Hockey Hall of Famer Armstrong dies at 90
TORONTO » George Armstrong, who captained the Toronto Maple Leafs to four Stanley Cups in the 1960s, has died. He was 90.
His death was announced Sunday by the Maple Leafs, who said he died of heart complications, citing his family.
Armstrong had 296 goals and 417 assists over 21 seasons for the Leafs, including
12 seasons as team captain, and remains the franchise’s leader in games played, variously listed at 1,187 or
1,888. The right wing had
26 goals and 34 assists in
110 playoff games.
Known as the “Chief,” Armstrong was one of the first players of Indigenous descent to play professional hockey.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in
1975. Some 41 years later, Armstrong was voted No.
12 on the franchise’s list of
100 greatest Maple Leafs in its centennial season.
“George is part of the very fabric of the Toronto Maple Leaf organization and will be deeply missed,” Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said in a statement.
“A proud yet humble man, he loved being a Maple Leaf, but never sought the spotlight even though no player played more games for Toronto or captained the team longer. Always one to celebrate his teammates rather than himself, George couldn’t even bring himself to deliver his speech the day he was immortalized on Legends Row.”
Armstrong would become one of a few Leafs honored with a banner at
Scotiabank Arena, and his number was retired in October 2016 at the team’s centennial anniversary home opener.
In 2015, Armstrong was added to the Leafs’ Legends Row. The team released a statement Sunday with the words from Armstrong’s unread speech that night.
“Hockey is a great game and I love it. I am part of a fading generation that you will never have again. Every one of us is one of a kind, that will never be repeated. To all of my friends and acquaintances, thank you for your advice and direction, that helped make me who I am today ... a very, very happy person.”
SABRES 4, CAPITAL 3 » Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout to help the Buffalo Sabres beat the Washington
Capitals 4-3 on Sunday for just their second victory in six games this season.
Ullmark picked up his first win of the season six days after learning of the death of his father at age 63. It was Ullmark’s second consecutive start after taking some time away from playing hockey, and the Sabres needed him with goaltender Carter Hutton injured.
Captain Jack Eichel scored in the shootout and Colin Miller, Victor Olfosson and Eric Staal each scored on the power play for Buffalo, which snapped a two-game skid. The Sabres outshot the Capitals 48-31 and beat them for the first time in four meetings.
Justin Schultz scored his first goal with Washington and mainstays T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom each had a powerplay goal. The Capitals were playing without five prominent players: captain Alex Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and goalie Ilya Samsonov because of COVID-19 protocols and right winger Tom Wilson because of a lowerbody injury.
BLACKHAWKS 6, RED WINGS 2 » Pius Suter scored his first three NHL goals, Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves and Chicago beat Detroit for its second straight win.
Connor Murphy and Mattias Janmark each had a goal and an assist as Chicago swept its two-game set with Detroit after beginning the season with four straight losses in Florida. Phillipp Kurashev also scored, and Patrick Kane had two assists.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, FLAMES 2» Morgan Reilly had three assists and Wayne Simmonds scored his
Toronto.
Jake Muzzin got his first goal of the season and Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto. Mitch Marner added two assists and Jack Campbell stopped 31 shots for his second win in two starts this season.
Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm countered for the Flames, who were coming off a five-day break. Jacob Markstrom turned away 29 shots.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1, COYOTES 0» William Karlsson scored with 42 seconds left in regulation, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 16 shots and Vegas beat Arizona.
Fleury was sharp throughout for his 62nd career shutout and Karlsson beat Darcy Kuemper with a one-timer on a feed from Jonathan Marchessault behind the goal.
first goal with