January 29th, 1983
Montreal Canadiens (30-22-3) at Vancouver Canucks (21-28-7)
The Canucks and the Canadiens will meet for the 1st time this season. Montreal will have to adjust to losing RD
Martin Sulc for the remainder of the regular season. The Canadiens defense for the next few weeks until LD
Yegor Berestnev comes back from injury will include
Martin Beran (0),
Ashton Miller (2), LD
Andrew Rickford (30) and
Marek Bartolcic (75) a total of 107 games of NHL experience.
The Canucks are currently in 11th spot in the Western Conference with 49 points, 12 back of the last playoff spot. The Canucks have a terrific PP cruising at a 19.4% success rate while they do give up a lot of shots, 33 per game ranks them 26th.
RW
Yanni Johnstone leads the team with 47 points and in goals with 29 in 56 games. The 34 year old offensive forward is a 2-time All-Star. In 220 career NHL games he has 102 goals, 180 points, 147 PIMs and a +9 rating. All 3 seasons he has been a Canuck.
LW
Brandon Valente leads the team with 29 assists and is 2nd with 39 points. He also has 10 goals in 50 games. The 19 year old from Calgary, Ab is an offensive forward in his rookie season. He spent the past 2 years with the Flint Firebirds of the OHL where he had 51 goals, 120 points, 67 PIMs and a +28 rating in 93 career OHL games. He was the Canucks 1st round, 12th overall pick in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft.
C
Benjamin Vacher is 3rd on the team with 36 points, including 13 goals in 56 games. The 20 year old offensive forward is in his 2nd NHL season with Vancouver. In his rookie season he had 5 goals, 16 points, 24 PIMs and a -14 rating in 55 games. He miss the last 20 + games due to a elbow injury last season. He was signed as an Undrafted free agent by the Canucks on July 5th, 1981.
The Canadiens will start G
Mike Blackshear, he has 25 wins in 45 starts with a .897 save %. Vancouver starts G
Nick Clugston, he has 1 win in 11 starts with a .881 save %.
Montreal scores 1st, at 12:55 LW
Lorenzo Bocci collects his 21st of the year to make it 1-0. Montreal out shoots the Canucks 15 to 11 in the 1st period.
Vancouver ties it 1-1 at 13:18 of the 2nd period when LW
Gabriel Nault gets his 4th of the year. Montreal does get it back as LD
Ashton Miller gets his 1st career NHL goal at 17:40 to make it 2-1. RD
Martin Beran gets his 1st NHL point in his 1st NHL game. Montreal out played the Canucks badly with a 19 to 3 shot advantage in the 2nd.
The Canucks tie the score 2-2 on their 1st shot of the period. C
Benjamin Vacher gets his 14th of the year at 6:23 of the 3rd. We are heading to overtime as the Canucks fought back and out shot the Habs 10 to 8 in the 3rd.
It took just 12 seconds of overtime, LW
Daniel Mikulecky gets his 1st goal as a Canadien to beat the Canucks 3-2 on the 1st shot of overtime.
Montreal's LW
Lorenzo Bocci was the 1st star, he had a goal, 3 hits in 22:03 of icetime. The 29 year old Bocci now has 21 goals and 34 points in 37 games. In 181 career NHL games, Bocci has 72 goals, 139 points, 291 PIMs and a +50 rating.
Montreal 3 Vancouver 2 (O/T)
| PER | TEAM | GOAL | # | ASSIST | ASSIST |
| 1st | MTL | Lorenzo Bocci | 21 | Matej Ouhrabka | John Herrod |
| 2nd | VAN | Gabriel Nault | 4 | Benjamin Vacher | Evan Nolin |
| 2nd | MTL | Ashton Miller | 1 | Martin Beran | Chris Hughes |
| 3rd | VAN | Benjamin Vacher | 14 | Evan Nolin | Gabriel Nault |
| O/T | MTL | Daniel Mikulecky | 2 | Jiri Reichel |
|
| TEAM | GOALIE | SA | GA |
| MTL | Mike Blackshear | 24 | 2 |
| VAN | Nick Clugston | 43 | 3 |
Around the league...........
Pittsburgh Penguins LW
Travis Chambers had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 win over the Devils. The 33 year old Chambers now has 22 goals and 65 points in 56 games. The 1981 All-Star started his career with the Red Wings and played the last 2 seasons with the Penguins. In 134 career NHL games, he has 50 goals, 128 points, 77 PIMs and a +28 rating.
Dallas Stars RW
Domenico Giunti had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win over the Ducks. The 27 year old now has 21 goals and 58 points in 59 games. The 1983 All-Star is in his 3rd season with the Stars. He has 60 goals, 182 points, 226 PIMs with a +41 rating in 215 career NHL games.
In a big trade today, the Florida Panthers have sent 21 year old LD
Mirek Motl and 30 year old RW
Matt Watson to the Sabres in exchange for 20 year old C
Kelvin Spencer and a 1983 5th round pick. Motl has 4 goals and 21 points in 58 games for the Panthers, Watson had 5 goals and 9 points in 43 games for the Panthers.
Spencer has 21 goals and 43 points in 54 games this season. He played just 10 games for the Sabres last season due to injury. He was the Sabres 92nd overall pick in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft.