Montreal Arena - The home crowd is once again supercharged, knowing that this is almost a must win, the Wanderer's can't afford heading back to the Forum down 3-1.
Period One - Stan Mikita begins like he wants this to be a short series. Just 21 seconds after puck drop, Mikita makes it 1-0 after beating Hainsworth through the 5-hole from 45 feet. Clearly a goal that Hainsworth would like to have back. The early Canadiens goal deflates the home crowd. The Habs continue to press the attack and just 4 minutes later Guy Lapointe takes a Sid Smith pass and beats Hainsworth with a quick backhand to the stick size. Herb Brooks senses the game and possibly the series slipping away and calls a timeout. The timeout seems to settle the home squad down a bit, and the Wanderers begin to gets pucks deep and pressure the Habs defense. Four minutes later Chris Pronger extracts some revenge and sends Gary Roberts sparwling with a forearm to the jaw. Roberts needs to be helped off the ice, and Pronger receives a standing ovation as he heads to the box. The Habs go to the power play and looking for the early kill. Mikita back to Park, who winds and fires, blocked and Dave Poulin, back from injury wearing a protective face-mask for a broken jaw, streaks ahead, picking the puck up off his shin pads, he goes in alone ... shoots ... SCORES! Poulin's shorthanded tally with just under 4 minutes remaining in the period have the Wanderers right back into the game, and the crowd is back into it, and are all over Ken Dryden ..... Dry-Den ... Dry-Den ... Dry-Den ... Dry-Den. The Wanderers continue to press the attack and fire 6 shots at Dryden i the next two minutes, all turned away. As the first period winds down, the Wanderers, while trailing have re-gained their footing ... Mikita carries the puck out of his own end and winds up from the red line as the clock winds down and fires a harmless shot in on Hainsworth, but the puck seems to dip and beats Hainsworth from 95 feet out. The period ends ... 3-1 Canadiens and the shots are 8 - 5 in favor of the Wanderers.
Period two - The little Swede Pelle Lindbergh leads the Wanderers on the ice, it appears that Hainsworth is done for the night. The Canadiens looking to build on their two goal lead are forcing the Wanderers at every turn, as Park is all over the ice, breaking up plays, starting the transition game and jumping into scoring lanes. Lindbergh is remarkably sharp for having not played in a month and makes 10-bell saves on Sid Smith, Park and Westfall all in a two minute stretch. Mid-way through he period and the shots are 12 - 1 in favor of the Habs. Hooley Smith strips Babe Dye clean and hits Graham in full flight, but as Graham winds for the slapshot Park moves in and easily deflects the puck into the seats. Three minutes later, Gretzky sets up behind the net and frins Brett Hull who blasts one off Dryden's shoulder that deflects over the net. Dryden is clearly struggling and is working on his arm at every stoppage in play. Just moments later Gretzky finds Reg Noble who beats Dryden's glovehand to cut the deficit to one. The Canadiens respond and again pressure the Wanderers at every turn ... Lindbergh makes a spectabular save on Mikita, and Pronger clears the rebound before Wharram can find the rebound. Moments later Lionel Conacher makes his presence felt as he catches Eddie Westfall with a hipcheck sending him ass over teakettle. The period ends with the Habs leading 3-2 and holding the shots edge 22 - 17. Lindbergh was perfect on 17 shots in the 2nd period.
Period 3 - The Habs begin the period on the power play, with Graham off for slashing. The habs move the puck around on the power play and Park fires from the point deflected in by Gary Roberts. Lindbergh and the Wanderers bench explode, feeling it was re-directed in by a high-stick. Bruce hood calls upstairs and the review takes more than 6 minutes. Scotty Morrison calls back down and Hood points to the center face-off dot, the goal will stand. Beer, soda and whatever else the Wanderers faithful can get their hands on rains down onto the ice in protest. Hood takes cover and and the game is delayed 14 minutes while the ice is cleaned off and readied for play. Just 40 seconds after play resumes, a hooking call is made against Wharram that comes from nowhere, certainly appears to be a make-up call. With 20 seconds reamining in the power play dany Heatley finds Billy Burch at the far post and he slams one past Dryden. 4-3 Canadiens with 14 minutes remaining, the Wanderers desparate for a goal, but its the Habs who control the play. Over the next 10 minutes they outshoot the Wanderers 9 - 3, but Lindbergh is perfect, his confidence growing with every save. Pronger hits the post with 3 minutes remaining, Dryden still favoring his right arm, still feeling the effects of the Hull slapper. 100 seconds remain and a neutral zone face-off. Gretzky skates over to Bruce Hood, what's he doing? The Wanderers have no timeout remaining. Hood skates over to Mikita and grabs his stick, the Wanderers have called for a measurement. After seeing the dipping shot from Mikita, they clearly think he may have a funny stick. It takes Hood less than a minute to realize Mikita's curve is way too big. Power play for the Wanderers with a chance to tie the game, Dryden comes up with 3 big stops early and freezes the puck with 39 seconds remaining. Brooks pulls Lindbergh and goes 6-on-4. Clean face-off win for the Wanderers, a Pronger shot is blocked out front, the puck squirts over to Heatley who fires from the right dot, Dryden makes a great kicksave, but Sid Smith pounces on the rebound and jams it past Dryden with jusy 8 seconds remaining. The period ends, tied at 4. Shots are 34 - 24 in favor of the Habs.
Overtime - Both teams come out cautiously, knowing the importance of the next goal. The period ends with the Canadiens outshooting the Wanderers 9-2
Overtime #2 - Just three minutes into the 2nd overtime period, and Pronger steps into a Gretzky feed and fires a low laser, that Brett hull deflects off the post and in.
Wanderers - 5-4 in 2OT. Shots 46 - 28 in favor of the Canadiens
Lindbergh makes 40 saves in relief of Hainsworth as the Wanderers win in 2OT's.