[Big T]

December 26th, 1982



Detroit Red Wings (16-25-3) at Montreal Canadiens (22-19-2)

We get a visit from the Red Wings tonight, our first meeting of the season. Montreal has really struggled on the PP this season, we are ranked 28th with just a 81% kill rate. LW Lorenzo Bocci is now back from injury and he is usually on the 1st PK unit so Montreal is hoping that his return will help the cause.

The Red Wings are currently in 14th spot in the Eastern Division, 12 points out of the final playoff spot. The Red Wings rank 27th in GAA per game at 3.20.

C Aaron Swanson leads the Red Wings in all offensive categories, he has 17 goals, 23 assists for 40 points in 44 games. The 27 year old Offensive Forward is a strong playmaker with terrific hockey sense. He is certainly not a physical player. The 1982 All-Star has played in 188 NHL games, all with Detroit and has 61 goals with 182 points and 200 PIMs with a +23 rating.

LW David Chab is 2nd in all offensive stats with 15 goals, 19 assists and 34 points in 44 games. The 28 year old 1982 Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy Winner had 40 goals that season. Scouted as a two way forward, he is a strong physical player with great stamina. In his 3rd season with Detroit, he has 75 career NHL goals with 163 points and 634 PIMs and a +4 rating in 208 games. He is the NHL's career leader in PIMS.

RW Bill Holliday is 3rd in all offensive stat categories with the Red Wings, he has 9 goals and 24 points in 42 games. Known as a goal scorer, he has a good ability to read the play. In 177 career NHL games, all with Detroit he has 51 goals and 102 points with 140 PIMs and a +2 rating.

Detroit will start G Troy Pichette who has 12 wins in 34 starts with a .901 save %. Montreal goes with G Mike Blackshear and his 19 wins in 35 starts with a .894 save %.

Detroit opens the scoring at 2:20 when RW Sam Zimmerman makes it 1-0 with his 7th of the year. Detroit makes it 2-0 at 3:56 when RD Walt Simmons scores for the 4th time this season. Montreal gets back into the game at 11:29 when RW Yevgeny Ronov scores his 6th of the year to make it 2-1. The 1st period ends with a Detroit 2-1 lead while Montreal out shoots the Red Wings 10 to 7.

Montreal ties it 2-2 early in the 2nd when C Dave Wright scores his 18th at 2:08. The 2nd period ends tied 2-2. Montreal out shot Detroit 13 to 2 in the 2nd period. Montreal is 0 for 2 on the PP while Detroit has yet to have the man advantage.

It only takes 21 seconds, RW Ronnie Marvin gets his 1st of the year to give Montreal a 3-2 lead. Detroit ties it up at 4:15 of the 3rd when C Petr Ulrich gets his 2nd of the year, its now 3-3. The Red Wings get their 4th of the night and take a 4-3 lead at 7:17 when LW Richard Higgins gets his 3rd of the year. 4 goals on just 13 shots. Its now 5-3 at 13:33 when Red Wings Walt Simmons gets his 2nd of the night. That's it for G Mike Blackshear, in comes G Jason Wells. That changes seems to inspire Montreal. RD Marek Bartolcic scores at 14:04 with his 6th of the year and its now 5-4 Detroit. Detroit does put it away with an empty net goal at 19:22 when LW David Chab goes a SH goal, his 16th of the year. The shots in the 3rd favoured Montreal 14 to 10 while the final PPs were Montreal 0 for 4 and Detroit with out a PP.

Detroit's RW Sam Zimmerman was the 1st star with his goal and 2 assists. The 29 year old now has 7 goals and 21 points in 39 games for the Red Wings. In his 1st year as a Red Wing, he was traded by the Lightning before the season started this year. In 188 career NHL games, he has 37 goals and 107 points with 130 PIMs and a +38 rating,

Detroit 6 Montreal 4

PER	TEAM	GOAL	#	ASSIST	ASSIST
1st	DET	Sam Zimmerman	7	Cam Chalke	Walt Simmons
1st	DET	Walt Simmons	4	Sam Zimmerman	Chris Bennett
2nd	MTL	Yevgeny Ronov	6	Martin Sulc	Dave Wright
2nd	MTL	Dave Wright	18	Martin Sulc
3rd	MTL	Ronnie Marvin	1	Batsaikhany Vanoosten	Jiri Reichel
3rd	DET	Petr Ulrich	2	Devan Halmo	David Chab
3rd	DET	Richard Higgins	3	Ken Hunt
3rd	DET	Walt Simmons	5	Sam Zimmerman	Chris Bennett
3rd	MTL	Marek Bartolcic	6	Jiri Reichel	Batsaikhany Vanoosten
3rd	DET	David Chab (SH) (EN)	16	Aaron Swanson

TEAM	GOALIE	SA	GA
DET	Troy Pichette	37	4
MTL	Mike Blackshear	15	5
MTL	Jason Wells	3	0

Around the league..............



Washington Capitals RD Marshall Lawson had 2 assists in a 5-1 win over the Avalanche. The 33 year old Lawson now has 9 goals and 31 points in 43 games. Lawson started in the NHL with the Flyers and was traded to the Capitals on January 19th, 1982. In 171 career NHL games, he has 23 goals and 84 points with 58 PIMs and a +6 rating.