Rick Middleton was the Lady Byng Trophy winner in 1981-82 and finished second to Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders for the following two campaigns. Over the 1980-81 season, Rick sat just 16 minutes in penalties while playing in all 80 regular season games for the Boston Bruins. He finished third in voting for the Lady Byng, behind Rick Kehoe and Wayne Gretzky . Yet, in the first game of the season for the Bruins, Middleton dropped the gloves. Not unheard of, Rick also put up a Gordie Howe Hat Trick at the start of the 1978-79 campaign. On October 9, 1980, he did it again. The Game It was the first game of the 1980-81 NHL season for both Boston and the New York Rangers. The Bruins played host at the Boston Garden and, early on, it looked like they were going to be nice to their guests. The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period with goals by Mike Allison (2:44) and Walt Tkaczuk (3:18). However, that early shock lit a fire under the Bruins and the team came back