The pace of the game was more laid back, back then. Interesting.
Players today seem to skate harder and play more aggressive. Also I notice slap shots were less common back then. They tended to keep puck low to the ice for the most part.
I've always wondered how the great ones of that era would fair in todays fast paced NHL provided they'd been retrained to todays standards and given their youth back.
Buffalo only beat the Soviet B team that was playing NHL teams at that time (1976). The Flyers, Montreal, Boston and NY Rangers played the Soviet Red Army. That was the dominating great team not this team Buffalo played. The Flyers were the only team to beat the Red Army.
I was on Vacation in Puerto Rico when this game was played. I remember going to the store to buy The San Juan Star the next morning and the headlines read: SABRES BEAT RUSSIANS!
Thx for posting these highlights! I was a massive Sabres/Gilbert Perrault fan back then and this was one of my favorite hockey games of all time. The broadcaster was Bill Hewitt, the usual Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster of that day with Brian McFarlane doing the color. The Sabres French Connection line of Martin Perrault and Robert was one of the best lines ever.
@ottvalley With all Buffalo`s offensive weapons,they should have at least won 1 Stanley Cup.Gilbert Perreault said himself they were short a big,stay-at-home defenceman of doing that.Not helping either is that they played in the 70`s when Montreal,Boston,& Philly basically owned the league.
You make an excellent point. People who didn't follow hockey religiously like myself might not consider those Buffalo teams as great, but rather just think of Philly, Boston, Montreal and later the Islanders. Buffalo had standout talent. As far as winning the cup goes, it's like you said, wrong place, wrong time.
Gares's goal at the 6:40 mark is such a bad goal, No way a goalie should let in a long-side goal from that far out from that sharp an angle, on a wrist shot no less. My God!
Sabres tenth goal is awesome. Perreault beats the Sov d-man to the puck, then flattens him for good measure! Rick Martin's slap shot rips the goalie's glove off, and was heading in before Spencer slammed it home.
There are a few through-the-wickets soft goals here, but also several examples of what happens when the defensive team backs in and lets world-class shooters pick spots. No matter how good the goalies are, a basketball game will usually break out. I remember all of these guys from the Sabres-Bruins matchups. The Bruins could usually beat Buffalo when they had to, but it always seemed to go to the wire. Had fogotten that Stanfield or McNab were Sabres, but surely recall the French Connection.
"Mr. Vaseline-ov" you wrote.I remember Red Army Team that year(1976 superseries).They kicked your "BostonGarden" 5-2 ON YOUR OWN,BOSTON ICE with Mr.Cherry as a coach without any vaseline,remember.If personally you want it with vaseline,I suppose that you confused me with some(not all) N/Americans.I'm not specialist in your homosexual games.I'm so sorry, honey
Real intelligence there comrade. It's a little easier to put together a team when you can assemble them into a military team and you have compulsory military service. You sound very defensive, have another vodka,
team Russia in crisis through the whole 2000's. Which is not surprising considering all things happening in the country. Till 2008 they didn't win IIHF for 15 years, it's not even statistically probable. Same was happening with Juniors. But it's getting a lot better now – 3 golds, silver and bronze in IIHF, some memorable wins in Juniors 😉 etc
*was in crisis*
Anyhow, that aside, two out of four last winter olympic games were on NHL rinks and both times it was USA and Canada played in finals. The other two USA & Canada lost in quaterfinals (3 times) and semis (once). See the difference? Rinks play a huge role at that level. And that's very unfortunate for USA and Canada really – you can only have that many Olympic games in North America.
My prediction – USA and Canada aren't winning any of the next 5 winter Olympics. We'll see tho.
The only thing that kept the Sabres or anyone from beating the Flyers in 1975 was their Goaltender Bernie Parent. The Sabres were an Offensive Juggernaut in 1975 and more than just the French Connection Line. You put Bernie Parent or Rogatien Vachon in Goal for the Sabres they would be very deadly during the mid 1970's. Vachon always played well against the Russians and Europeans shooting style for some weird reason.
The Sabres beat the Red Army 6-1 four years later in late December 1979. Buffalo usually seemed to play to well in the Super Series against the Russian Teams 1975 to 1990 only losing once.
Each goalkeeper have his worst game once – this was probably the worst game of Aleksandr Sidelnikov , the excellent goalkeeper of 70 's , he was the backup of Tretiak in national team at 70's ; he is the best goalkeeper ever to played for Soviet Wings team – but that day in Buffalo he played his worst game .
