December 10, 1970 -- This is a day Joe Daley probably will never forget. After all, how often are you at the wrong end of a shooting gallery?
Expansion teams in hockey are supposedly to suffer some bad games in their early stages, and this was certainly one of them. The Sabres went into Boston, home of names such as Esposito, Orr, Hodge, Cashman, Bucyk, and got waxed by an 8-2 count.
What's more, no one was blaming Daley. He made 64 saves in a losing cause. In other words, the Bruins had 72 shots on goal. That remains a club record for shots allowed by a Sabre team.
By the way, the Sabres scored the game's first goal, and Phil Goyette gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead in the second period. In the third period, the Sabres allowed six goals on an amazing 30 shots.
Daley is best remembered around the league as playing without a mask for most of his career. It took until the late 1970's for him to put on a mask for a WHA game. If 72 shots on goal weren't enough to do it, you wonder what did.
--- Budd Bailey
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