|
|
Post by Disgruntled70sHab on May 21, 2020 16:38:31 GMT -5
... on this day May 21, 1979 ... ... box score * ... |
|
|
|
Post by jkr on May 21, 2020 17:53:11 GMT -5
I believe they lost game one of this series at home & Bowman was actually considering giving Larocque the start I game 2. He didn't and Dryden got it together & they won the next 4 games.
|
|
|
|
Post by CentreHice on May 22, 2020 0:24:41 GMT -5
I believe they lost game one of this series at home & Bowman was actually considering giving Larocque the start I game 2. He didn't and Dryden got it together & they won the next 4 games. I don't recall this incident at all....but I remember reading that Dryden continued because Larocque was injured in Game 2's warmup. I've never known the details before researching this topic. Thanks for giving me something to do!  Found them in Larocque's entry on habslegends. But the two were incomparable come playoff time. That's because Dryden played almost every minute while Larocque watched. He did get one chance of playoff glory in 1979. After a poor performance in game one of the Stanley Cup finals against the New York Rangers, Larocque finished the third period and was given the start in game two. However, in typical no-luck-if-not-for-bad-luck fashion, Larocque was knocked out cold by an errant Doug Risebrough shot during the pre-game warm up. Dryden ended up playing that game, winning it and the next three for a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup. Larocque ended up in the hospital.Was Bowman shaking up the team after a lacklustre performance, or was Dryden lousy in Game 1? Here are the goal scroll times from that 4-1 loss. 12:36. 1-0 Rangers. PP. Larry Robinson takes a swinging clear attempt, whiffs. Puck goes to Anders Hedberg for an in-close 2-on-1 with Steve Vickers. Dryden stretches the right leg. Not in time. 26:18. 2-0 Rangers. Mario Tremblay with an ill-advised pass to the middle of the ice...picked off by Ron Greschner who has all day to pick his spot. Greschner was no slouch. 37:35. Start of second period. Don Maloney comes out of the box and gets behind Serge Savard--who can't handle the bouncing puck--for a breakaway...Dryden with a huge save. 47:20. 2-1 Rangers. Habs' classic. Lemaire drop-pass to Lafleur. Zing. 52:30. 3-1 Rangers. PP. Robinson with another poor clear. Premier sniper Espo has time to find his spot. 59:00. 4-1 Rangers. SH. Down 3-1, Bowman has 5 forwards on the ice for the PP. Gainey, Houle, Lafleur, Lemaire, and Lambert. Rangers break out with Lemaire and Lafleur on D. Houle doesn't pick up Dave Maloney. Is that Dryden's fault...or Bowman's strategy backfiring? I wouldn't say the loss could be pinned on Dryden. The team needed a wake-up call, and the easiest way was to make them re-focus and bear down in front of their backup. Most likely a letdown after that Game 7 OT vs. the Bruins just 3 days earlier. I didn't watch the third to see Larocque's workload, but he didn't allow a goal. Rangers' goalie, John Davidson, had a 1.79 playoff GAA entering that series, which improved to 1.68 after Game 1. The Habs outscored the Rangers 18-7 the rest of the way. |
|
|
|
Post by CentreHice on May 22, 2020 8:26:26 GMT -5
Here's Game 2. 6-2 Habs. Dirk Irvin opens the broadcast with the news that Dryden will be the Habs' playoff backup for the first time in his career. Scroll to 5:55 to get the Larocque injury update. As the players take the pre-anthem skate, the camera is locked on Dryden in his classic pose. Wonder what's going through his head. Talk about pressure. And it didn't start well. 11:35. 1-0 Rangers. Hedberg uses Robinson as a screen and fires to the far side. Dryden is handcuffed. Gerry Pinder didn't think he had a chance. 23:20. 2-0 Rangers. Ron Duguay in a primo spot after another errant Habs' pass. The Rangers smelling blood. 28:35. 2-1 Rangers. Tremblay throws it across...goes in off Lambert. Gallivan says Serge Savard's playing with a temperature of 102. 37:00. 2-2. Lafleur with a backhand whack. That line needed to get going. 45:30. 3-2 Habs. Gainey sent in by Doug Jarvis. 5-hole. Davidson looking shaky for the first time in the series. 2nd Period 1:28:15. 4-2 Habs. Shutt. Espo loses the puck deep in the Rangers' zone. DAN KELLY takes over the play-by-play. Sharing with Gallivan, who had just come back from an illness. 1:47:00. 5-2 Habs. PP. Lemaire with a bullet from the boards...Davidson's magic waning. 3rd Period Irvin announces that Larocque has a "slight concussion" and will travel with the team to New York. 2:16:00. 6-2 Habs. Napier. Gainey had great offensive instincts. |
