1970–71 St. Louis Blues season

1970–71 St. Louis Blues
Division	2nd West
1970–71 record	34–25–19
Home record	23–7–9
Road record	11–18–10
Goals for	223
Goals against	208
Team information
General manager	Scotty Bowman
Coach	Scotty Bowman Al Arbour
Captain	Red Berenson Al Arbour
Alternate captains	Jim Roberts Bob Plager
Arena	St. Louis Arena
Average attendance	18,238 (102.6%)
Team leaders
Goals	Christian Bordeleau (21)
Assists	Frank St. Marseille (32)
Points	Christian Bordeleau (53)
Penalty minutes	Barclay Plager (172)
Plus/minus	Christian Bordeleau (14)
Wins	Ernie Wakely (20)
Goals against average	Glenn Hall (2.42)

The 1970–71 St. Louis Blues season was the St. Louis Blues' fourth season in the National Hockey League (NHL).

The Blues began the 1970–71 season with high hopes after making a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in the 1969–70 season. They purchased Christian Bordeleau from the Montreal Canadiens, who led the team in scoring and finished in the top five in game winning goals that season. They also sold Hall-of-Famer Jacques Plante to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

During this season the Blues saw the most ties in their history (19), as well as most home ties (9), and the fewest home losses (7).

Regular season

Divisional standings

West Division

		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Chicago Black Hawks	78	49	20	9	277	184	+93	107
2	St. Louis Blues	78	34	25	19	223	208	+15	87
3	Philadelphia Flyers	78	28	33	17	207	225	−18	73
4	Minnesota North Stars	78	28	34	16	191	223	−32	72
5	Los Angeles Kings	78	25	40	13	239	303	−64	63
6	Pittsburgh Penguins	78	21	37	20	221	240	−19	62
7	California Golden Seals	78	20	53	5	199	320	−121	45

Record vs. opponents

Vs. West Division

1970–71 NHL records
Team	CAL	CHI	LAK	MIN	PHI	PIT	STL	Total
California	—	1–5	1–5	2–4	2–3–1	1–4–1	1–4–1	8–25–3
Chicago	5–1	—	4–2	3–2–1	4–1–1	4–2	2–1–3	22–9–5
Los Angeles	5–1	2–4	—	0–5–1	1–2–3	4–2	2–4	14–18–4
Minnesota	4–2	2–3–1	5–0–1	—	1–2–3	3–1–2	3–1–2	18–9–9
Philadelphia	3–2–1	1–4–1	2–1–3	2–1–3	—	3–1–2	1–3–2	12–12–12
Pittsburgh	4–1–1	2–4	2–4	1–3–2	1–3–2	—	0–3–3	10–18–8
St. Louis	4–1–1	1–2–3	4–2	1–3–2	3–1–2	3–0–3	—	16–9–11

Vs. East Division

1970–71 NHL records
Team	BOS	BUF	DET	MTL	NYR	TOR	VAN	Total
California	1–5	3–3	2–4	1–5	2–3–1	2–3–1	1–5	12–28–2
Chicago	3–2–1	5–0–1	6–0	3–3	3–3	2–3–1	5–0–1	27–11–4
Los Angeles	1–5	1–2–3	2–1–3	2–4	0–4–2	3–3	2–3–1	11–22–9
Minnesota	0–5–1	1–5	3–2–1	1–3–2	0–6	2–2–2	3–2–1	10–25–7
Philadelphia	0–6	3–2–1	2–3–1	1–4–1	3–2–1	3–2–1	4–2	16–21–5
Pittsburgh	1–4–1	0–2–4	3–1–2	1–3–2	0–5–1	2–3–1	4–1–1	11–19–12
St. Louis	1–4–1	4–2	5–0–1	1–3–2	2–3–1	2–3–1	3–1–2	18–16–8