ONLY ONES TO SHUNT THAT HARDCORE TEAM……RUSSIANS, TALK WITH US BUFFALONIANS, WE ARE THE BEST REPRESENTATIVES…..
Buffalo,NY to Russia…..Talk with us…Lets drink some beer or whatever…Fuck NYC , Chicago, DC, All that shit………Talk with us….You'll at least love Buffalo, NY……Yeah…They shat on us so FUCK THEM……Na Zdrowie….Sorry..Nice Drive Way (HAHA)
Let us be accurate here – this team is not Krylya Sovetov (Or Soviet Wings). It was fortified by 4 BEST players of Spartak Moscow. Usual soviets lying and cheating – calling their hockey players amateurs and other bullshit. I do not remember that game too well but the one in which Buffalo raped the Red Army club (which also was fortified by three best players form Torpedo) 6:1 I remember vividly. Don Edwards was perfect. Boy, I was happy that day – watching the Evil Empire favorite team taking it deep up the ass!!!! By the way, Gilbert was the most feared player – soviets were afraid of him. He impressed them the most in the 1972 superseries
In the stands for this game, wondering whose forward’s arms would wear out first. Defensemen were not earning their dues on either side. A fun time watching this quail hunt.
48 Comments
Of course Sabres blew them out it was the french connection the best 3 punch combo in NHL history.
look at all these gay haircauts 😀
A good number of us are, especially amongst the fans of the co-called Broad Street Bullies.
There's one from the memory vault!
This game was alo memorable for the "interesting" calls that Soviet referee Victor Dumbrovsky repeatedly made.
No. Just you, Flyers, and Leafs fans.
Buffalo was the first NHL team to beat the Soviet Wings.
RESPECT.
6:40 weak goal…that goalie is definetly still in the gulags, follwed by his entire family
This was CBC coverage and I think its Danny Gallivan, with Sabres GM Punch Imlach as commentator.
The pace of the game was more laid back, back then. Interesting.
Players today seem to skate harder and play more aggressive. Also I notice slap shots were less common back then. They tended to keep puck low to the ice for the most part.
I've always wondered how the great ones of that era would fair in todays fast paced NHL provided they'd been retrained to todays standards and given their youth back.
Buffalo only beat the Soviet B team that was playing NHL teams at that time (1976). The Flyers, Montreal, Boston and NY Rangers played the Soviet Red Army. That was the dominating great team not this team Buffalo played. The Flyers were the only team to beat the Red Army.
I was on Vacation in Puerto Rico when this game was played. I remember going to the store to buy The San Juan Star the next morning and the headlines read: SABRES BEAT RUSSIANS!
Thx for posting these highlights! I was a massive Sabres/Gilbert Perrault fan back then and this was one of my favorite hockey games of all time. The broadcaster was Bill Hewitt, the usual Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster of that day with Brian McFarlane doing the color. The Sabres French Connection line of Martin Perrault and Robert was one of the best lines ever.
jesus. is that Brian "spinner" Spencer?
@mikebordon
Please tell me you kept that paper and still have it?!
@cavalrytm I brought it home with me but must have thrown it out. I wish I would have saved it,
@ottvalley Wasn't the big story of the game the Sabres strategy of clogging up the middle of the rink?
@BigBastard67 What about other games of Soviet Wings in that series.As far as I remember,NHL-ers LOOSE ALL OF THEM?
RIP , Rick Martin ! Thanks for the memories !!!
I watched this game at my grandmother's house! I remember the avalanche of goals vividly! RIP, Rick Martin!
@ottvalley With all Buffalo`s offensive weapons,they should have at least won 1 Stanley Cup.Gilbert Perreault said himself they were short a big,stay-at-home defenceman of doing that.Not helping either is that they played in the 70`s when Montreal,Boston,& Philly basically owned the league.
You make an excellent point. People who didn't follow hockey religiously like myself might not consider those Buffalo teams as great, but rather just think of Philly, Boston, Montreal and later the Islanders. Buffalo had standout talent. As far as winning the cup goes, it's like you said, wrong place, wrong time.
Gares's goal at the 6:40 mark is such a bad goal, No way a goalie should let in a long-side goal from that far out from that sharp an angle, on a wrist shot no less. My God!
wow wish we could play like this again.
Sabres tenth goal is awesome. Perreault beats the Sov d-man to the puck, then flattens him for good measure! Rick Martin's slap shot rips the goalie's glove off, and was heading in before Spencer slammed it home.
@pjmurray27 The announcers for this game are Bill Hewitt (play-by-play) with analysts Brian McFarlane and Punch Imlach.
from Vancouver, RIP Rick Martin — excellent player and an excellent French Connection line
Lol i live in Buffalo and that's the only thing the sabres did that anyone remembers was beating the soviets in '76.
