1970-71
OFF-SEASON
A busy off-season as the league expands and adjusts the divisions.
First the retirements which are led by legendary goaltender Terry Sawchuk. Sawchuk broke in to the NHL with Detroit in 1948-49 as a 19 year old and appeared in 5 games for the Red Wings that season. He was dealt to Toronto that summer for forward Bud Poile and spent the next two decades as the Leafs number one goaltender. He played in a record 1,413 games going 808-411-180 with a 2.20 GAA. He won 1 Vezina Trophy and the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in 1962. Overshadowed by Jacques Plante much of his career, Sawchuk did earn First All-Star team honours 4 times in his career and won 5 Stanley Cups with the Leafs.
Tim Horton calls it quits after 1,232 games on the Toronto blueline. Horton had 536 points in a career that included 4 Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy.
Winger Claude Provost retired after 1,025 NHL games with Montreal and Philadelphia. The 36 year old had 292 goals and 731 points in his 18 year career and was a member of 7 Cup winning Canadiens teams.
Ron Murphy played 1,109 games mainly with the New York Rangers but he finished his career with 3 seasons with expansion Oakland. Murphy had 272 goals and 571 points in his career.
The Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks join the league as expansion teams while the Oakland Seals change their name to the California Golden Seals. Both new teams are placed in the East Division while the defending Cup champion Black Hawks are moved to the West. The scheduled was also expanded by 2 more games to 78 for each club.
A number of talented newcomers enter the league including Gilbert Perrealt with Buffalo, Darryl Sittler and Errol Thompson to Toronto, Reggie Leach and Rick MacLeish to Boston, Dale Tallon in Vancouver, Yvon Lambert to Detroit and goaltender Gilles Meloche with Chicago.
EXPANSION DRAFT
The Buffalo Sabres add goaltender Wayne Rutledge, winger Claude Larose and a pair of Plager brothers in Bill and Bob. Vancouver's key pickups include veteran Toronto winger Dick Duff, along with forwards Terry Crisp, Bill Hicke and Gary Jarrett. The Canucks also add goaltender Ernie Wakely from Montreal's system.
REGULAR SEASON
The Chicago Black Hawks easily dominated the West Division even without superstar Stan Mikita, who was limited to 46 games because of a broken hand but still managed to accumulate 74 points. His teammate Bobby Hull led the NHL in scoring with 123 points while the third member of the line, Phil Esposito led the league in goals with 61.
Speaking of goals a milestone was hit on February 20, 1971 when Montreal's Jean Beliveau scored his 596th career goal, breaking the record held by Rocket Richard. Beliveau, now 39 would finish the season with 17 goals in 53 games giving him 598 in his career. Beliveau's milestone goal came against Eddie Johnston of the Black Hawks in a 5-4 Chicago win.
It was one of just 11 losses on the season for the Habs, who established a new record for points in a season with 129 (although the old mark of 128 was set by Chicago in 1967-68 playing 4 less games). It was a huge turnaround for the Canadiens, who missed the playoffs last year and finished last in the East Division. Yvan Cournoyer, with 60 goals and 120 points, was a major reason for the Habs resurgence although a healthy Jacques Laperriere (18-63-81) certainly helped. Goaltender Tony Esposito (56-9-4, 1.87) also played a key role as he outplayed Ken Dryden for the starting job.
Code:
EAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 78 62 11 5 129
New York Rangers 78 53 14 11 117
Toronto Maple Leafs 78 53 16 9 115
Detroit Red Wings 78 49 17 12 110
Boston Bruins 78 49 19 10 108
Vancouver Canucks 78 23 51 4 50
Buffalo Sabres 78 15 55 8 38
WEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 78 59 14 5 123
Los Angeles Kings 78 30 42 6 66
Minnesota North Stars 78 27 45 6 60
Philadelphia Flyers 78 24 46 8 56
St Louis Blues 78 15 49 14 44
Pittsburgh Penguins 78 18 54 6 42
California Golden Seals 78 15 59 4 34
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Bobby Hull CHI 78 51 72 123
Yvan Cournoyer MON 78 60 60 120
Phil Esposito CHI 78 61 47 108
Pete Mahovlich DET 76 39 69 108
Alex Delvecchio DET 78 44 63 107
Nick Libett DET 78 37 60 97
Derek Sanderson BOS 78 55 41 96
Rod Gilbert NYR 78 43 50 93
Dave Balon NYR 78 31 56 87
Garry Unger TOR 78 44 42 86
Brad Park NYR 78 30 55 85
PLAYOFFS
Only one of the four quarterfinal playoff series was close, and that series between Toronto and New York needed overtime in the seventh game to declare a winner. The Leafs eventually prevailed thanks to an overtime tally from young defenseman Rick Ley. Despite 9 points in the 7 games from Rod Gilbert, the Rangers failed to win a playoff series - a feat they have not accomplished since 1937.
