1972–73 Pittsburgh Penguins season

1972–73 Pittsburgh Penguins
Division	5th West
1972–73 record	32-37-9
Goals for	257
Goals against	260
Team information
General manager	Jack Riley
Coach	Leonard "Red" Kelly
Alternate captains	Syl Apps Bryan Hextall Ron Schock
Team leaders
Goals	Al McDonough (35)
Assists	Syl Apps (56)
Points	Syl Apps (85)
Penalty minutes	Bryan Watson (179)
Wins	Jim Rutherford (20)
Goals against average	Jim Rutherford (2.91)

The 1972–73 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the franchise's 6th season in the National Hockey League. The Penguins finished 5th in the West Division and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Regular Season

Final Standings

West Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Chicago Black Hawks	78	42	27	9	284	225	93
Philadelphia Flyers	78	37	30	11	296	256	85
Minnesota North Stars	78	37	30	11	254	230	85
St. Louis Blues	78	32	34	12	233	251	76
Pittsburgh Penguins	78	32	37	9	257	265	73
Los Angeles Kings	78	31	36	11	232	245	73
Atlanta Flames	78	25	38	15	191	239	65
California Golden Seals	78	16	46	16	213	323	48

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 7, 1972	4–2	Los Angeles Kings (1972–73)	1–0–0
2	W	October 11, 1972	5–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	2–0–0
3	W	October 14, 1972	5–2	California Golden Seals (1972–73)	3–0–0
4	L	October 15, 1972	4–8	@ Boston Bruins (1972–73)	3–1–0
5	W	October 17, 1972	5–0	@ New York Islanders (1972–73)	4–1–0
6	L	October 18, 1972	3–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	4–2–0
7	L	October 21, 1972	2–4	Boston Bruins (1972–73)	4–3–0
8	W	October 24, 1972	4–0	@ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	5–3–0
9	L	October 27, 1972	3–6	@ California Golden Seals (1972–73)	5–4–0
10	L	October 28, 1972	2–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1972–73)	5–5–0
11	L	November 1, 1972	1–7	Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	5–6–0
12	L	November 2, 1972	2–4	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	5–7–0
13	W	November 4, 1972	6–4	New York Rangers (1972–73)	6–7–0
14	T	November 5, 1972	1–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	6–7–1
15	W	November 8, 1972	5–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	7–7–1
16	L	November 11, 1972	3–4	Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	7–8–1
17	L	November 12, 1972	0–1	@ Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	7–9–1
18	W	November 15, 1972	7–1	Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	8–9–1
19	W	November 18, 1972	6–1	Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	9–9–1
20	W	November 19, 1972	5–3	@ New York Rangers (1972–73)	10–9–1
21	W	November 22, 1972	10–4	St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	11–9–1
22	T	November 25, 1972	2–2	New York Islanders (1972–73)	11–9–2
23	L	November 26, 1972	2–6	@ Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	11–10–2
24	W	November 29, 1972	7–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	12–10–2
25	W	December 2, 1972	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	13–10–2
26	L	December 3, 1972	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	13–11–2
27	T	December 6, 1972	4–4	@ California Golden Seals (1972–73)	13–11–3
28	L	December 9, 1972	1–3	@ Los Angeles Kings (1972–73)	13–12–3
29	W	December 13, 1972	9–1	New York Islanders (1972–73)	14–12–3
30	W	December 16, 1972	5–3	Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	15–12–3
31	L	December 17, 1972	1–9	@ New York Rangers (1972–73)	15–13–3
32	L	December 19, 1972	2–3	Boston Bruins (1972–73)	15–14–3
33	L	December 23, 1972	3–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	15–15–3
34	T	December 26, 1972	1–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	15–15–4
35	T	December 27, 1972	3–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	15–15–5
36	L	December 29, 1972	0–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	15–16–5
37	T	December 30, 1972	2–2	Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	15–16–6
38	L	January 2, 1973	4–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	15–17–6
39	W	January 3, 1973	5–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	16–17–6
40	W	January 6, 1973	4–2	Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	17–17–6
41	L	January 7, 1973	0–3	@ New York Rangers (1972–73)	17–18–6
42	L	January 10, 1973	1–2	Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	17–19–6
43	W	January 13, 1973	3–1	Los Angeles Kings (1972–73)	18–19–6
44	L	January 14, 1973	2–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	18–20–6
45	L	January 17, 1973	4–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	18–21–6
46	L	January 18, 1973	2–5	Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	18–22–6
47	W	January 20, 1973	3–0	Boston Bruins (1972–73)	19–22–6
48	L	January 21, 1973	3–9	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	19–23–6
49	W	January 24, 1973	5–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	20–23–6
50	L	January 25, 1973	3–6	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	20–24–6
51	L	January 27, 1973	3–5	Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	20–25–6
52	W	January 31, 1973	4–1	Los Angeles Kings (1972–73)	21–25–6
53	W	February 3, 1973	2–1	Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	22–25–6
54	L	February 4, 1973	3–4	@ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	22–26–6
55	L	February 7, 1973	2–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	22–27–6
56	L	February 10, 1973	3–6	@ Boston Bruins (1972–73)	22–28–6
57	W	February 14, 1973	6–2	Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	23–28–6
58	T	February 17, 1973	3–3	Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	23–28–7
59	L	February 18, 1973	1–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	23–29–7
60	W	February 20, 1973	4–0	@ New York Islanders (1972–73)	24–29–7
61	W	February 22, 1973	2–1	New York Islanders (1972–73)	25–29–7
62	W	February 24, 1973	2–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	26–29–7
63	L	February 25, 1973	1–2	@ Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	26–30–7
64	W	February 28, 1973	4–2	St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	27–30–7
65	L	March 3, 1973	1–2	California Golden Seals (1972–73)	27–31–7
66	L	March 4, 1973	2–5	Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	27–32–7
67	L	March 7, 1973	4–10	@ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	27–33–7
68	L	March 10, 1973	4–5	New York Rangers (1972–73)	27–34–7
69	L	March 11, 1973	2–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	27–35–7
70	W	March 14, 1973	3–2	@ Los Angeles Kings (1972–73)	28–35–7
71	T	March 16, 1973	5–5	@ California Golden Seals (1972–73)	28–35–8
72	L	March 17, 1973	1–6	@ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	28–36–8
73	W	March 21, 1973	5–2	California Golden Seals (1972–73)	29–36–8
74	T	March 24, 1973	4–4	Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	29–36–9
75	W	March 25, 1973	4–2	@ Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	30–36–9
76	W	March 28, 1973	6–3	Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	31–36–9
77	L	March 31, 1973	2–7	@ St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	31–37–9
78	W	April 1, 1973	5–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	32–37–9