Schedule and results

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Blues points	Opponent's score	Record	Streak	Points
1	October 10	Rangers	W	3	1	1–0–0	W1	2
2	October 12	Canucks	W	4	1	2–0–0	W2	4
3	October 14	@Maple Leafs	L	3	7	2–1–0	L1	4
4	October 17	Sabres	W	4	1	3–1–0	W1	6
5	October 18	@Black Hawks	T	2	2	3–1–1	T1	7
6	October 21	@Golden Seals	T	2	2	3–1–2	T2	8
7	October 23	@Canucks	T	1	1	3–1–3	T3	9
8	October 24	@Kings	L	1	3	3–2–3	L1	9
9	October 28	Golden Seals	W	3	2	4–2–3	W1	11
10	October 31	Kings	W	3	0	5–2–3	W2	13
11	November 5	@Bruins	W	2	0	6–2–3	W3	15
12	November 7	@North Stars	T	1	1	6–2–4	T1	16
13	November 12	Red Wings	W	2	1	7–2–4	W1	18
14	November 14	Canadiens	T	1	1	7–2–5	T1	19
15	November 15	@Flyers	W	2	1	8–2–5	W1	21
16	November 17	North Stars	L	3	5	8–3–5	L1	21
17	November 19	@Penguins	W	1	0	9–3–5	W1	23
18	November 21	Black Hawks	T	3	3	9–3–6	T1	24
19	November 24	Bruins	T	5	5	9–3–7	T2	25
20	November 26	Maple Leafs	W	1	0	10–3–7	W1	27
21	November 28	Canucks	W	5	1	11–3–7	W2	29
22	December 2	@Rangers	L	2	4	11–4–7	L1	29
23	December 3	@Canadiens	L	3	6	11–5–7	L2	29
24	December 5	Red Wings	W	3	0	12–5–7	W1	31
25	December 6	@Red Wings	W	4	2	13–5–7	W2	33
26	December 9	Flyers	L	2	5	13–6–7	L1	33
27	December 11	Penguins	W	3	2	14–6–7	W1	35
28	December 13	@Flyers	T	2	2	14–6–8	T1	36
29	December 15	North Stars	W	2	1	15–6–8	W1	38
30	December 16	@Black Hawks	L	3	8	15–7–8	L1	38
31	December 19	Bruins	L	1	7	15–8–8	L2	38
32	December 23	Canadiens	T	2	2	15–8–9	T1	39
33	December 26	North Stars	T	1	1	15–8–10	T2	40
34	December 27	@Rangers	T	4	4	15–8–11	T3	41
35	December 30	Flyers	W	5	2	16–8–11	W1	43
36	January 2	@Canucks	W	3	1	17–8–11	W2	45
37	January 3	@Kings	W	7	3	18–8–11	W3	47
38	January 6	@Golden Seals	L	3	6	18–9–11	L3	47
39	January 9	Canucks	T	2	2	18–9–12	T1	48
40	January 10	Rangers	L	2	4	18–10–12	L1	48
41	January 12	Golden Seals	W	8	2	19–10–12	W1	50
42	January 14	@Sabres	L	1	2	19–11–12	L1	50
43	January 16	Black Hawks	W	3	2	20–11–12	W1	52
44	January 21	@North Stars	L	3	5	20–12–12	L1	52
45	January 23	Sabres	W	7	1	21–12–12	W1	54
46	January 27	@Canadiens	L	3	5	21–13–12	L1	54
47	January 28	@Red Wings	T	1	1	21–13–13	T1	55
48	January 31	@Bruins	L	0	6	21–14–13	L1	55
49	February 3	@Maple Leafs	L	2	6	21–15–13	L2	55
50	February 5	Penguins	T	2	2	21–15–14	T1	56
51	February 7	@Flyers	W	6	2	22–15–14	W1	58
52	February 9	Maple Leafs	T	3	3	22–15–15	T1	59
53	February 11	Bruins	L	3	5	22–16–15	L1	59
54	February 13	Rangers	W	2	1	23–16–15	W1	61
55	February 14	@Rangers	L	1	2	23–17–15	L1	61
56	February 16	Golden Seals	W	5	1	24–17–15	W1	63
57	February 20	@Maple Leafs	L	1	3	24–18–15	L1	63
58	February 21	@Sabres	W	3	1	25–18–15	W1	65
59	February 24	@Penguins	T	5	5	25–18–16	T1	66
60	February 25	@Red Wings	W	3	1	26–18–16	W1	68
61	February 27	@Canadiens	L	2	3	26–19–16	L1	68
62	March 3	Black Hawks	L	1	5	26–20–16	L1	68
63	March 5	Maple Leafs	W	3	1	27–20–16	W1	70
64	March 7	@Bruins	L	1	4	27–21–16	L1	70
65	March 9	Kings	L	0	4	27–22–16	L2	70
66	March 10	@North Stars	L	0	4	27–23–16	L3	70
67	March 13	Sabres	W	9	0	28–23–16	W1	72
68	March 14	@Black Hawks	T	4	4	28–23–17	T1	73
69	March 16	Canadiens	W	6	2	29–23–17	W1	75
70	March 18	@Sabres	L	3	5	29–24–17	L1	75
71	March 20	Red Wings	W	2	1	30–24–17	W1	77
72	March 23	@Canucks	L	1	4	30–25–17	L1	77
73	March 26	@Golden Seals	W	8	5	31–25–17	W1	79
74	March 27	@Kings	W	6	3	32–25–17	W2	81
75	March 30	Kings	W	4	3	33–25–17	W3	83
76	April 1	Flyers	T	1	1	33–25–18	T1	84
77	April 3	Penguins	W	4	3	34–25–18	W1	86
78	April 4	@Penguins	T	1	1	34–25–19	T1	87

Postseason

Date	Visitors	Score	Home	Score	Series
April 7	Minnesota	3	St. Louis	2	0–1
April 8	Minnesota	2	St. Louis	4	1–1
April 10	St. Louis	3	Minnesota	0	2–1
April 11	St. Louis	1	Minnesota	2	2–2
April 13	Minnesota	4	St. Louis	3	2–3
April 14	St. Louis	2	Minnesota	5	2–4

Minnesota wins series 4–2.

