Richard's controversial goal helped Canadiens win Stanley Cup in 1966

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 each Wednesday.

This week Fischler reveals the strangest Stanley Cup-winning goal he's ever seen.

"Hockey is a slippery game, it's played on ice."

Little did former New York Rangers general manager Emile "The Cat" Francis know how his statement would be proven true when it came to the 1966 Stanley Cup Final.

The Rangers didn't play in that Final, but Francis' words resonated at the end of the best-of-7 series between the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings.

Things looked good for the Red Wings early in the Final. They won the first two games on the road and veteran Red Wings defenseman Bill Gadsby, playing his 20th and final NHL season, could almost taste the champagne.

"We beat the Canadiens in the first two games of the Final at their rink (Montreal Forum) and it looked like my disappointments finally would be over," Gadsby recalled. "All we needed was two wins at home. That seemed do-able."

But the Canadiens rebounded and won the next two games at Olympia Stadium in Detroit. When they won 5-1 at home in Game 5, they took a 3-2 lead in the series.

"I still was hopeful," Gadsby said. "But a couple of breaks decided the series and their winner was the flukiest of them all."

Montreal had taken a 2-0 lead midway through the second period in Game 6 but Detroit fought back. Norm Ullman scored at 11:55 of the second, and Floyd Smith tied the game at 10:30 of the third period. That set the stage for overtime.

Two minutes into overtime, the Canadiens mounted an attack paced by the line of Henri "Pocket Rocket" Richard, Dave Balon and Leon Rochefort. After crossing the Red Wings blue line, Richard attempted to split the defense.

But two Detroit defenders smashed into Richard sending him sprawling to the ice on his stomach. The momentum propelled Richard goalward, like a human torpedo heading straight toward Red Wings goalie Roger Crozier. Udvari was tempted to whistle a penalty against Detroit on the play.

"I had to make a tough call," Udvari recalled in Dick Irvin's book, "Tough Calls." "But this was sudden-death hockey and, besides, Dave Balon of Montreal followed the play and got the puck, so the Canadiens still had possession. That's why I didn't blow my whistle."

Balon shot the puck but it never reached the net. Instead, the puck hit the sliding Richard, who seemed destined to collide with Crozier. Hurt earlier in the series, Roger desperately wanted to avoid another injury on this play.

Richard later claimed that he never saw the puck.

"It was under my elbow as I was heading for the goal post," Richard explained. "I expected Crozier to protect me. I didn't want to hit the post, so I lifted my elbow to try and miss the post. I did miss the post and that's when the puck went in the net."

The Red Wings expected the goal to be waved off based on their claim that Richard pushed it in with his arm.

"The only guy who said anything to me was Crozier," Udvari said. "He asked me if it was a good goal and I told him it was. I said that Richard didn't deliberately direct the puck into the net with his body."

But Canadiens coach Toe Blake wasn't so sure.

"Toe told everyone on our bench to jump on the ice to celebrate," Canadiens forward John Ferguson said. "He figured that once Udvari saw all of us going wild, he wouldn't rule against the goal."

Denied a Stanley Cup championship, Gadsby only had five words to describe Richard's goal: "It was my biggest disappointment."

Coincidentally, Udvari and Gadsby both retired after the crazy finish to the 1966 Final.

As for Crozier, although he lost his bid for the Stanley Cup, he was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite being on the losing team.

Richard, Gadsby and Udvari were reunited again, off the ice, when each was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.