a clearing attempt by Red Wings defenseman Al Langlois along the boards and took a quick shot that appeared harmless.
Maple Leafs play-by-play man Bill Hewitt uttered these words: "Langlois shoots it off the boards. Baun lets it fly."
But everything changed when the shot hit Gadsby's stick. The puck caromed up and over Sawchuk's shoulder.
"He scores! It's all over -- the series is tied!"

The puck went in at 2:43 of overtime, sending the series back to Toronto for Game 7 on April 25.
In "Maple Leaf Legends," author Mike Leonetti noted that Baun played Game 7 without missing a shift while enduring incredible pain.
If nothing else, Baun's teammates, especially Bathgate, were inspired by his courage.
"I never could understand how he could continue playing," he said.
Bathgate put the Maple Leafs ahead to stay 3:04 into the first period when his shot on a breakaway went over Sawchuk's shoulder. Bower made the 1-0 lead stand up before Keon, Kelly and captain George Armstrong scored in the third period for a 4-0 win and a third straight Stanley Cup title.
Imlach credited the championship to his trade for Bathgate, whose Cup-winning goal in Game 7 made it all possible.
But Bathgate could have told him that the Maple Leafs never would have won had the indestructible Baun not played, and scored, despite an excruciatingly painful injury.
Asked to describe how he felt about his feat, Baun concluded with the understatement of the series, if not Cup history:
"It was fascinating!"