The Montreal Canadiens knocked off Detroit in 5 games led by 5 goals from defenseman Jacques Laperriere and 7 points from Jacques Lemaire in the series. The Los Angeles Kings eliminated Minnesota in 5 games thanks to Red Berenson's 8 points. The Kings will meet Montreal in the semi-finals.
The other semi-final will have the Leafs facing defending Cup champion Chicago. The Black Hawks outscored Philadelphia 25-5 in their 4 game sweep of the Flyers. Stan Mikita had 10 points in the 4 games while Bobby Hull and Fred Stanfield each scored 4 goals.
Montreal easily handled the Los Angeles Kings, winning in 4 straight. The Leafs gave Chicago all they could handle and the series went the full seven games and like the Leafs-Rangers series needed overtime in the deciding game. The Black Hawks prevailed this time as Bobby Hull got the overtime winner with assists to his linemates Phil Esposito and Stan Mikita in a 3-2 game. In 11 playoff games Mikita already has 21 points.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
For the fourth time in the last decade the Stanley Cup Finals will feature Chicago and Montreal. The Habs have won 3 of those meetings including 2 years ago. Chicago won last season and has 4 Cups in the past 5 years.
Montreal won Game One by a 5-4 score but the Habs nearly blew a 4-1 lead in the third period. Chicago got goals from Ken Hodge, Gary Bergman and Stan Mikita less than two minutes apart midway through the third but Montreal bounced back with Danny Grant goal with 3:47 remaining to lift the Habs to victory.
Game Two also goes to Montreal, this time by a 2-1 score but the Hawks get bad news when Stan Mikita is injured midway through the game and may miss the next couple of games. Mickey Redmond and Yvan Cournoyer scored for the Canadiens in the second period after Mikita set up Doug Jarrett for the games opening goal.
Despite a broken finger Stan Mikita dressed for Game Three and he scored a goal in Chicago's 7-4 victory. Fred Stanfield led the Chicago attack with 2 goals and an assist.
Chicago evens the series with a 4-3 overtime win on home ice in Game Four. Doug Jarrett gets the winner on a point shot with Mikita and Bobby Hull earning the assists. Hull would also score a pair of goals while Cournoyer had 2 for the Canadiens.
Back to Montreal for Game Five with the series tied at 2. Tony Esposito stopped all 18 shots he faced and first period goals from Danny Grant and Mickey Redmond were the difference as Montreal won 2-0 to move to within 1 game of the Cup.
The Black Hawks would force a 7th game with a 5-1 victory on home ice in Game Six. Pierre Pilote and Fred Stanfield would each score twice for the Hawks, who limited Montreal to just 14 shots in the contest.
Montreal would strike first in Game Seven as defenseman Pierre Bouchard beat Chicago's Eddie Johnston with 2 minutes remaining in the first period. The game would remain 1-0 until Jacques Lemaire gave the Canadiens a 2-0 lead 3 minutes into the third period. The insurance goal would prove to be very important as Dennis Hull pulled Chicago to within 1 with a goal at 16:13 of the third period. The Hawks pulled their goalie and buzzed the Montreal net but were unable to get the equalizer past Ken Dryden, who was spliting goaltending duties with Tony Esposito, and Montreal claimed the Cup with a 2-1 victory.
Stan Mikita led all playoff scorers with 26 points while Fred Stanfield was the goal leader with 10 but the Conn Smythe went to a member of the Cup champion Canadiens as defenseman Jacques Laperriere, who had 5 goals and 17 points in 13 playoff games.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Bobby Hull Chicago (78GP 51-72-123)
VEZINA TROPHY: Jack Norris Detroit (41-13-11, 1.87)
NORRIS TROPHY: Jacques Laperriere Montreal (78GP 18-63-81)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Bobby Hull Chicago (78GP 51-72-123)
CALDER TROPHY: Dale Tallon Vancouver (78GP 19-36-55)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Tony Esposito Montreal Jack Norris Detroit
D J Laperriere Montreal Doug Jarrett Chicago
D Brad Park NY Rangers Carol Vadnais Montreal
C Pete Mahovlich Detroit Derek Sanderson Boston
LW Bobby Hull Chicago Nick Libett Detroit
RW Yvan Cournoyer Montreal Phil Esposito Chicago