Statistics

Skater statistics

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

			Regular season						Playoffs
Player	#		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Christian Bordeleau	21		78	21	32	53	48		5	0	1	1	17
Bill Sutherland			68	19	20	39	41		1	0	0	0	0
Frank St. Marseille	9		77	19	32	51	26		6	2	1	3	4
Jim Lorentz	19		76	19	21	40	34		6	0	1	1	4
Red Berenson	7		45	16	26	42	12
Garry Unger			28	15	14	29	41		6	3	2	5	20
George Morrison	10		73	15	10	25	6		3	0	0	0	0
Tim Ecclestone	14		47	15	24	39	34
Gary Sabourin	11		59	14	17	31	56
Craig Cameron	16		78	14	6	20	32		6	2	0	2	4
Jim Roberts	6		72	13	18	31	77		6	2	1	3	11
Bill McCreary Sr.	15		68	9	10	19	16		6	1	2	3	0
Fran Huck			29	7	8	15	18		6	1	2	3	2
Terry Crisp	12		54	5	11	16	13		6	1	0	1	2
Wayne Connelly			28	5	16	21	9		6	2	1	3	0
Barclay Plager	8		69	4	20	24	172		6	0	3	3	10
Noel Picard	4		75	3	8	11	119		6	1	1	2	26
Bob Wall	2		25	2	4	6	4
Carl Brewer			19	2	9	11	29		5	0	2	2	8
Curt Bennett			4	2	0	2	0		2	0	0	0	0
Brit Selby			56	1	4	5	23
Larry Keenan	18		10	1	3	4	0
John Arbour			53	1	6	7	81		5	0	0	0	0
Bob Plager	5		70	1	19	20	114		6	0	2	2	4
Jean-Guy Talbot	17		5	0	0	0	6
Norm Dennis	25		4	0	0	0	0		3	0	0	0	0
Larry Hornung			1	0	0	0	0
Al Arbour			22	0	2	2	6		6	0	0	0	6
Bill Plager	23		36	0	3	3	45		1	0	0	0	2
Ab McDonald	20		20	0	5	5	6

Playoffs

(W2) St. Louis Blues vs. (W4) Minnesota North Stars

April 7

St. Louis Blues

2–3

Minnesota North Stars

St. Louis Arena

April 8

St. Louis Blues

4–2

Minnesota North Stars

St. Louis Arena

April 10

Minnesota North Stars

0–3

St. Louis Blues

Metropolitan Sports Center

April 11

Minnesota North Stars

2–1

St. Louis Blues

Metropolitan Sports Center

April 13

St. Louis Blues

3–4

Minnesota North Stars

St. Louis Arena

April 15

Minnesota North Stars

5–2

St. Louis Blues

Metropolitan Sports Center

Minnesota won series 4–2

Goalie statistics

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

			Regular season										Playoffs
Player	#		GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA		GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA
Ernie Wakely	31		51	2859	20	14	11	133	3	90.4	2.79		3	180	2	1	7	1		2.33
Glenn Hall	1		32	1761	13	11	8	71	3	91.6	2.42		3	180	0	3	9	0		3.00
Michel Plasse			1	60	1	0	0	3	0	91.7%	3.00

Draft picks

St. Louis's draft picks at the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	23	Murray Keogan	Canada	University of Minnesota Duluth (NCAA)
3	37	Ron Climie	Canada	Hamilton Red Wings (OHA)
4	51	Gord Brooks	Canada	London Knights (OHA)
5	65	Mike Stevens	Canada	University of Minnesota Duluth (NCAA)
6	79	Claude Moreau	Canada	Montreal Junior Canadiens (OHA)
7	85	Jack Taggart	Canada	University of Denver (WCHA)
7	92	Terry Marshall	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WCHL)
8	104	Dave Tataryn	Canada	Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA)
9	108	Bob Winograd	Canada	Colorado College (WCHA)
9	111	Mike Lampman	Canada	University of Denver (WCHA)
10	112	Jeff Rotsch	United States	University of Wisconsin (WCHA)
11	113	Al Calver	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
12	114	Jerry MacDonald	Canada	St. Francis Xavier University (CIAU)
13	115	Gerald Haines	Canada	Kenora Muskies (MJHL)