1973-74 NHL season

The 1973-74 NHL season was the 57th season of the National Hockey League. Sixteen teams each played 78 games. A new award, the Jack Adams for the best coach, was introduced for this season. The first winner was Fred Shero of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Regular Season

Bobby Orr had a hat trick and 7 points, November 15, 1973.

Bobby Orr continued as the dominant defenseman of his era, winning his 7th straight James Norris Memorial Trophy. He had the only seven point game in Bruins history, and the first by an NHL defenseman, during the 10-2 win over the New York Rangers on November 15, 1973.

The Philadelphia Flyers who developed the nick-name "Broad Street Bullies" because of their physical style of play, de-throned the Chicago Black Hawks as the West Division champions and the Boston Bruins regained the top spot in the East and the league.

Final Standings

East Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Boston Bruins	78	52	17	9	349	221	113
Montreal Canadiens	78	45	24	9	293	240	99
New York Rangers	78	40	24	14	300	251	94
Toronto Maple Leafs	78	35	27	16	274	230	86
Buffalo Sabres	78	32	34	12	242	250	76
Detroit Red Wings	78	29	39	10	255	319	68
Vancouver Canucks	78	24	43	11	224	296	59
New York Islanders	78	19	41	18	182	247	56

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.

West Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Philadelphia Flyers	78	50	16	12	273	164	112
Chicago Black Hawks	78	41	14	23	272	164	105
Los Angeles Kings	78	33	33	12	233	231	78
Atlanta Flames	78	30	34	14	214	238	74
Pittsburgh Penguins	78	28	41	9	242	273	65
St. Louis Blues	78	26	40	12	206	248	64
Minnesota North Stars	78	23	38	17	235	275	63
California Golden Seals	78	13	55	10	195	342	36

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.

Scoring Leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	78	68	77	145	58
Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins	74	32	90	122	82
Ken Hodge	Boston Bruins	76	50	55	105	43
Wayne Cashman	Boston Bruins	78	30	59	89	111
Bobby Clarke	Philadelphia Flyers	77	35	52	87	113
Rick Martin	Buffalo Sabres	78	52	34	86	38
Syl Apps, Jr.	Pittsburgh Penguins	75	24	61	85	37
Darryl Sittler	Toronto Maple Leafs	78	38	46	84	55
Lowell MacDonald	Pittsburgh Penguins	78	43	39	82	14
Brad Park	New York Rangers	78	25	57	82	148
Dennis Hextall	Minnesota North Stars	78	20	62	82	138

Leading Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Player	Team	GP	MIN	GA	GAA	W	L	T	SO
Bernie Parent	Philadelphia Flyers	73	4314	136	1.89	47	13	12	12
Tony Esposito	Chicago Black Hawks	70	4143	141	2.04	34	14	21	10
Ross Brooks	Boston Bruins	21	1170	46	2.36	16	3	0	3
Doug Favell	Toronto Maple Leafs	32	1752	79	2.71	14	7	9	0
Wayne Thomas	Montreal Canadiens	42	2410	111	2.76	23	12	5	1
Dan Bouchard	Atlanta Flames	46	2660	123	2.77	19	18	8	5
Rogie Vachon	L.A. Kings	65	3751	175	2.80	28	26	10	5
Michel Larocque	Montreal Canadiens	27	1431	69	2.89	15	8	2	0
Dunc Wilson	Toronto Maple Leafs	24	1412	68	2.89	9	11	3	1
Gilles Gilbert	Boston Bruins	54	3210	158	2.95	34	12	8	6

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Playoff Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

E1

Boston Bruins

4

E4

Toronto Maple Leafs

0

E1

Boston Bruins

4

W2

Chicago Black Hawks

2

W2

Chicago Black Hawks

4

W3

Los Angeles Kings

1

E1

Boston Bruins

2

W1

Philadelphia Flyers

4

W1

Philadelphia Flyers

4

W4

Atlanta Flames

0

W1

Philadelphia Flyers

4

E3

New York Rangers

3

E2

Montreal Canadiens

2

E3

New York Rangers

4

Finals

Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins 4 games to 2, winning the cup with a Game 6 1-0 victory. In doing so, the Flyers became the first expansion team to win the Cup in the post-Original Six era.

