By George Bilych (Herald staff writer)
The longest day in the young life of the Calgary Cowboys wound up with a cheerful ending Wednesday night.
The adversity caused by the losing of battles over the conference tables in Winnipeg earlier in the day and the subsequent lack of proper preparation for a playoff game were shucked in the evening hours when they hung on to beat the Quebec Nordiques 3-2 at the Corral. Giving them a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven set. they now can get the Nordiques out of their hair with another victory Friday night.
The Cowboys were never headed Wednesday but they had to survive a nail-biting finish to pull it off. Never during the course of the 60 minutes did they resemble a loose and confident hockey club that they were in the two opening games in Quebec.
“We were tense, no question,” said goaltender Smokey McLeod. “Ben Hatskin (the WHA's chief executive officer) told us before the game to expect tight officiating. And it was. You didn't know what was going on out there. If you checked some guy you could get a penalty. It wasn't an easy game to play.”
The same McLeod had some scintillating stops among the 20 he faced and he well may have saved the Cowboys another trip to Quebec when he stopped a Serge Bernier tip-in in the final 13 seconds.
“The puck was right on the line when I reached back and got it.” said Smokey.
Lynn Powis was the Calgary offensive leader with two goals before assisting on Bernie Lukowich's game-winner. It was the second consecutive game in which Lukowich had provided the winner.
Buddy Cloutier and Dale Hoganson scored for the Nordiques.
Lukowich's goal was undoubtedly the prettiest of the night. Powis sent Gavin Kirk away at centre on a two-on-one break with only Jean Bernier back, early in the-third. Kirk skated right in on goalie Richard Brodeur before flipping it across and Lukowich just got up in time to slain it into the open side. Hogan-son closed it to 3-2 on a power play with 55 seconds remaining but the Cowboys managed to hang on.
Powis had put the Cowboys in front after only 66 seconds, batting fn Lukowi-ch's waist-high rebound. Powis then doubled the count during the second period's seventh minute, this time parking a Paul Ter-benche rebound past Brodeur. But the lead was sliced in half 35 seconds
later when Cloutier poked the puck through McLeod's pads after the Cowboys had been guilty of some loose play in the Calgary end.
Brodeur came up with some of his best work in the opening period, one in which the Cowboys outshot Quebec 11-5. He came up with two fine saves on Peter Driscoll and robbed Powis in the first minute after the Cowboy was put right in by Terbenche. McLeod's best saves were reserved for Bernier and Jim Benzeloek who was allowed to romp in home free.
It was hardly a classic confrontation which, considering the circumstances, was to be expected. With referee Ron Harris calling it by the book, there were 16 penalties but at no stage was there a hint of any rough stuff. Hoganson's was the lone power-play of the night.
The one-game suspension meted out to Danny Lawson was the first game he'd missed in the entire four-year history of the WHA. He'll be back Friday as will Rick Senles who sat out with a stiff neck. But the Cowboys may have to do without Butch Deadmarsh who suffered a badly cut ankle after stopp-
ing a Wally Olds shot early in the third.
Harry Howell, who stepped into the coaching box when the league forced Crozier to the sidelines, indicated he was pleased by the club's effort.
“There was a lot of last-minute preparations for this one, hardly the right kind of atmosphere for a playoff game,” said Harry. “We were tight and made a lot of mistakes but the guys hung in there. We tried to keep our best checking lines out there in the late going. Kirk won a lot of big face-offs for us.”
“We've played much better,” said Crozier who viewed the game on television from the sanctity of his Corral office, “but you've got to consider there was a lot of excitement today. I was surprised really that they gave the effort they did. They figured they got rapped pretty bad by those league decisions.”
So did a lot of Calgarians. including most of the 7.201 who witnessed the game. The Cowboys drew cheers like they never have before at the Corral while the Nordiques were roundly booed at every turn.
It only goes to prove you can't win 'em all.