Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lapointe had plenty of monster nights during his Hall of Fame career, but none quite like November 13, 1974. That evening at the Montreal Forum, the smooth-skating defenseman piled up five points, recorded the only hat trick of his NHL career, and still watched his Canadiens fall 8-6 to the high-flying Buffalo Sabres.
Lapointe was in the middle of a career year in 1974-75, finishing with 28 goals and a third-place finish in the Norris Trophy race behind Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin. Against Buffalo, he did everything in his power to drag Montreal back into the game while still finishing with a +2 rating despite the loss.
The Sabres stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first before Lapointe setup Yvon Lambert at 13:47 to put Montreal on the board. After Rene Robert restored Buffalo’s three-goal cushion, Lapointe ripped home his sixth of the season at 18:56, with assists from Guy Lafleur and Jacques Lemaire.
Buffalo opened the second period with another three-goal burst, stretching the lead to 6-1 and then 7-2. Lapointe responded at 14:52, scoring his second of the night to cut the deficit to 7-3. A few minutes later, with Glen Sather in the penalty box, Pete Mahovlich buried a shorthanded marker, set up beautifully by Lapointe and fellow blueliner Serge Savard.
Montreal kept pushing in the third, and Lapointe completed his hat trick at 10:25, trimming Buffalo’s lead to 7-5 and capping off his remarkable five-point showing. But the Sabres answered back as Robert completed his own hat trick, and Bob Gainey closed the scoring shortly after. Savard also had a standout game with three assists and a +5 rating.
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