Richard hadn't come roaring out of the gate to start his historic season, scoring nine times in his first 28 games. But he gathered steam in the second half, finding what would become his legendary nose for the net.
He scored his 45th goal on Feb. 25 to set the NHL record, passing the 44 scored by Joe Malone of the Canadiens in 1917-18, the League's first season.
Richard inched closer to 50, the pressure building as he endured the relentless shadow, obstruction and stick work of checkers and the suffocating focus of media and fans. He thought he'd scored the milestone goal March 17 in a 4-3 win against the Chicago Black Hawks at the Montreal Forum, but it was disallowed.
The next night in Boston, the Bruins threw a blanket on Richard and led the Canadiens 2-1 going into the final three minutes of the third period.
Bennett was in goal for the Bruins by then, coach Art Ross having substituted him for Paul Bibeault halfway through the game, and the rookie would be written into history with 2:15 left to play when Richard beat him on a pass from Lach to make it 2-2.
Blake, assisted by Richard, and Lach would score in an 18-second span after that, the Punch Line defeating the Bruins with the late surge.
Bennett, just 19, had been called up by the Bruins from the Boston Olympics of the Eastern Hockey League for 25 games. He went 10-12-2 with a 4.20 goals-against average but never returned to the NHL, playing most of the next 14 seasons in the American Hockey League.
Hockey historian Joe Pelletier has written that the goalie's three sons, former NHL players Harvey Bennett Jr., Curt Bennett and Bill Bennett, said their father insisted Richard's 50th goal was kicked in.
A decade before his death in 2004, however, Bennett told The Hockey News, "Elmer Lach gave [Richard] a … lot of help on the play. In fact, Elmer knocked me on my [behind], and when I was down and out, bang, Richard whipped it in the net."
Not long before Richard's death in 2000, he told author and historian Brian McFarlane, "I just don't remember how it was scored."