Classic Buffalo Sabres: Jan 4,1976 vs. Soviet Wings

[fastfootedone]

from Vancouver, RIP Rick Martin -- excellent player and an excellent French Connection line

[dsmalls9]

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.

[peterganna]

in soviet russia puck shoot you

[rachaelx37]

wow wish we could play like this again.

[dzanier]

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!

[Lava1964]

I watched this game at my grandmother's house! I remember the avalanche of goals vividly! RIP, Rick Martin!

[truepass2679]

RIP , Rick Martin ! Thanks for the memories !!!

[BigBastard67]

Buffalo may have never won a cup but goal damn they sure knew how to beat those fucking commies

[MrVasilenkoK]

@BigBastard67 What about other games of Soviet Wings in that series.As far as I remember,NHL-ers LOOSE ALL OF THEM?

[Kratos9945]

1:25 soviet ownage lol

[hebber1961]

jesus. is that Brian "spinner" Spencer?

[MrPastor4eg]

Ой бля идите вы знаете куда? Изобретатели хоккея... Русская машина Вас раздавит и не спросит , не злите лучше терпилы...

[SmanCan]

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.

[mikebordon]

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!

[cavalrytm]

@mikebordon

Please tell me you kept that paper and still have it?!

[mikebordon]

@cavalrytm I brought it home with me but must have thrown it out. I wish I would have saved it,

[ccjjpp1966]

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.

[Danimal14222]

@ccjjpp1966 Not entirely true. The Wings lost to the Red Army in what was the equivalent of the Stanley Cup Finals previously that year, and the Red Army transferred some players to the Wings to bolster their roster. You can tell by the CCCPs on their helmets.

[nicodemoscarfo]

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.

[pjmurray27]

Actually, I think the play-by-blay announcer was Ward Cornell.

[Lava1964]

@pjmurray27 The announcers for this game are Bill Hewitt (play-by-play) with analysts Brian McFarlane and Punch Imlach.

[Migueltio]

This was CBC coverage and I think its Danny Gallivan, with Sabres GM Punch Imlach as commentator.

[cutterTML]

Wait who was the play by man?

[BoyJewish]

I was at that game...great memories! Thank you for posting...too bad we gave up 6.

[infinitemika]

6:40 weak goal...that goalie is definetly still in the gulags, follwed by his entire family

[cavalrytm]

Buffalo was the first NHL team to beat the Soviet Wings.

RESPECT.

[Scarpia74]

Oh? :( *cries*

[Lava1964]

There's one from the memory vault!

This game was alo memorable for the "interesting" calls that Soviet referee Victor Dumbrovsky repeatedly made.

[Scarpia74]

When reading these comments, one has to ask...

Are all North American hockey fans idiots?

[beauchamp02]

A good number of us are, especially amongst the fans of the co-called Broad Street Bullies.

[cavalrytm]

No. Just you, Flyers, and Leafs fans.

[VaultTecGaming]

Yeah that makes sense since hockey was made in North America, dummy.

[BoyJewish]

Yes, but we have warmer feet than you.

[ULTRAPOWER1977Habs]

thats right scottwill19, the fucking russians couldnt compete with Canada/USA/NHL hockey of that time. Hey even a bunch of college kids beat the "super" Russian olympic team. Go figure. Russian hockey at that time always (to me anyway) smelled bad. I dont know if it was their fucking referees who came over here and fucked things up or what, but all I know is that the NHL teams always wanted to beat the fuck out of the Russians. You can ask any Flyers player that won 4-1 over the Red Army.

[scottwill19]

what happened u fucking commies?

o yea, u cant even play the game (properly) u bitches

[Philfu90]

look at all these gay haircauts :D

[sutoman101]

I was 10 years old and was at that game. The Aud was ROCKING.

[GottosX2]

so... wouldn't the Sabres and the soviet's hold the record for most goals in a game, which was 18.

And wouldn't the Sabres hold the record for most goals by one team in a game.

[ottvalley]

The Sabres had some serious talent that year.Perreault,Martin,Robert,G­are,Luce,Guevernmont.I remember this game very well,Buffalo just owned them

[jackson32]

@ottvalley Wasn't the big story of the game the Sabres strategy of clogging up the middle of the rink?

[landrykkb]

@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.

[dzanier]

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.

[dt089]

Of course Sabres blew them out it was the french connection the best 3 punch combo in NHL history.

[HemiVic]

I was in High School in the mid-70's when I remember watching this game on NBC! The Soviet Wings were no where near as good as the Red Army Team but still it was a great game with the Buffalo Sabres! Rene Robert, Gil Perrault, Rick Martin, Jerry Korab, Brian Spencer....some great 1970's NHL memories!

[bloggo1]

this was one of my all time favorite games! it's really too bad the Sabres never won a cup, they were talented enough to have won one!!

[Raingles]

The best part is the play that begins at 8:27, Perreault seemingly takes a hit to make a play but ends up flattening his man and then Martin shoots the goalies glove off!

[cevajorge]

Awesome video! I was wondering where were you able to get this footage?

[zz0u812]

excellent hi lites

[molson2112]

Excellent! Thank you for posting this.

[tjackson76]

OMG! Thats the day I was born! Woo0000!

[pjfan201]

Brilliant video!