Playoffs

• The Penguins did not qualify for the post season.

Player Stats

Forwards

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; AST= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

Player	GP	G	AST	PTS	PIM
Syl Apps	77	29	56	85	18
Al McDonough	78	35	41	76	26
Lowell MacDonald	78	34	41	75	8
Bryan Hextall	78	21	33	54	113
Greg Polis	78	26	23	49	36
Ron Schock	78	13	36	49	23
Eddie Shack	74	25	20	45	84
Jean Pronovost	66	21	22	43	16
Nick Harbaruk	78	10	15	25	47
Ken Schinkel	42	11	10	21	16
Rick Kessell	66	1	13	14	0
Steve Cardwell	20	2	2	4	2
Jim Shires	18	1	2	3	2
Robin Burns	26	0	2	2	20
Jim Wiley	4	0	1	1	0
Ron Lalonde	9	0	0	0	2

Defencemen

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; AST= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

Player	GP	G	AST	PTS	PIM
Darryl Edestrand	78	15	24	39	88
Dave Burrows	78	3	24	27	42
Duane Rupp	78	7	13	20	62
Jack Lynch	47	1	18	19	40
Bryan Watson	69	1	17	18	179
Jean-Guy Lagace	31	1	5	6	32
Sheldon Kannegiesser	3	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Note: GP= Games played; W= Wins; L= Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against

Player	GP	W	L	T	SO	GAA
Jim Rutherford	49	20	22	5	3	2.91
Denis Herron	18	6	7	2	2	3.41
Cam Newton	11	3	4	0	0	3.94
Andy Brown	9	3	4	2	0	4.73

Awards and Records

• Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: Lowell MacDonald

Transactions

The Penguins were involved in the following transactions during the 1972–73 season:

Trades

October, 1972	To Pittsburgh Penguins cash	To Atlanta Flames Brian McKenzie
October 6, 1972	To Pittsburgh Penguins cash	To Detroit Red Wings Roy Edwards
January 8, 1973	To Pittsburgh Penguins Jim Shires	To St. Louis Blues Joe Noris
February 25, 1973	To Pittsburgh Penguins Andy Brown	To Detroit Red Wings 3rd round pick in 1973 Draft (Nelson Pyatt) cash
March 2, 1973	To Pittsburgh Penguins cash	To New York Rangers Sheldon Kannegiesser

Additions and Subtractions

Additions Player Former team Via Jim Wiley Lake Superior State Lakers free agency (1972–06–25)

Subtractions Player New team Via Les Binkley Ottawa Nationals (WHA) free agency (1972) Wally Boyer Winnipeg Jets (WHA) free agency (1972) Val Fonteyne Alberta Oilers (WHA) free agency (1972) Dunc McCallum Houston Aeros (WHA) free agency (1972) Tim Horton Buffalo Sabres Intra-League Draft (1972–06–05) Bob Leiter Atlanta Flames Expansion Draft (1972–06–06) Keith McCreary Atlanta Flames Expansion Draft (1972–06–06) John Stewart Atlanta Flames Expansion Draft (1972–06–06)

Draft Picks

See also: 1972 NHL Amateur Draft

Round	Overall pick	Player	Nationality	Position
2	24	Jack Lynch	Canada	Defense
2	30	Bernie Lukowich	Canada	Forward
3	40	Denis Herron	Canada	Goaltender
4	56	Ron Lalonde	Canada
5	72	Brian Walker
6	88	Jeff Ablett
7	104	D'Arcy Keating
8	120	Yves Bergeron
9	136	Jay Babcock
10	149	Don Atchison

Gallery

Bobby Orr returned to the line-up and assisted on a goal by Ken Hodge, October 21, 1972.

Video

Over eight minutes of highlights of the January 18, 1973 Canadiens-Penguins game.

NHL Films - Canadiens vs Penguins - Jan.18,1973

References

• Player stats at Hockey Database
• Game log on NHL Database
• 1972–73 Pittsburgh Penguins Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.