|
|
|
Post by CentreHice on May 22, 2020 9:27:03 GMT -5
Ah, rabbit holes. An important thing to remember about the Rangers that year is that the elite Ulf Nilsson had suffered a broken ankle on Feb. 25th. His foot got caught in a rut while being hit by Denis Potvin along the boards. One of the most infamous plays in Rangers-Islanders lore. Nilsson was a WHA phenom...and was off to a great start in the NHL. 66 pts. in 59 games when the Potvin hit occurred. A knee injury suffered in the 1981 Canada Cup pretty much did him in. He missed the 1981-82 season...then played only 10 games before hanging them up in 1982-83 at the age of 32. Nilsson would miss the rest of the regular season, and play only the first two games of the Finals. With a healthy Nilsson, we may have been in big trouble. A NYTimes blurb before Game 3 at MSG. The Rangers and Canadiens will produce the greatest gate in National Hockey League history, $330,000, for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final playoffs tonight, but Ulf Nilsson, who commands a salary almost double that, will not skate in the Madison Square Garden contest.
Nilsson, the Ranger center whom Coach Fred Shero calls “my best player,” reinjured the ankle he broke last Feb. 25 during Tuesday night's 6‐2 loss at Montreal.
“It's still tender and he can't push off it,” Shero's assistant, Mike Nykoluk, said yesterday. “We think it will be better to give it a rest.”
Nykoluk indicated that with rest Nilsson could play on it “as long as it's taped properly.”
Nilsson had returned’ for the first two games of the title series, which is tied at one victory apiece. He did not see extensive duty in either game. In the opener, though, he was the only Ranger center to dominate the faceoffs. |
|
|
|
Post by GNick99 on May 23, 2020 6:24:18 GMT -5
I remember this game well. I was in junior high. I remember we were celebrating around home, school next day and a term test. I was all worked up. Why do test see some important when we were 14? Staying up late, no studying. I remember after the game my parents had just put a new bathroom upstairs. Watching the game on a rabbit ears tv in my bedroom. Going out to wash my hair, coming back they were interviewing Serge Savard before HNIC ended for the seaosn.
|
|
|
|
Post by CentreHice on May 23, 2020 9:24:28 GMT -5
I remember this game well. I was in junior high. I remember we were celebrating around home, school next day and a term test. I was all worked up. Why do test see some important when we were 14? Staying up late, no studying. I remember after the game my parents had just put a new bathroom upstairs. Watching the game on a rabbit ears tv in my bedroom. Going out to wash my hair, coming back they were interviewing Serge Savard before HNIC ended for the seaosn. A term test the day after a potential Habs' Cup clincher? Your teacher was a Leafs' fan. |
|
|
|
Post by GNick99 on May 24, 2020 10:04:12 GMT -5
I remember this game well. I was in junior high. I remember we were celebrating around home, school next day and a term test. I was all worked up. Why do test see some important when we were 14? Staying up late, no studying. I remember after the game my parents had just put a new bathroom upstairs. Watching the game on a rabbit ears tv in my bedroom. Going out to wash my hair, coming back they were interviewing Serge Savard before HNIC ended for the seaosn. A term test the day after a potential Habs' Cup clincher? Your teacher was a Leafs' fan. I doubt he knew what a hockey puck was? He was English teacher from England. I know about as much about Shakespeare as he knows about hockey. |
|
