All right, folks. It's spring of 1980 and the NHL Playoffs are about to get started. For you hockey experts out there, how often did teams change goalies within playoff series, or did they just ride the #1 netminder until the wheels fell off for him? Or, make gut instinct changes within a series? Going to replay these playoffs in a "series by series" method rather than day by day.
All righty! The puck is about to drop. Better late than never. Going to play this playoff replay. I haven't decided if I want to play series by series or day by day. I will decide before starting tomorrow. Either way, here are the series matchups for the first round:
Edmonton at Philadelphia
Vancouver at Buffalo
Hartford at Montreal
Pittsburgh at Boston
Los Angeles at New York Islanders
Toronto at Minnesota
St. Louis at Chicago
Atlanta at New York Rangers
April 8, 1980 Bruins 6 Penguins 2
The Bruins take game 1 with a big victory over the Pens.
Bruins Goal Scorers: McNab 2, MacTavish, Bourque, Cashman, B. Miller
Penguins Goal Scorers: Schutt and Kehoe
Sabres 3 Canucks 1
Buffalo gets the home win and series lead.
Buffalo Goal Scorers: Seiling, R. Martin, McKegney
Canucks Goal Scorer: Blight
Canadiens 3 Whalers 0
Montreal dominates Hartford with smothering D and goal tending.
Montreal Goal Scorers: Shutt, Mondou, Hoile
Kings 3 Islanders 0
Keans blanks the Isles as LA takes 1-0 series lead.
LA Goal Scorers: Simmer 2, Halward
April 8, 1980 Flyers 4 Oilers 2
Philly takes 1-0 series lead as expected.
Philadelphia Goal Scorers: Holmgren, Watson, MacLeish, Clarke
Edmonton Goal Scorers: Lumley, Weir
[b]North Stars 6 Maple Leafs 3[/b]
Minnesota doubles up Toronto for series lead.
Minnesota Goal Scorers: Payne 2, Eaves, Sargent, Sharpley, Zanussi
Toronto Goal Scorers: Derlago, McKechnie, Maloney
Blackhawks 3 Blues 2 (OT)
Chicago gets the OT winner for the series lead.
Chicago Goal Scorers: Lysiak, Preston, Ruskowski
St. Louis Goal Scorers: Brownschidle, Dunlop
Flames 5 Rangers 2
Atlanta off to a hot playoff start with big win in the Big Apple.
Atlanta Goal Scorers: K. Nilsson 2, G. Unger, Boldirev, MacMillan
New York Goal Scorers: Tkaczuk, U. Nilsson