Game 43: Montreal 4, Red Wings 3

Detroit, MI (1/25/70)- The Montreal Canadiens demonstrated why they are defending Stanley Cup champs on Sunday night in Detroit.

The Habs stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to earn a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings at Olympia Stadium.

The game started as a wild affair, with each team scoring three times in the first period.

Bobby Rousseau's goal at 5:35 of the third period proved to be the game-winner.

Wayne Connelly (two goals) and Garry Unger scored for Detroit (19-14-10), which saw its four-game unbeaten streak end.

Montreal goalie Rogie Vachon made 31 saves.

With the score tied 1-1, Connelly scored twice in 47 seconds in the first period.

On the first goal, Connelly deflected a shot by Carl Brewer past Vachon. On the second, Connelly converted a pass in the slot from Unger.


Vachon made 31 saves for the Canadiens on Sunday night

But Montreal's John Ferguson and Jean Beliveau found the twine at 15:42 and 19:16, respectively, to tie the game, 3-3. Beliveau's tally was his second of the game.

"I liked our effort," said Red Wings coach Sid Abel. "(The Canadiens) were just a little better."

MON 3-0-1 = 4
DET 3-0-0 = 3

1st Period
DET- Unger (Stemkowski, Connelly) PPG 2:09
MON- Beliveau (Cournoyer, Ferguson) PPG 6:07
DET- Connelly (Brewer, Popiel) 8:14
DET- Connelly (Unger) 9;01
MON- Ferguson (Cournoyer, Harper) 15:42
MON- Beliveau (Ferguson, Savard) 19:16

2nd Period
No scoring

3rd Period
MON- Rousseau (Lemaire) 5:35

Shots on Goal
MON 13-9-7 = 29
DET 13-11-10 = 34

Goalies
Vachon (MON); Edwards (DET)

Power Plays
MON 1-for-5; DET 1-for-3

Penalty Minutes
MON 13; DET 17

Fights
Redmond (MON) vs. Unger (DET) 12:57 3rd Period

Game 42: Red Wings 2, St. Louis 1

St. Louis, MO (1/24/70)- Roy Edwards made 35 saves and the Red Wings rode Gordie Howe's second period, go-ahead goal to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night at the St. Louis Arena.

The Red Wings (19-13-10) have followed their five-game losing streak with a 3-0-1 stretch.

The Blues outshot Detroit, 36-22, but Edwards was stellar.

"Roy was fantastic," said coach Sid Abel. "Probably could have helped him more but he got the job done."

Howe's goal was scored after a scramble in front of St. Louis goalie Jacques Plante. Howe found the puck in the crease and flipped it behind Plante and over fallen players.

Pete Stemkowski scored the other Red Wings goal. Phil Goyette scored for St. Louis.


Howe, skating off after a shift with Alex Delvecchio, scored the game-winner on Saturday

DET 1-1-0 = 2
STL 0-1-0 = 1

1st Period
DET- Stemkowski (Baun, Connelly) 10:51

2nd Period
STL- Goyette (Talbot, Ecclestone) 1:21
DET- Howe (Brewer, Libett) 10:59

3rd Period
No scoring

Shots on Goal
DET 12-8-2 = 22
STL 13-10-13 = 36

Goalies
Edwards (DET); Plante (STL)

Power Plays
DET 0-for-2; STL 0-for-3

Penalty Minutes
DET 6; STL 4

Fights
None

Game 41: Red Wings 2, Chicago 2

Detroit, MI (1/22/70)- The Red Wings haven't beaten the Chicago Black Hawks this season. On Thursday, they came 3:23 away from doing it.

Bobby Hull scored the game-tying goal at the 16:37 mark of the third period, blasting a slap shot over Roger Crozier's stick, and the Red Wings settled for a 2-2 tie at Olympia Stadium.

The tie gave the Red Wings (18-13-10) a season record of 0-3-3 vs. Chicago.

Wayne Connelly and Garry Unger staked Detroit to a 2-0 lead 28 minutes into the game, but the Black Hawks, just ahead of the Red Wings in the East Division standings, battled back.

Lou Angotti scored at 15:38 of the second period to cut the lead in half.

The Black Hawks didn't get their first shot on goal in the third period until more than 15 minutes had passed, but that didn't matter when Hull skated down the left wing and fired his shot past Crozier.

When asked about his team's inability to beat Chicago this season, Red Wings coach Sid Abel said, "Well, they're a good team, first of all. And they have (goalie) Tony Esposito."

Esposito made 27 saves Thursday night.


Gordie Howe reacts as Bobby Hull is upended on Thursday night

CHI 0-1-1 = 2
DET 0-2-0 = 2

1st Period
No scoring.

2nd Period
DET- Connelly (Harris, Libett) 4:49
DET- Unger (Howe, Brewer) 8:37
CHI- Angotti (Marotte, Stapleton) 15:38

3rd Period
CHI- B. Hull (Pappin, Marotte) 16:37

Shots on Goal
CHI 9-8-6 = 23
DET 12-8-9 = 29

Goalies
Esposito (CHI); Crozier (DET)

Power Plays
CHI 0-for-4; DET 0-for-2

Penalty Minutes
CHI 6; DET 10

Fights
None

Game 40: Red Wings 7, Los Angeles 3

Detroit, MI (1/18/70)- Garry Unger, Frank Mahovlich and Wayne Connelly each scored twice as the Red Wings pummeled the Los Angeles Kings, 7-3, at Olympia Stadium on Sunday night.

The Red Wings (18-13-9) won their second straight despite falling behind, 2-0, after just three minutes.

But the Wings responded with a vengeance, chasing Kings goalie Gerry Desjardins with a three-goal blitz that took just four minutes.

After a 3-3 opening period, the Red Wings put the game away with a three-goal second period.

Both of Unger's goals were of the power play variety.

Detroit goalie Roy Edwards, playing his first game in over a week, overcame a shaky start to make 20 saves on the night.

"Obviously, (the Kings) caught us napping," Red Wings coach Sid Abel said of his team's slow start. "But we got it together and it was a good win for us."

LA's Bill White opened the scoring with a fluttering slap shot from the blue line that seemed to fool Edwards, who allowed the puck to pass over his right elbow. The goal came just 23 seconds into the game.

At the 3:00 mark, Ed Joyal beat Edwards with a wrist shot between the pads as the Olympia crowd grew restless.

Unger banged home a rebound at 3:39 with the Red Wings on a power play. Less than two minutes later, Connelly stole the puck from the corner and skated in on Desjardins, who came out to challenge. Connelly deked and backhanded the puck into the Los Angeles net.

At 7:31, Mahovlich came down the left wing and blasted a shot through Desjardins, who was then replaced by Denis Dejordy.

Edwards dismissed the notion that he was rusty.

"No excuses,"the goalie said. "The first goal, I just missed it. The second one, I overreacted and the shot wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."

The Red Wings are off until Thursday while the NHL takes its annual All-Star Game break.

Roy Edwards makes one of his 20 saves in Sunday night's win over Los Angeles

LA 3-0-0 = 3
DET 3-3-1 = 7

1st Period
LA- White (Hughes, Krake) :23
LA- Joyal (Wall, Flett) 3:00
DET- Unger (Stemkowski, Baun) PPG 3:39
DET- Connelly (unassisted) 5:32
DET- Mahovlich (MacGregor) 7:31
LA- Campbell (Goring, White) 12:28

2nd Period
DET- Libett (Baun, Connelly) 7:00
DET- Mahovlich (Karlander) 9:52
DET- Unger (Stemkowski) PPG 13:00

3rd Period
DET- Connelly (Popiel, Brewer) 5:52

Shots on Goal
LA 10-5-8 = 23
DET 12-13-14 = 39

Goalies
Desjardins, Dejordy*(LA); Edwards (DET)
*7:31 1st Period

Power Plays
LA 0-for-4; DET 2-for-4

Penalty Minutes
LA 10; DET 8

Fights
None

Game 39: Red Wings 4, Philadelphia 1

Detroit, MI (1/17/70)- The Red Wings won their first game in nearly three weeks, downing the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1, at Olympia on Saturday night.

The victory snapped a five-game losing streak and was the team's first win since defeating the Oakland Seals on December 28.

