1972–73 Boston Bruins season

1972–73 Boston Bruins
1972–73 Boston Bruins
Division	2nd East
1972–73 record	51–22–5
Goals for	330
Goals against	235
Team information
General manager	Harry Sinden
Coach	Bep Guidolin
Captain	Vacant
Alternate captains	Johnny Bucyk ; Phil Esposito ; Dallas Smith
Arena	Boston Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Phil Esposito (55)
Assists	Phil Esposito (75)
Points	Phil Esposito (130)
Penalty minutes	Carol Vadnais (127)
Plus/minus	Bobby Orr (+56)
Wins	Eddie Johnston (24)
Goals against average	Jacques Plante (2.00)
	← 1971–72 1973–74 →

The 1972–73 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 49th season in the NHL.

Offseason

Regular season

Divisional standings

East Division^[1]
v
t
e
		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Montreal Canadiens	78	52	10	16	329	184	+145	120
2	Boston Bruins	78	51	22	5	330	235	+95	107
3	New York Rangers	78	47	23	8	297	208	+89	102
4	Buffalo Sabres	78	37	27	14	257	219	+38	88
5	Detroit Red Wings	78	37	29	12	265	243	+22	86
6	Toronto Maple Leafs	78	27	41	10	247	279	−32	64
7	Vancouver Canucks	78	22	47	9	233	339	−106	53
8	New York Islanders	78	12	60	6	170	347	−177	30

Record vs. opponents

Vs. East Division

1972–73 NHL records^[2]
Team	BOS	BUF	DET	MTL	NYI	NYR	TOR	VAN	Total
Boston	—	4–1–1	3–2	1–3–1	5–1	3–3	4–1	4–1	24–12–2
Buffalo	1–4–1	—	1–4	1–2–2	5–0–1	5–1	4–1	3–2	20–14–4
Detroit	2–3	4–1	—	2–3–1	4–1	1–3–1	4–2	3–0–3	20–13–5
Montreal	3–1–1	2–1–2	3–2–1	—	5–0	3–0–2	5–0–1	6–0	27–4–7
N.Y. Islanders	1–5	0–5–1	1–4	0–5	—	0–6	1–4	1–3–1	4–32–2
N.Y. Rangers	3–3	1–5	3–1–1	0–3–2	6–0	—	4–1	3–2	20–15–3
Toronto	1–4	1–4	2–4	0–5–1	4–1	1–4	—	2–3–1	11–25–2
Vancouver	1–4	2–3	0–3–3	0–6	3–1–1	2–3	3–2–1	—	11–22–5

Vs. West Division

1972–73 NHL records
Team	ATL	CAL	CHI	LAK	MIN	PHI	PIT	STL	Total
Boston	5–0	4–0–1	2–3	3–2	3–1–1	4–0–1	4–1	2–3	27–10–3
Buffalo	2–1–2	1–2–2	2–3	2–1–2	3–2	2–3	3–0–2	2–1–2	17–13–10
Detroit	3–2	2–2–1	2–3	2–2–1	1–3–1	3–1–1	2–0–3	2–3	17–16–7
Montreal	3–0–2	3–0–2	2–3	4–0–1	3–1–1	2–2–1	5–0	3–0–2	25–6–9
N.Y. Islanders	0–4–1	4–1	0–4–1	1–4	1–4	1–4	0–4–1	1–3–1	8–28–4
N.Y. Rangers	4–1	3–1–1	2–2–1	3–0–2	3–2	4–0–1	3–2	5–0	27–8–5
Toronto	1–2–2	3–1–1	1–2–2	3–2	2–2–1	1–3–1	2–2–1	3–2	16–16–8
Vancouver	1–4	4–1	1–3–1	2–3	0–3–2	0–4–1	2–3	1–4	11–25–4

Schedule and results

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

Playoffs

Quarterfinals: (E2) Boston Bruins vs. (E3) New York Rangers

April 4

New York Rangers

6–2

Boston Bruins

Boston Garden

April 5

New York Rangers

4–2

Boston Bruins

Boston Garden

April 7

Boston Bruins

4–2

New York Rangers

Madison Square Garden

April 8

Boston Bruins

0–4

New York Rangers

Madison Square Garden

April 10

New York Rangers

6–3

Boston Bruins

Boston Garden

New York won series 4–1

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Phil Esposito	C	78	55	75	130	87	16	19	5	11
Bobby Orr	D	63	29	72	101	99	56	7	1	3
John Bucyk	LW	78	40	53	93	12	18	10	0	10
Ken Hodge	RW	73	37	44	81	58	10	16	0	5
Fred Stanfield	LW	78	20	58	78	10	12	7	0	2
Wayne Cashman	LW	76	29	39	68	100	5	6	0	3
Don Marcotte	LW	78	24	31	55	49	32	1	2	3
Gregg Sheppard	C	64	24	26	50	18	37	0	2	3
Mike Walton	C	56	25	22	47	37	10	0	0	2
Carol Vadnais	D	78	7	24	31	127	21	1	0	3
Dallas Smith	D	78	4	27	31	72	38	0	0	0
Terry O'Reilly	RW	72	5	22	27	109	27	0	0	1
Garnet Bailey	LW	57	8	13	21	89	7	0	3	1
Don Awrey	D	78	2	17	19	90	29	0	0	0
Derek Sanderson	C	25	5	10	15	38	11	0	2	0
Fred O'Donnell	RW	72	10	4	14	55	3	0	0	2
Doug Roberts	RW	45	4	7	11	7	13	0	0	2
Nick Beverley	D	76	1	10	11	26	7	0	0	0
Rich LeDuc	C	5	1	1	2	2	−1	0	0	0
Jacques Plante	G	8	0	2	2	2	0	0	0	0
Ross Brooks	G	16	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Eddie Johnston	G	45	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0
Matt Ravlich	D	5	0	1	1	0	−5	0	0	0
John Adams	G	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gary Doak	D	5	0	0	0	2	−1	0	0	0
Ron Jones	D	7	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Chris Oddleifson	C	6	0	0	0	0	−1	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Eddie Johnston	2510	45	24	17	1	137	3.27	5
Ross Brooks	910	16	11	1	3	40	2.64	1
John Adams	780	14	9	3	1	39	3.00	1
Jacques Plante	480	8	7	1	0	16	2.00	2
Team:	4680	78	51	22	5	232	2.97	9