There are a few through-the-wickets soft goals here, but also several examples of what happens when the defensive team backs in and lets world-class shooters pick spots. No matter how good the goalies are, a basketball game will usually break out. I remember all of these guys from the Sabres-Bruins matchups. The Bruins could usually beat Buffalo when they had to, but it always seemed to go to the wire. Had fogotten that Stanfield or McNab were Sabres, but surely recall the French Connection.
wow my grandma could score on the stand up goalies,they were horrible
he had Robert,Martin and Gare tho
Sorry, "Mr. Vaseline-ov" giving up 12 goals is embarrassing
"Mr. Vaseline-ov" you wrote.I remember Red Army Team that year(1976 superseries).They kicked your "BostonGarden" 5-2 ON YOUR OWN,BOSTON ICE with Mr.Cherry as a coach without any vaseline,remember.If personally you want it with vaseline,I suppose that you confused me with some(not all) N/Americans.I'm not specialist in your homosexual games.I'm so sorry, honey
Real intelligence there comrade. It's a little easier to put together a team when you can assemble them into a military team and you have compulsory military service. You sound very defensive, have another vodka,
Russia not doing so well in the Olympic hockey. Why is that?
team Russia in crisis through the whole 2000's. Which is not surprising considering all things happening in the country. Till 2008 they didn't win IIHF for 15 years, it's not even statistically probable. Same was happening with Juniors. But it's getting a lot better now – 3 golds, silver and bronze in IIHF, some memorable wins in Juniors 😉 etc
*was in crisis*
Anyhow, that aside, two out of four last winter olympic games were on NHL rinks and both times it was USA and Canada played in finals. The other two USA & Canada lost in quaterfinals (3 times) and semis (once). See the difference? Rinks play a huge role at that level. And that's very unfortunate for USA and Canada really – you can only have that many Olympic games in North America.
My prediction – USA and Canada aren't winning any of the next 5 winter Olympics. We'll see tho.
the french canadian line and mt gare and great goaltending and super defence
The only thing that kept the Sabres or anyone from beating the Flyers in 1975 was their Goaltender Bernie Parent. The Sabres were an Offensive Juggernaut in 1975 and more than just the French Connection Line. You put Bernie Parent or Rogatien Vachon in Goal for the Sabres they would be very deadly during the mid 1970's. Vachon always played well against the Russians and Europeans shooting style for some weird reason.
The Sabres beat the Red Army 6-1 four years later in late December 1979. Buffalo usually seemed to play to well in the Super Series against the Russian Teams 1975 to 1990 only losing once.
Is it me or does the goalies suck
I was 14 years old when 5his game was played. The biggest shit kicking a Soveit/Russian team has ever experienced.
Each goalkeeper have his worst game once – this was probably the worst game of Aleksandr Sidelnikov , the excellent goalkeeper of 70 's , he was the backup of Tretiak in national team at 70's ; he is the best goalkeeper ever to played for Soviet Wings team – but that day in Buffalo he played his worst game .
ONLY ONES TO SHUNT THAT HARDCORE TEAM……RUSSIANS, TALK WITH US BUFFALONIANS, WE ARE THE BEST REPRESENTATIVES…..
Buffalo,NY to Russia…..Talk with us…Lets drink some beer or whatever…Fuck NYC , Chicago, DC, All that shit………Talk with us….You'll at least love Buffalo, NY……Yeah…They shat on us so FUCK THEM……Na Zdrowie….Sorry..Nice Drive Way (HAHA)
Let us be accurate here – this team is not Krylya Sovetov (Or Soviet Wings). It was fortified by 4 BEST players of Spartak Moscow. Usual soviets lying and cheating – calling their hockey players amateurs and other bullshit. I do not remember that game too well but the one in which Buffalo raped the Red Army club (which also was fortified by three best players form Torpedo) 6:1 I remember vividly. Don Edwards was perfect. Boy, I was happy that day – watching the Evil Empire favorite team taking it deep up the ass!!!! By the way, Gilbert was the most feared player – soviets were afraid of him. He impressed them the most in the 1972 superseries
Aleksandr Sidelnikov , future Olympic champion'1976 and #2 after Tretyak. ha-ha.
In the stands for this game, wondering whose forward’s arms would wear out first. Defensemen were not earning their dues on either side. A fun time watching this quail hunt.
This looks like a beer league game…..I could prob score 10 goals myself with this "stand-up" goaltending style
anyone have detroit vs soviet wings 1979?