Less then a minute into the first period, the Stingers team captain Rick
Dudley scored a goal. It would be his first goal in almost three weeks. The goal came when
Stingers teammate Dennis Abgral got a pass to him from out on the left side. Dudley them
poked the puck past Whalers goalie Christer Abrahamsson from right in front of the net.
Claude Larose would score at 3:35 to put the Stingers up by two goals. He sent a booming
slap shot from outside the right circle over the should of Abrahamsson. But the Whalers
would answer with two straight goals to tie the game up after the first period. Tom
Webster scored the first Whalers goal after teammate Gordie Roberts let go a hard slap
shot from just inside the blue line and Webster deflected the puck in for the score.
Roberts initially got the puck because of a bad Stingers pass that wasn't cleared properly
in Cincinnati's zone. The final Whalers goal of the period came from Larry Pleau who
nabbed the puck after a face off. Pleau then went towards the Stingers net where Dale
Smedsmo tried to poke check but missed. Pleau then beat Stingers goaltender Jacques Caron
for the score. This game was Caron's first as a Stinger.
In the second period the Stingers team
captain would score back to back goals for the hat trick. His first goal came at 5:22 when
he picked up a rebound of a shot taken by Pierre Roy. Dudley twirled to get the puck on
his forehand and then he blasted the puck into the net. His second goal came when the
Stingers rushed into the Whalers zone and Dennis Abgrall sent a pass to Dudley. Dudley
then batted the puck in the net to complete his hat trick.
The Stingers went on to score two more
goals in the second period. The first coming from Rich Leduc during a power play
when he scored on a rebound in front of the net. Dudley was in on the assist. The goal
would be Leduc's 100th career WHA goal. The last goal of the period was scored by Dennis
Sobchuk. Sobchuk stole a pass from the Whalers, skated the length of the rind and
fooled Abrahamsson with a forehand before dropping a backhanded shot into the corner. It
would be Sobchuks fifth short handed goal of the season.
In the third period, team captain Rick
Dudley would score his fourth goal of the game at 9:49. Leduc sent a nice back handed pass
to Dudley who then slapped the shot in from the top of the left circle. Leduc would get
his second goal of the game at 15:13. And the Whalers would tack on two meaningless goals
at 15:13 and 17:02.
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