Montreal Canadiens--The Conquering Canadiens

had been given little ice time after the first period .
"I always gave 100 percent, I never loafed and I didn't
deserve to be benched," Richard continued. "I'm paid to
play. We had three sets of lines when we won Tuesday
night (the fourth game). What gives him the right to
change it all? It's about time someone said what everyone
on the team is thinking. How can you expect us to win
like that?"
Richard concluded his blast at MacNeil by saying, "It
may be easy to win games by frequent line changes with
a club like the Voyageurs, but it doesn't work like that in
the National Hockey League."
MacNeil reacted by pointing out that no player had
criticized him after the victories over Boston and Minnesota
and the two wins over the Hawks. "Why get excited?"
MacNeil asked. "In this business you get used to these
things from players who are unhappy at being benched or
not getting enough ice time."
General manager Sam Pollock said , "Richard is a great
competitor, so is MacNeil. These things happen."
The next day a semi-penitent Richard said he should
have kept his mouth shut. It was a situation impossible
to ignore, but everyone on the team tried to minimize the
rift. Instead, they hoped that Richard's comments might
light a fire and give the players added incentive for the
next two games-both of which the Canadiens had to win
if they were to regain the Stanley Cup and atone for the
ignominious 1969-70 season .
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A Classic Game
The sixth game, at The Forum , was a Stanley Cup classic;
hockey at its best and most exciting. To begin with,
the game included the first penalty shot in Stanley Cup
history. It was awarded to Frank Mahovlich at 4:43 of the
first period.
"The Big M" was chasing a loose puck deep in the
Chicago zone with no one but Esposito to beat. Esposito
came out of his net, trying to beat Mahovlich to the puck.
When he saw he would lose the race and leave an empty
net for Mahovlich to shoot at, Esposito threw his stick at
the puck and referee Art Skov immediately signaled for
the historic penalty shot.
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