1981 CLARENCE CAMPBELL CONFERENCE QUARTER FINAL #1

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BROOKLYN vs. PITTSBURGH
	The defending Stanley Cup Champs begin their defense in the playoffs against a very tough Brooklyn team.
GAME #1	Brooklyn starts things off at 1:46 with Sutter (1) giving them a 1-0 lead. Hagman (1) ties it 1-1 less than 2 minutes later. Brooklynn scores on the PP at 7:19 with Wilson (1) making it 2-1 Brooklyn. A minute later at 8:19 Huber (1) scores to ties it 2-2… Then the Spirit go on a roll scoring the next 3 goals with Sittler (1), Vickers (1), and MacLeish (1). Making it 5-2 Spirit going into the 3rd period… where St. Croix stands tall in net in place of the suspended Resch. Spirit goes on to win 5-2. Brooklyn outshoots Pittsburgh 39-24, but St. Croix saves 37 of them. With Resch available for game 2, who do you go with?
GAME #2	Spirit up 1-0 in the series. Who will start in goal for them? Despite being available after a 1 game suspension, coach Tom Atkins decides to go with the hot hand in St. Croix. Let’s see if the hunch pays off. 1st Period sees MacLeish (2) make it 1-0 Spirit. Less than a minute later, McCarthy (1) scores on the PP to tie it at 1-1. Less than a minute after that, Sittler (2) scores on the PP to reclaim the lead 2-1. 2nd Period… Sittler (3) scores unassisted as he steals the puck on the clearing attempt and fires it past Millen to make it 3-1. Pettersson (1) scores on the PP at 8:09 to make it 4-1 Spirit. Brooklyn gets one back as McCarthy (2) scores his second of the night. 4-2 Spirit lead. 3rd Period… Pittsburgh continues their PP dominance getting PP goals from Greschner (1) and Hart (1) on a 5-3 and 5-4 advantage. 6-2 Pittsburgh. Reinhart (1) tries to get Brooklyn back into it, 6-3, but that is where it would stay as they couldn’t muster much offense after that and the final score is a 6-3 Pittsburgh win.
	St. Croix wins back to back games. Pittsburgh PP is on fire going 5-6 on the night. After getting 39 shots on goal last game, Brooklyn only manages to get 17 on goal in game 2. Pittsburgh out-hitting Brooklyn this game 23-8. Brooklyn looked kinda beat down already. Let’s see how well Home Ice advantage can help them in Games 3 and 4.
GAME #3	After dropping the first 2 games in Pittsburgh, the Harbor Rats return to Brooklyn looking to get back in the series. Rats fans fire up the team and Brooklyn jumps to a 3-0 lead halfway through the game, before Pittsburgh begins to right the ship, and right the ship they do. Rick MacLeish’s 3rd goal of the series makes it a 3-2 game early in the final period. Anton Stastny puts Brooklyn up 4-2 just a minute later, but Lafleur’s first of the playoffs makes it a one goal game again with 10 minutes remaining. Anders Hedberg gets his first of the playoffs with under 3 minutes left to tie the game and in our first post season home game, we are headed for sudden death overtime! Each goalie makes a pair of saves in the extra session before Mike Gartner’s first of the playoffs ends things suddenly, just 3 minutes in, and the Harbor Rats are back in the series with a 5-4 overtime win!
GAME #4	Even 2-2 after the first 20 minutes, MacLeish gets his 4th of the series to put the visitors in front just 2 minutes after the first intermission. Don Maloney and Matti Hagman score goals 90 seconds apart to open a 5-2 lead for Pittsburgh midway through the contest. When Lafleur scores before the second intermission, the Spirit have regained normality with their 6-2 lead. Darryl Sutter and Moose Dupont get 3rd period scores to make it interesting before an empty netter seals the road win for Pittsburgh, 7-4
	A split at home leaves Brooklyn facing elimination in game 5 back in Pittsburgh.
GAME #5	Too many concerts at the Civic Arena have made the scheduling horrible at the Igloo. But things are better now and we’re ready for some Playoff Hockey!! Brooklyn comes into town on the brink of elimination down 3-1. Pittsburgh seems poised to close the series out, but this is playoff hockey so anything is possible! Pittsburgh goes with St Croix, who won both home games prior, so let’s see how that plays out! 1st period Lafleur (3) makes it 1-0. A shorthanded goal by Gustafsson (2) ties it 1-1. Brooklyn takes a 2-1 lead with Smith (1) putting the biscuit in the basket. 2nd period Christian (2) on the PP puts Brooklyn up 3-1. 3rd period 56 seconds in Lafleur (4) gets his 2nd of the game to pull the Spirit within 1, 3-2 Brooklyn leads. Chouinard (1) finally gets on the board with his first of the playoffs to tie it 3-3! 30 seconds later Brooklyn takes the lead again when Sutter (3) beats St. Croix low through traffic to make it 4-3 Brooklyn. With 18 minutes left, anything can happen! But… Millen stands tall and saves all of the shots thrown his way the rest of the 3rd as Brooklyn staves off elimination and beats the home team Spirit 4-3 to send it back to Brooklyn and keep their hope alive! Not the outcome we had hoped for, but that’s how it goes in the playoffs! Still had a ball playing the game as always! Looking forward to the results at Brooklyn. Will we go seven?? Will the Spirit blow a 3-1 series lead?? We shall see!
	After a surprising game 5 win on the road in Pittsburgh, to avoid elimination, the Harbor Rats return home for game six, looking to force a seventh game in this conference quarterfinal series.
GAME #6	Both teams come out firing away and each goalie faces 14 shots in the first period, but it’s the Spirit netminder, Chico Resch, who stops all 14. Millen lets one past, a blast from the point by Pat Ribble and the visitors hold the 1-0 edge. In the second period Behn Wilson and Larry Patey drop the gloves to the roars of the crowd, the first fight in this series. And it’s Wilson who evens the score on a power play goal with just :22 seconds left before the second intermission, the only 2nd period score. So we head for the final 20 minutes even at a goal apiece. The Rats come hard in the final period, putting 20 shots on net in the final period alone, and 45 total shots on Chico for the game, but the Pittsburgh net minder is up to the task, stopping everything Brooklyn could come up with. With just 1:59 left on the clock, Jorgen Petterson puts the visitors in front 2-1, and despite several chances with the extra attacker, Brooklyn’s season comes to an end as the Spirit celebrate and move on to the conference finals.
	A fun game to end our season, already looking forward to next year too!!! Congrats to Pittsburgh, now go represent the Patrick division in the Cup Chase!