NHL Awards

Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:	Philadelphia Flyers
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:	Henri Richard, Montreal Canadiens
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Denis Potvin, New York Islanders
Conn Smythe Trophy:	Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins
Jack Adams Award:	Fred Shero, Philadelphia Flyers
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Johnny Bucyk, Boston Bruins
Lester B. Pearson Award:	Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers
Vezina Trophy:	Tony Esposito, Chicago Black Hawks tied Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers
Lester Patrick Trophy:	Alex Delvecchio, Murray Murdoch, Weston W. Adams, Sr., Charles L. Crovat

All-Star Teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers	G	Tony Esposito, Chicago Black Hawks
Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins	D	Bill White, Chicago Black Hawks
Brad Park, New York Rangers	D	Barry Ashbee, Philadelphia Flyers
Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins	C	Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers
Ken Hodge, Boston Bruins	RW	Mickey Redmond, Detroit Red Wings
Rick Martin, Buffalo Sabres	LW	Wayne Cashman, Boston Bruins

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1973-74 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Eric Vail, Atlanta Flames
• Tom Lysiak, Atlanta Flames
• Peter McNab, Buffalo Sabres
• Darcy Rota, Chicago Black Hawks
• Blake Dunlop, Minnesota North Stars
• Bob Gainey, Montreal Canadiens
• Michel Larocque, Montreal Canadiens
• Denis Potvin, New York Islanders
• Chico Resch, New York Islanders
• Dave Lewis, New York Islanders
• Al MacAdam, Philadelphia Flyers
• Blaine Stoughton, Pittsburgh Penguins
• John Davidson, St. Louis Blues
• Inge Hammarstrom, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Borje Salming, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Lanny McDonald, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Bob Dailey, Vancouver Canucks
• Dennis Ververgaert, Vancouver Canucks

Last Games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1973-74 (listed with their last team):

• Tim Horton, Buffalo Sabres
• Alex Delvecchio, Detroit Red Wings
• Dean Prentice, Minnesota North Stars
• Gump Worsley, Minnesota North Stars
• Frank Mahovlich, Montreal Canadiens
• Jacques Laperriere, Montreal Canadiens
• Barry Ashbee, Philadelphia Flyers
• Orland Kurtenbach, Vancouver Canucks

Gallery

Bobby Orr assists on Phil Esposito's 400th goal, October 10, 1973.

Rich LeDuc tips in Bobby Orr's point shot, October 21, 1973.

Bobby Orr sets up Phil Esposito, October 27, 1973.

Phil Esposito switches hands and scores, November 4, 1973.

Bobby Orr sets up the winning goal by Dave Forbes, November 8, 1973.

Bobby Orr scores the winner from Don Marcotte, December 8, 1973.

Crazy deflection on a Bobby Orr goal, December 15, 1973.

The Bruins wore jerseys with names on the back for the first time, January 4, 1974.

Phil Esposito ties the game in the last minute, January 10, 1974.

Gregg Sheppard from Bobby Orr, January 24, 1974.

Bill White trips Bobby Orr who is ejected after protesting referee Wally Harris' non-call, January 24, 1974.

Bobby Orr sets up Don Marcotte, February 16, 1974.

Phil Esposito scores his 50th goal of the season, February 20, 1974.

Phil Esposito from Ken Hodge, February 28, 1974.

Phil Esposito displaying the Bruins 50th anniversary patch.

Video

Ten minutes of highlights of the Bruins-North Stars game on February 20, 1974.

Boston Bruins @ Minnesota Northstars 2 20 74

Flyers-Flames 1974 Quarter-finals Game 4.

1974 NHL SCP QF G 4 Philadelphia @ Atlanta 4 14 1974

Flyers-Rangers 1974 Semi-finals Game 3, April 25, 1973.

Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Rangers (1973 1974 NHL Season - Play-Off Semi-Final, Game 3)

Flyers-Rangers 1974 Semi-finals Game 7.

1974 NHL SCP SF G7 NY Rangers @ Philadelphia 5 5 1974

See Also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1973 NHL Amateur Draft
• 27th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• List of WHA seasons

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com