Bruce MacGregor broke out of a season-long slump with two goals, while Garry Unger and Wayne Connelly each added a goal.

"Because of the long layoff and our losing streak, we wanted to get off to a good start and we did," said coach Sid Abel of his team, which hadn't played since January 10.

Detroit scored the game's first three goals.

Connelly opened the scoring by blasting a slap shot past Flyers goalie Bernie Parent at 6:56 of the first period. Unger made it 2-0 by burying a rebound at 10:44 while the Red Wings enjoyed a man advantage.

MacGregor scored just his fifth goal of the season at 3:34 of the second period, sliding the puck under Parent as he scrambled to cover the left part of the net.

MacGregor's second goal of the night, a wrist shot, beat Parent to the glove side 35 seconds into the third period to make the score 4-1.


MacGregor's two goals led the Red Wings on Saturday night


Jean-Guy Gendron scored for the Flyers.

Roger Crozier made 26 saves for Detroit.

"This was the most complete game we've played in a long time," Abel, who shuffled the lines before the game, said.

The Red Wings (17-13-9) stay home to host Los Angeles on Sunday.

PHI 0-1-0 = 1
DET 2-1-1 = 4

1st Period
DET- Connelly (unassisted) 6:56
DET- Unger (Howe, Brewer) PPG 10:44

2nd Period
DET- MacGregor (Brewer, Karlander) 3:34
PHI- Gendron (Nolet, W. Hillman) 16:02

3rd Period
DET- MacGregor (Baun) :35

Shots on Goal
PHI 7-9-11 = 27
DET 15-13-8 = 36

Goalies
Parent (PHI); Crozier (DET)

Power Plays
PHI 0-for-2; DET 1-for-5

Penalty Minutes
PHI 12; DET 6

Fights
None

Game 38: Pittsburgh 5, Red Wings 2

Pittsburgh, PA (1/10/70)- The Red Wings, riding a four-game losing streak and with no game scheduled for a week, badly needed a win in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

It didn't come close to happening.

The Penguins jumped on the Red Wings early, and cruised to a 5-2 win at the Civic Arena on Saturday night.

The Penguins staked themselves to a 2-0 lead just 6:20 into the game and kept Detroit at arm's reach all night.

The loss was the eighth in ten games for the Red Wings (16-13-9).

"We talked about getting off to a good start and it was the exact opposite," bemoaned Nick Libett afterward.

A scheduling quirk has the Red Wings off until next Saturday. Now, another loss has left a bad taste that they will have to deal with all week.

"Back to the drawing board," said coach Sid Abel. "What else can you do?"

Dean Prentice and Glen Sather beat Roy Edwards in the first period.

"The puck has been going into the net too much," Abel said of the goaltending during the losing streak, in which the Red Wings have been outscored, 21-6.

Gordie Howe made the score 2-1 early in the second period on a wrist shot. Michel Briere restored the two-goal lead for Pittsburgh over eight minutes later.


Pittsburgh's Michel Briere faces off against Detroit's Garry Unger on Saturday night

Matt Ravlich scored a power play goal at 18:23 of the second, and the Red Wings trailed 3-2 after two periods.

But Pittsburgh's Keith McCreary stole the puck at the Detroit blue line and skated in alone on Edwards, beating the Red Wings goalie with a nifty move at 3:23 of the third period.

Prentice added an empty net tally at 18:50.

The Penguins had 12 shots on goal in every period.

DET 0-2-0 = 2
PIT 2-1-2 = 5

1st Period
PIT- Prentice (Briere, Pratt) 3:09
PIT- Sather (Morrison, Hextall) 6:20

2nd Period
DET- Howe (Delvecchio, Bergman) 2:44
PIT- Briere (Harbaruk, Prentice) 11:10
DET- Ravlich (Delvecchio, Mahovlich) PPG 18:23

3rd Period
PIT- McCreary (unassisted) 3:23
PIT- Prentice (Boyer, Morrison) ENG 18:50

Shots on Goal
DET 6-13-12 = 31
PIT 12-12-12 = 36

Goalies
Edwards (DET); Binkley (PIT)

Power Plays
DET 1-for-5; PIT 0-for-4

Penalty Minutes
DET 13; PIT 15

Fights
Ravlich (DET) vs. Sather (PIT) 9:53 2nd Period

Game 37: Chicago 5, Red Wings 1

Chicago, IL (1/7/70)- The Red Wings turned in another lackluster performance and dropped their fourth straight game and seventh in their past nine as the Chicago Black Hawks skated away with a 5-1 victory Wednesday night at Chicago Stadium.

