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

The Philadelphia Flyers who developed the nickname "Broad Street Bullies" because of their physical style of play, dethroned the Chicago Black Hawks as the West Division champions behind the dominant play of Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent.

In the East Division, the Boston Bruins regained the top spot in the East and the league, behind an ongoing offensive juggernaut that saw Bruins' players finish 1-2-3-4 in NHL scoring (Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr, Ken Hodge and Wayne Cashman) for the second and most recent time in league history.

Final standings

"Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes"
"Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold"

Leading goaltenders

tanley Cup playoffs

Playoff bracket

8TeamBracket
RD1-seed1=E1
RD1-team1=Boston Bruins
RD1-score1=4
RD1-seed2=E4
RD1-team2=Toronto Maple Leafs
RD1-score2=0
RD1-seed3=W2
RD1-team3=Chicago Black Hawks
RD1-score3=4
RD1-seed4=W3
RD1-team4=Los Angeles Kings
RD1-score4=1
RD1-seed5=W1
RD1-team5=Philadelphia Flyers
RD1-score5=4
RD1-seed6=W4
RD1-team6=Atlanta Flames
RD1-score6=0
RD1-seed7=E2
RD1-team7=Montreal Canadiens
RD1-score7=2
RD1-seed8=E3
RD1-team8=New York Rangers
RD1-score8=4
RD2-seed1=E1
RD2-team1=Boston Bruins
RD2-score1=4
RD2-seed2=W2
RD2-team2=Chicago Black Hawks
RD2-score2=2
RD2-seed3=W1
RD2-team3=Philadelphia Flyers
RD2-score3=4
RD2-seed4=E3
RD2-team4=New York Rangers
RD2-score4=3
RD3-seed1=E1
RD3-team1=Boston Bruins
RD3-score1=2
RD3-seed2=W1
RD3-team2=Philadelphia Flyers
RD3-score2=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

All-Star teams

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

"NOTE: Prentice and Mahovlich would finish their major professional careers in the World Hockey Association."

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
* 1973 in sports
* 1974 in sports

References

* [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/nhl1927.html Hockey Database]
* [http://nhl.com/ NHL.com]