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
Gregg Sheppard	C	5	2	1	3	0	0	1	1
Derek Sanderson	C	5	1	2	3	13	0	0	0
John Bucyk	LW	5	0	3	3	0	0	0	0
Doug Roberts	RW	5	2	0	2	6	0	0	0
Wayne Cashman	LW	5	1	1	2	4	0	0	0
Don Marcotte	LW	5	1	1	2	0	0	0	0
Bobby Orr	D	5	1	1	2	7	0	0	0
Fred Stanfield	LW	5	1	1	2	0	0	0	0
Mike Walton	C	5	1	1	2	2	0	0	0
Dallas Smith	D	5	0	2	2	2	0	0	0
Ken Hodge	RW	5	1	0	1	7	1	0	0
Phil Esposito	C	2	0	1	1	2	0	0	0
Fred O'Donnell	RW	5	0	1	1	5	0	0	0
Don Awrey	D	4	0	0	0	6	0	0	0
Nick Beverley	D	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ross Brooks	G	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gary Doak	D	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Eddie Johnston	G	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Terry O'Reilly	RW	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Jacques Plante	G	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Carol Vadnais	D	5	0	0	0	8	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA
Eddie Johnston	160	3	1	2	9	3.38
Ross Brooks	20	1	0	0	3	9.00
Jacques Plante	120	2	0	2	10	5.00
Team:	300	5	1	4	22	4.40

^[3]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Phil Esposito, Runner up, Hart Trophy^[4]

Records

Milestones

Player	Milestone	Reached
Regular Season

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Player	Former Team

Claimed from waivers

Player	Former team	Date claimed off waivers

Draft picks

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	16	Mike Bloom	Left Wing	Canada	St. Catharines Black Hawks (OMJHL)
2	32	Wayne Elder	Defense	Canada	London Knights (OMJHL)
3	48	Michel Boudreau	Center	Canada	Laval National (QMJHL)
4	64	Les Jackson	Left Wing	Canada	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
5	80	Brian Coates	Left Wing	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WCHL)
6	96	Peter Gaw	Right Wing	Canada	Ottawa 67's (OMJHL)
7	112	Gordie Clark	Right Wing	Canada	University of New Hampshire (ECAC)
8	128	Roy Carmichael	Defense	Canada	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)

Farm teams

References

^ "1972–1973 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ "1972-73 Boston Bruins Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
^ National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2006, p.220, Dan Diamond & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, ISBN 0-920445-98-5

Bruins on Hockey Database

[standings-div-1] "1972–1973 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.

[2] "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

[3] "1972-73 Boston Bruins Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 9, 2009.

[4] National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2006, p.220, Dan Diamond & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, ISBN 0-920445-98-5

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Boston Bruins
Founded in 1924 Based in Boston, Massachusetts
Franchise	Team General managers Coaches Players Captains Draft picks Seasons Current season
History	History (Original Six) Records Award winners Retired numbers Broadcasters
Personnel	Owner(s) Jeremy Jacobs General manager Don Sweeney Head coach Joe Sacco Team captain Brad Marchand Current roster
Arenas	Boston Arena Boston Garden TD Garden
Rivalries	Montreal Canadiens Philadelphia Flyers Toronto Maple Leafs
Affiliates	AHL Providence Bruins ECHL Maine Mariners
Media	TV NESN Radio WBZ-FM/Radio Network
Culture and lore	Warrior Ice Arena Rene Rancourt The Goal Willie O'Ree North Station "Bear and the Gang" "Kernkraft 400" Happy Gilmore The Sports Museum of New England The Big Bad Bruins The Kraut Line "Time to Go" 1956 exhibition game in Newfoundland 2010 NHL Winter Classic 2016 NHL Winter Classic 2019 NHL Winter Classic NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe 2023 NHL Winter Classic 65 wins 2024 Big City Greens Classic
Category WikiProject Commons

v t e Boston Bruins seasons
1920s	1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 1972–73 NHL season
East	Boston Buffalo Detroit Montreal NY Islanders NY Rangers Toronto Vancouver
West	Atlanta California Chicago Los Angeles Minnesota Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
See also	Amateur draft Expansion draft Intra-league draft Summit Series All-Star Game Stanley Cup Finals

Offseason

Regular season

Divisional standings

Record vs. opponents

Vs. East Division

Vs. West Division

Schedule and results

Playoffs

Quarterfinals: (E2) Boston Bruins vs. (E3) New York Rangers

Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and records

Records

Milestones

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Claimed from waivers

Draft picks

See also

Farm teams

References