A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| 1971–72 NHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | National Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 8, 1971 – May 11, 1972 |
| Number of games | 78 |
| Number of teams | 14 |
| TV partner(s) | CBC, CTV, SRC (Canada) CBS (United States) |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | Guy Lafleur |
| Picked by | Montreal Canadiens |
| Regular season | |
| Season champions | Boston Bruins |
| Season MVP | Bobby Orr (Bruins) |
| Top scorer | Phil Esposito (Bruins) |
| Playoffs | |
| Playoffs MVP | Bobby Orr (Bruins) |
| Stanley Cup | |
| Champions | Boston Bruins |
| Runners-up | New York Rangers |
The 1971–72 NHL season was the 55th season of the National Hockey League. Fourteen teams each played 78 games. The Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers four games to two for their second Stanley Cup in three seasons in the finals.
Teams
| 1971-72 National Hockey League | ||||
| Division | Team | City | Arena | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | Boston Bruins | Boston, Massachusetts | Boston Garden | 14,995 |
| Buffalo Sabres | Buffalo, New York | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium | 15,360 | |
| Detroit Red Wings | Detroit, Michigan | Detroit Olympia | 15,000 | |
| Montreal Canadiens | Montreal, Quebec | Montreal Forum | 19,000 | |
| New York Rangers | New York, New York | Madison Square Garden | 17,250 | |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Toronto, Ontario | Maple Leaf Gardens | 16,316 | |
| Vancouver Canucks | Vancouver, British Columbia | Pacific Coliseum | 15,570 | |
| West | California Golden Seals | Oakland, California | Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena | 15,000 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | Chicago, Illinois | Chicago Stadium | 16,666 | |
| Los Angeles Kings | Inglewood, California | The Forum | 16,005 | |
| Minnesota North Stars | Bloomington, Minnesota | Metropolitan Sports Center | 15,000 | |
| Philadelphia Flyers | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Spectrum | 14,626 | |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Civic Arena | 12,580 | |
| St. Louis Blues | St. Louis, Missouri | St. Louis Arena | 17,821 | |
Regular season
Among notable first year players this season were Montreal's Guy Lafleur, who despite scoring 29 goals was felt lacking in comparison to newly retired superstar Jean Beliveau by the Canadiens' faithful; Buffalo's Rick Martin, who set a new record for goals by a rookie with 44; Gilles Meloche, goaltender for the California Golden Seals who acquired him from Chicago; and Ken Dryden, the sensational new goalie for the Canadiens, who despite winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP the previous season was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, on the grounds that he had only played six prior regular season games.
43-year-old Gump Worsley, left unprotected (and unclaimed) in the waiver draft by the Minnesota North Stars, led the league with a 2.12 goals against average. Less fortunately, Philadelphia goaltender Bruce Gamble suffered a heart attack during a 3–1 win in Vancouver in February and was forced to retire from hockey.
In what was widely seen as a preemptive move to help forestall the incipient World Hockey Association, the NHL announced that Atlanta and Long Island had been granted expansion franchises to begin play in the 1972–73 season. The bids had been hastily put together in comparison with the 1967 and 1970 expansions.
Milestones this season included Gerry Cheevers setting an NHL record for the Boston Bruins (which has yet to be surpassed) with 33 straight undefeated games. On February 12, it was Gordie Howe Day in Detroit as his famous #9 was retired. On March 25, Bobby Hull scored his 600th NHL goal in a 5–5 tie with Boston at the Boston Garden.
An exciting scoring race in which Ranger Jean Ratelle had been leading Bruin Phil Esposito was shortcircuited when Ratelle broke his ankle in a game against California, putting him out for over a month of play. Ratelle still ended up third in scoring behind Esposito and Bruin Bobby Orr, while his teammates Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert – all three linemates on the renowned GAG line—finished fourth and fifth. A resurgent Frank Mahovlich, rejuvenated by a trade to Montreal, finished sixth, while Bobby Hull, in his final year in Chicago, finished seventh in points and second to Esposito in goals.
Although they had fallen somewhat from their overwhelming offensive dominance from the previous season, once again the Boston Bruins had the best record in the league, while the Chicago Black Hawks topped the West Division.
