Montreal Canadiens--The Conquering Canadiens

Amazing
Jacques Lemaire tied the score at 5-all, breaking past
the Boston defense and beating Johnston from close-in.
Then , in a scramble behind the Boston net, Beliveau came
up with the puck and slipped it onto the stick of Ferguson
just outside the Boston crease. Ferguson shot and the
Canadiens led , 6-5. Later, Frank Mahovlich broke away
to score for Montreal, and that's the way the game ended,
7-5, Canadiens. Amazing!
"Psychologically, the Bruins have to remember what
happened here, " Beliveau said over the din in the delirious
Montreal dressing room. "When you lose a 4-goal
lead, you don't forget."
Derek Sanderson , Boston 's pugnacious center, agreed.
"That game hurt us, really hurt us," he said. " We lost
our home-ice advantage. You should never blow a 4-goal
lead in the playoffs."
For the first minutes of game three in The Forum, it
appeared that the Bruins had erased the memory of their
galling defeat. Twenty-nine seconds after the start of play
Phil Esposito broke down the right wing and fired the
puck from 30 feet out. Goalie Ken Dryden had handled
far tougher chances in the first two games. This time the
shot fooled him and Boston led , 1-0.
"I was just getting set for him (Esposito) but he shot
from farther out than I expected," Dryden expla ined later.
" The puck went off my pad and into the far side."
However, that was Dryden 's only mistake of the night
and Boston's only goal. Montreal , meanwhile, got 2 goals
from Frank Mahovlich and a third from Jacques Laperriere.
The game ended with Montreal on top, 3-1. Dryden had
37 saves.
"I think perhaps the Bruins thought we would lay down
and die for them in the playoffs," Ferguson remarked .
" But, hey, the Canadiens are proud. We don 't play dead
for anybody. "
" What a nightmare," said Bobby Orr, "what a nightmare."
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