Five different Black Hawks scored as they fired 45 shots on a beleaguered Roger Crozier.

Garry Unger scored the lone goal for Detroit (16-12-9).

"Not enough energy a-tall," said Red Wings coach Sid Abel. "We had a couple days off but it didn't seem to help."

Of his team's 2-7 record in the past nine games, Abel said, "We're not getting it done. We have too many guys looking at each other and not in the mirror."

Gordie Howe said, "We won't win another game if we keep playing like this."


Detroit's Gordie Howe and Chicago's Keith Magnuson battle for a loose puck during Wednesday's game 

The game was scoreless after 20 minutes, but Chicago broke through for three goals in the middle period.

Unger scored at 1:50 of the third period to make it 3-1, but any thoughts that the goal would breathe life into the Red Wings were dashed when Stan Mikita buried a wrist shot just 39 seconds later.

The only bright spot for the Red Wings was that their stellar penalty killing continued. The Black Hawks were shutout in six power play chances.

The Red Wings travel to Pittsburgh for a game on Saturday.

DET 0-0-1 = 1
CHI 0-3-2 = 5

1st Period
No scoring

2nd Period
CHI- Nesterenko (Jarrett, Maki) 5:27
CHI- Martin (Koroll, McKay) 11:13
CHI- Maki (Nesterenko, Magnuson) 12:40

3rd Period
DET- Unger (Libett) 1:50
CHI- Mikita (B. Hull) 2:29
CHI- B. Hull (Magnuson, Shmyr) 18:19

Shots on Goal
DET 10-7-13 = 30
CHI 13-13-19 = 45

Goalies
Crozier (DET); Esposito (CHI)

Power Plays
DET 0-for-5; CHI 0-for-6

Penalty Minutes
DET 16; CHI 14

Fights
None

Game 36: Chicago 1, Red Wings 0

Detroit, MI (1/4/70)- The losses are mounting for the Red Wings.

The Chicago Black Hawks scored a 1-0 victory in Detroit on Sunday night, handing the Red Wings their sixth loss in eight games and third in a row.

Eric Nesterenko banked a rebound past Roger Crozier at 4:36 of the third period for the game's only goal.

The Red Wings outshot Chicago, 32-19.

"Last night I was complaining about giving up too many goals," said Red Wings coach Sid Abel. "Roger deserved a better fate."

The Black Hawks only had eight shots on goal after two periods.

Chicago goalie Tony Esposito was named the game's number one star.


Chicago's Tony Esposito makes one of his 32 saves in Sunday night's victory


The Red Wings (16-11-9) get another crack at the Black Hawks on Wednesday in Chicago.

"We had our chances," said Detroit's Frank Mahovlich. "But Esposito was like (Gerry) Cheevers here on New Year's Eve. Just too good."

The Red Wings have now dropped two straight games on home ice for the first time this season.

CHI 0-0-1 = 1
DET 0-0-0 = 0

1st Period
No scoring

2nd Period
No scoring

3rd Period
CHI- Nesterenko (D. Hull, Maki) 4:36

Shots on Goal
CHI 3-5-11 = 19
DET 11-13-8 = 32

Goalies
Esposito (CHI); Crozier (DET)

Power Plays
CHI 0-for-3; DET 0-for-2

Penalty Minutes
CHI 6; DET 8

Fights
None

Game 35: Philadelphia 5, Red Wings 1

Philadelphia, PA (1/3/70)- The Philadelphia Flyers scored twice during a five-minute power play in the third period, breaking open a close game, and went on to defeat the Red Wings, 5-1, at the Spectrum on Saturday night.

The Flyers were leading 2-1 in the third period when Detroit's Matt Ravlich was whistled off for a major boarding penalty at 7:02.