Final standings
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Bruins | 78 | 54 | 13 | 11 | 330 | 204 | +126 | 119 |
| 2 | New York Rangers | 78 | 48 | 17 | 13 | 317 | 192 | +125 | 109 |
| 3 | Montreal Canadiens | 78 | 46 | 16 | 16 | 307 | 205 | +102 | 108 |
| 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 78 | 33 | 31 | 14 | 209 | 208 | +1 | 80 |
| 5 | Detroit Red Wings | 78 | 33 | 35 | 10 | 261 | 262 | −1 | 76 |
| 6 | Buffalo Sabres | 78 | 16 | 43 | 19 | 203 | 289 | −86 | 51 |
| 7 | Vancouver Canucks | 78 | 20 | 50 | 8 | 203 | 297 | −94 | 48 |
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago Black Hawks | 78 | 46 | 17 | 15 | 256 | 166 | +90 | 107 |
| 2 | Minnesota North Stars | 78 | 37 | 29 | 12 | 212 | 191 | +21 | 86 |
| 3 | St. Louis Blues | 78 | 28 | 39 | 11 | 208 | 247 | −39 | 67 |
| 4 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 78 | 26 | 38 | 14 | 220 | 258 | −38 | 66 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Flyers | 78 | 26 | 38 | 14 | 200 | 236 | −36 | 66 |
| 6 | California Golden Seals | 78 | 21 | 39 | 18 | 216 | 288 | −72 | 60 |
| 7 | Los Angeles Kings | 78 | 20 | 49 | 9 | 206 | 305 | −99 | 49 |
Playoffs
Format change
In response to the prior year when the Minnesota North Stars appeared to intentionally lose games to finish fourth in the West instead of third and avoid a tougher match-up with first-place Chicago, and also the Boston Bruins were "rewarded" for finishing first in the East with a tough series against eventual Stanley Cup Champion Montreal, the first round match-ups were changed so that the first-place team played the fourth-place team and second played third. Previously, the first-place team played the third-place team and the second-place team played the fourth-place team.
This change necessitated a change to the way the semi-final match-ups were determined. Instead of having the winner of the series between the first and third-place East Division teams play the winner of the second and fourth-place West Division teams and the winner of the first versus third-place West Division teams against the winner of the second and fourth-place East Division teams, the semi-final pitted the highest remaining seed in the East Division play the lowest remaining seed from the West and vice versa.
Despite injuries to several key players, notably leading scorer Jean Ratelle, the New York Rangers beat the defending champions Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs, with strong play from unheralded players such as Walt Tkaczuk. The Rangers went on the sweep the Chicago Black Hawks in four straight games during the semi-final. Chicago had beaten the Pittsburgh Penguins in four straight games.
Boston easily handled the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games, facing a St. Louis Blues team that had eked out a hard-fought seven-game victory against the North Stars in the quarter-final. The powerful Bruins set a record for the most goals in a four-game series by pounding the Blues 28–8 over a four-game sweep.
Playoff bracket
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||
| E1 | Boston | 4 | ||||||||||||
| E4 | Toronto | 1 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | Boston | 4 | ||||||||||||
| W3 | St. Louis | 0 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Minnesota | 3 | ||||||||||||
| W3 | St. Louis | 4 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | Boston | 4 | ||||||||||||
| E2 | New York | 2 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | Chicago | 4 | ||||||||||||
| W4 | Pittsburgh | 0 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | Chicago | 0 | ||||||||||||
| E2 | New York | 4 | ||||||||||||
| E2 | New York | 4 | ||||||||||||
| E3 | Montreal | 2 | ||||||||||||
Quarterfinals
(E1) Boston Bruins vs. (E4) Toronto Maple Leafs
The Boston Bruins finished first in the league with 119 points. The Toronto Maple Leafs finished fourth in the East Division with 80 points. This was the twelfth playoff series between these two teams with Toronto winning eight of the eleven previous series. They last met in the 1969 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals which Boston won in four games. Boston won this year's six-game regular season series earning nine of twelve points.
| April 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 0–5 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 17:24 – Phil Esposito (1) 19:41 – Phil Esposito (2) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 03:47 – Don Marcotte (1) 15:27 – John McKenzie (1) 15:38 – Fred Stanfield (1) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante 24 saves / 29 shots | Goalie stats | Gerry Cheevers 27 saves / 27 shots | ||||||
| April 6 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 4–3 | OT | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | ||
| No scoring | First period | 07:23 – Fred Stanfield (2) 14:01 – Phil Esposito (3) | ||||||
| Dave Keon (1) – 01:23 Jim McKenny (1) – pp – 03:47 |
Second period | 04:27 – Johnny Bucyk (1) | ||||||
| Guy Trottier (1) – 08:42 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jim Harrison (1) – 02:58 | First overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
| Bernie Parent 37 saves / 40 shots | Goalie stats | Gerry Cheevers 18 saves / 22 shots | ||||||