Norm Ullman: the Hall-of-Famer recalls scoring two goals in a record-setting five-second span in the 1965 playoffs - The Game I'll Never Forget

WHEN YOU PLAYED AS MANY games in your career as I did--over 1,400 in the NHL, not to mention a bunch more in the WHA--it's hard to pick just one game as your most memorable. But I guess I would have to pick the playoff game back in my Detroit days when I scored two goals in a five-second span, a record that has stood for more than 35 years.

When we played the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 1965 playoffs, they were considered the favorite. They had put together a strong team, with Bobby Hull, Glenn Hall, and Stan Mikita leading the way, but we won the first two games in Detroit at the Olympia. The Blackhawks returned the favor when we went to Chicago Stadium, taking the next two games. So, we returned to Detroit all even for Game 5.

Game 5 was close heading into the late part of the second period. There was a lot of tension in the arena because the game was close and you had to figure the winner of the game would be in control of the seven-game series. This was simply a crucial time in the series. It still could have gone either way.

Back then, you played each other so often--14 times, seven home and seven away--that you got to know what the other team was going to try to do. There weren't many secrets between the two. teams. You weren't going to really surprise the other team with any new kind of strategy or anything like that. You would play against the same lines every time you met. My line almost always went up against Stan Mikita's line when we played. That was a pretty tough matchup because he was just an excellent all-around player, and with his speed, he wasn't easy to keep up with, that's for sure.

That season, 1964-65, was probably the best of my career. At least it was if you look at the statistics. I finished with a career-high 42 goals, which was also good enough to lead the league. I also had a career-high 83 points. I ended up as a First-Team All-Star and I won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player. But I have to give my teammates a lot of credit. Any time you have Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Marcel Pronovost, Alex Delvecchio, and Bill Gadsby on your team, you have a good chance of winning games and scoring goals.

Ironically, I scored my first goal that night pretty much on my own. I just came down the right side of the ice. It was just me coming down on two defensemen. I was over toward the boards, maybe 10 or 15 feet out. I went straight toward the defenseman on that side. Right before the blue line, I cut toward the middle. The defensemen were staggered a little bit and the other defenseman was back a bit. I got away from the first guy by cutting toward the middle. Then I started going to the net. The other defenseman was starting to come over to me. I used him as a screen and just shot the puck. I'm not sure if it went between his legs or between his leg and stick or what. I let a slapshot go from about 40 feet out right along the ice. And it just rang off the right goal post and got past Hall.

We did the usual celebrating and patting each other on the back and what not, and then went to center ice for the faceoff.

The ref dropped the puck and someone hit it right inside their blue line, right near the boards. Chicago's Eric Nesterenko went over to pick up the puck. I started going toward him. I figured he was just going to chip the puck out over the blue line. We were 10 feet inside the blue line and I was bearing down on him and figured he would just make the easy play, the play that defensemen make a hundred times a game. He was facing the boards and I saw him look back over his shoulder toward his defensive partner. That's when I realized he wasn't going to shoot the puck out. He had lost track of where I was because he had his back to me, so I went straight over to the other defenseman, Matt Ravlich.

Well, Nesterenko passed it to me perfectly, right on my stick. I got it and eventually Ravlich started coming toward me. He got there and again I used him as a screen. I shot the puck before he could check me. I shot it again along the ice, past Hall and just inside the other post.

It was uncanny, really, that both goals were almost identical, with one going in each side of the net, both through screens, both along the ice.

But that was it. Two goals in five seconds. It seemed like a lot longer because they had possession of the puck, but I guess it took just five seconds on the clock.

Not only was it amazing that I scored two goals in five seconds, but those goals were important in the scope of the game. We ended up winning the game 4-2, so we needed those goals to win. I even ended up with a hat trick that night.

Up a game, we looked like we had a good chance to win the series, but the Blackhawks shut us out in Chicago in Game 6, 4-0, and won Game 7 in Detroit, 4-2.

But from time to time I'll think about scoring two goals in five seconds. It's still a record. Will it be broken? I don't know, but I'll say this: It's going to be tough to break.