Bill Sutherland and Andre Lacroix scored during the ensuing power play (Lacroix with just four seconds left in the man advantage) and the game was effectively over.

Alex Delvecchio scored for Detroit (16-10-9), losers of five of their past seven games.

"We are giving up too many goals," Red Wings coach Sid Abel said. "When we were going good we were much better in our own zone. Lately we have been ragged."

Prior to the current 2-5 stretch, the Red Wings had gone 16 games with only one loss (8-1-7).

Goalie Roy Edwards made some big saves but also let in a couple of soft goals.

The Flyers got goals from two defenseman---Larry Hillman and Larry Hale.

Bernie Parent made 21 saves for Philadelphia.

The Flyers only had two shots on goal in the first period, but then poured 29 shots at Edwards the rest of the game.

The game was another penalty-filled affair, as was the New Year's Eve game against Boston. The Flyers had eight power plays; Detroit had five as the teams combined for 47 minutes in penalties.

The Red Wings are right back on the ice on Sunday, hosting Chicago.

DET 0-1-0 = 1
PHI 0-1-4 = 5

1st Period
No scoring

2nd Period
DET- Delvecchio (Mahovlich, Howe) PPG 2:57
PHI- L. Hillman (Fleming, Peters) 13:37

3rd Period
PHI- Hale (Lacroix, Dornhoefer) 5:08
PHI- Sutherland (Watson, L. Hillman) PPG 9:20
PHI- Lacroix (Dornhoefer, Ball) PPG 11:58
PHI- Gendron (Sutherland, Nolet) 14:49

Shots on Goal
DET 5-11-6 = 22
PHI 2-13-16 = 31

Goalies
Edwards (DET); Parent (PHI)

Power Plays
DET 1-for-5; PHI 2-for-8

Penalty Minutes
DET 27; PHI 20

Fights
Popiel (DET) vs. Morrison (PHI) 9:45 1st Period
Mahovlich (DET) vs. Fleming (PHI) 4:36 3rd Period

Game 34: Boston 4, Red Wings 2

Detroit, MI (12/31/69)- It wasn't the way the Red Wings wanted to end 1969.

Four different Bruins scored as Boston defeated Detroit, 4-2 at Olympia Stadium on New Year's Eve.

It was a penalty-filled game as the teams combined for 11 power play chances. Each team scored once with the man advantage.

The Red Wings (16-9-9) outshot the Bruins, 35-28, but lost for the fourth time in six games.

"We didn't play poorly," said Red Wings coach Sid Abel. "We just didn't play well enough."

Wayne Connelly and Alex Delvecchio had the Detroit goals.

Boston's Don Awrey and Detroit's Gordie Howe get tangled up during the Bruins' 4-2 win on New Year's Eve

Roy Edwards started his second straight game in goal, not coincidentally after Roger Crozier played poorly in last Friday's 8-3 loss to Montreal.

Fred Stanfield, Ken Hodge, Jim Harrison and John McKenzie scored for Boston, which took a 3-1 lead early in the third period.

Delvecchio lifted a soft backhand over Gerry Cheevers' shoulder at 12:52 of the third to make it 3-2, but McKenzie answered about a minute later to restore the two-goal lead.

Abel praised Cheevers, who was the game's number one star.

"I thought Cheevers was the diffeerence. When we did control play, he was there at every turn."

BOS 2-0-2 = 4
DET 1-0-1 = 2

1st Period
DET- Connelly (Unger, Popiel) 8:17
BOS- Stanfield (Orr, Doak) 10:36
BOS- Hodge (Sanderson, D. Smith) 18:58

2nd Period
No scoring

3rd Period
BOS- Harrison (D. Smith, Cashman) 3:02
DET- Delvecchio (Bergman, Howe) 12:52
BOS- McKenzie (Esposito) 13:58

Shots on Goal
BOS 15-8-5 = 28
DET 13-9-13 = 35

Goalies
Cheevers (BOS); Edwards (DET)

Power Plays
BOS 1-for-6; DET 1-for-5

Penalty Minutes
BOS 15; DET 17

Fights
Bailey (BOS) vs. Unger (DET) 19:11 2nd period