Final NHL Penalty Statistics

Stars’ Pavne Becomes A Tiger At Playoff Time

BLOOMINGTON—There’s something magical about scoring goals at playoff time. They’re more important than during the regular season—and they’re especially important if they happen to win a game for your team—which is where the Minnesota North Stars’ Steve Payne comes in. Payne has become the hottest game-winning playoff scorer to hit the National Hockey League in years. Many are comparing his playoff touch to the great Maurice (Rocket) Richard, the onetime Montreal Canadiens’ ace who performed in the post-season round like no one else in hockey history. The Rocket retired in 1960 after scoring 82 playoff goals, still an NHL record. 18 of which were game-winners, also an NHL record. Payne’s ability to come up with the winning goal in playoff action is uncanny. He scored three game winners in the 1980 playoffs…

Penguins’ Franchise Lifted By Great Playoff Showing

PITTSBURGH—The Penguins played perhaps the best game in their 14 National Hockey League seasons before succumbing 4-3 to the St. Louis Blues at 5:16 of the second overtime period in the fifth and deciding game of their preliminary round Stanley Cup playoff series. “I haven’t seen a game like that in a long time,” said Penguin coach Eddie Johnston. “I thought we showed a lot of guts. I really felt in my mind we should have won. We had good chances. They just didn’t go in the net.” Mike Crombeen, who had been sitting on the bench most of the night and was in the game because St. Louis coach Red Berenson wanted a “fresh pair of legs,” scored the winning goal. Crombeen shoveled Mike Zuke’s centering pass from the corner past…

Major Changes Necessary For Wings

DETROIT—There must be changes…but how many? “I’d say six, realistically.” coach Wayne Maxner said. “You’d be reaching if you said nine.” That’s how many new faces officials of the Detroit Red Wings expect to have when next season rolls around. It was widely accepted at the conclusion of the 1980-81 National Hockey League season that the Wings had up to 10 players who were not of NHL calibre. The off-season task will be to find adequate replacements if the Wings are to improve at all. But where do you find even six NHL players just like that? “We feel we may have two or three right now, like Mark Osborne [a 1980 underage draft who played junior hockey this season] and Rejean Cloutier, who is playing well in the American Hockey League,” Maxner said. Osborne is…