Montreal Canadiens--The Conquering Canadiens

And so, in the sudden stillness of The Forum, in the
opening minutes of that crucial sixth game, one of hockey's
most feared shooters went one-on-one against one of
hockey's finest goalies.
Esposito won the duel.
"Esposito came out earlier than I expected, and then
he started to go back, and I shot too early," Frank said
later. "It hit his stick. It was a good shot, but it could
have been higher. It would have been better if I had
'moved' him first. I should have gone in slower and made
him move first."
"I moved out at him as soon as he got to the blue line,"
Esposito said , " and then I moved back. I just wanted to
make sure I didn 't make the first move."
From that point on Chicago forced the play. Pappin
scored at 11 :25 with Peter Mahovlich and Magnuson in
the penalty box. It was a brilliant individual effort. Pappin
went around Lemaire and Lapointe and beat Dryden from
close-in. But Cournoyer tied the game a minute and eight
seconds later, with "The Big M" and "Le Gros Bill" assisting.
The period ended with the score tied, but Chicago had
the better of the play, outshooting Montreal , 11-5.
At the start of the second period Montreal took temporary
control . Three minutes into the period Lemaire
capped a Montreal rush with a shot into the net. But the
goal was disallowed because Stapleton had knocked the
net from its moorings-intentionally or otherwise. "I
would gladly have taken the penalty," Stapleton said later.
But there was none.
At 5:04, Peter Mahovlich put Montreal ahead. Still,
Chicago kept pressing and soon regained the edge in
play. In all, the Hawks had fourteen shots on goal that
second period, while Montreal had only six. Two of Chicago's
shots beat Dryden. The first was a 35-foot slapper
by Chico Maki at 17:40 and the second by Pappin at
18:38. Pappin's goal was the result of an outstanding solo
effort. Skating right to left inside the Montreal zone he
went around Terry Harper, faked Laperriere and beat
Dryden with a backhander. The Canadiens were twenty
minutes from elimination.
The first five minutes of the third period were fairly
even. Then, after a Chicago "icing," Angotti and Beliveau
faced-off to the right of Esposito. The puck rolled free and
out toward the blue line. Bill White put down his stick to
capture it.
"The puck bounced on me," he said later. "I couldn't
get my stick on it."
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