Montreal Canadiens--The Conquering Canadiens

The Hawks did have the better of play in the first period.
Dryden was called on to make some tough saves. The
second period, however, was different. Les Habitants came
out flying and the Hawks quickly became disorganized. As
Montreal continued to put pressure on Esposito it seemed
only a matter of time until the Canadiens would break
through. Finally, they did, on a picture-play goal by Lemaire.
And the way they were playing it appeared they could hold
Chicago scoreless and net a few more goals.
But in the third period the game turned around again.
Suddenly the Hawks were pressing. Dryden made some
spectacular saves, but again there was that feeling of inevitability,
the feeling that Chicago would break through
before the game was over. Just before the midway point
of the period, Bobby Hull scored and the game was tied.
It stayed that way through the rest of the third period.
Jim Pappin had a chance to win it for the Hawks late in
the session but Dryden stopped him from in close. Early
in the first overtime period, Frank Mahovlich came close
for the Canadiens, but Esposito stopped him. Overall,
though , Chicago held the edge in play, while the Canadiens
seemed to grow less certain and more tired as the game
wore on.
Then, one minute into the second overtime period,
Pappin carried the puck across the Montreal blue line.
Yvan Cournoyer and Terry Harper leveled him with a vicious
bodycheck and, as Pappin fell to the ice, the puck skidded
free, to the right side of the Montreal net. Stan Mikita got
to it first. As two Canadiens converged on Mikita and
Pappin regained his feet, Stan moved in on Dryden .
"I gave Dryden every fake I knew," Mikita said later.
"He (Mikita) had the puck seven or eight feet in front,"
Dryden said later. "I didn't see Pappin at all."
But Mikita did. He shoveled a pass to Pappin , who shot
the puck into the net at 1: 11.
"As soon as Mikita passed it, I sprawled," Dryden said .
" But it was much too late."
For Dryden it was an especially heartbreaking defeat.
He had stopped 56 Chicago shots. In the Montreal dressing
room there was a sense of gloom, but certainly the Canadiens
were far from disheartened.
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The tension of waiting-Ken Dryden.
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