1973–74 Boston Bruins season explained

The 1973–74 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 50th season in the NHL. They made it back to the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.

Offseason

NHL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College/junior/club team
1	6		Center		Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
2	31	Jimmy Jones	Right wing		Peterborough Petes (OHA)
3	36	Doug Gibson	Center		Peterborough Petes (OHA)
3	47	Al Sims	Defense		Cornwall Royals (QMJHL)
4	63	Steve Langdon	Left wing		London Knights (OHA)
5	79	Peter Crosbie	Goaltender		London Knights (OHA)
6	95	Jean-Pierre Burgoyne	Defense		Shawinigan Dynamos (QMJHL)
7	111	Walter Johnson	Right wing		Oshawa Generals (OHA)
8	127	Virgil Gates	Defense		Swift Current Broncos (WCHL)
9	142	Jim Pettie	Goaltender		St. Catharines Black Hawks (OHA)
10	157	Yvan Bouillon	Center		Cornwall Royals (QMJHL)

Regular season

Record vs. opponents

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Date !width="90"

Visitors	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 10	Toronto	0	Boston	1
April 11	Toronto	3	Boston	6
April 13	Boston	6	Toronto	3
April 14	Boston	4	Toronto	3	OT

Semifinals

Date !width="90"

Visitors	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 18	Chicago	4	Boston	2
April 21	Chicago	6	Boston	8
April 23	Boston	3	Chicago	4	OT
April 25	Boston	5	Chicago	2
April 28	Chicago	2	Boston	6
April 30	Boston	4	Chicago	2

Stanley Cup Finals

The Bruins returned to the Stanley Cup, but were defeated by the Flyers in six games.

Date !width="90"

Visitors	Score	Home	Score	Notes
May 7	Philadelphia	2	Boston	3
May 9	Philadelphia	3	Boston	2	OT
May 12	Boston	1	Philadelphia	4
May 14	Boston	2	Philadelphia	4
May 16	Philadelphia	1	Boston	5
May 19	Boston	0	Philadelphia	1

Schedule and results

Regular season schedule

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 10, 1973	6–4	Vancouver Canucks (1973–74)	1–0–0
2	W	October 13, 1973	9–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1973–74)	2–0–0
3	W	October 14, 1973	3–2	New York Islanders (1973–74)	3–0–0
4	L	October 17, 1973	3–4	@ Atlanta Flames (1973–74)	3–1–0
5	W	October 21, 1973	8–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1973–74)	4–1–0
6	L	October 23, 1973	2–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1973–74)	4–2–0
7	W	October 25, 1973	9–4	Buffalo Sabres (1973–74)	5–2–0
8	W	October 27, 1973	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1973–74)	6–2–0
9	T	October 28, 1973	3–3	Minnesota North Stars (1973–74)	6–2–1
10	W	October 31, 1973	5–0	@ Minnesota North Stars (1973–74)	7–2–1
11	L	November 3, 1973	4–6	@ New York Islanders (1973–74)	7–3–1
12	W	November 4, 1973	4–1	California Golden Seals (1973–74)	8–3–1
13	L	November 7, 1973	3–7	@ New York Rangers (1973–74)	8–4–1
14	W	November 8, 1973	2–1	Montreal Canadiens (1973–74)	9–4–1
15	W	November 11, 1973	4–2	Vancouver Canucks (1973–74)	10–4–1
16	W	November 14, 1973	4–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1973–74)	11–4–1
17	W	November 15, 1973	10–2	New York Rangers (1973–74)	12–4–1
18	W	November 17, 1973	8–0	Detroit Red Wings (1973–74)	13–4–1
19	W	November 18, 1973	5–2	Atlanta Flames (1973–74)	14–4–1
20	W	November 22, 1973	4–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1973–74)	15–4–1
21	W	November 25, 1973	3–1	Los Angeles Kings (1973–74)	16–4–1
22	T	November 28, 1973	3–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1973–74)	16–4–2
23	W	December 2, 1973	5–3	New York Islanders (1973–74)	17–4–2
24	W	December 8, 1973	5–2	Buffalo Sabres (1973–74)	18–4–2
25	T	December 9, 1973	3–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1973–74)	18–4–3
26	W	December 13, 1973	4–2	Minnesota North Stars (1973–74)	19–4–3
27	W	December 15, 1973	7–2	Vancouver Canucks (1973–74)	20–4–3
28	W	December 16, 1973	5–3	California Golden Seals (1973–74)	21–4–3
29	W	December 20, 1973	6–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1973–74)	22–4–3
30	L	December 22, 1973	2–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1973–74)	22–5–3
31	W	December 23, 1973	4–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1973–74)	23–5–3
32	L	December 29, 1973	1–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (1973–74)	23–6–3
33	W	December 30, 1973	8–1	@ California Golden Seals (1973–74)	24–6–3
34	T	January 1, 1974	2–2	@ Vancouver Canucks (1973–74)	24–6–4
35	W	January 4, 1974	4–2	@ New York Rangers (1973–74)	25–6–4
36	W	January 5, 1974	6–2	@ New York Islanders (1973–74)	26–6–4
37	T	January 10, 1974	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1973–74)	26–6–5
38	L	January 12, 1974	3–7	Montreal Canadiens (1973–74)	26–7–5
39	W	January 13, 1974	5–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1973–74)	27–7–5
40	T	January 16, 1974	5–5	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1973–74)	27–7–6
41	W	January 19, 1974	8–0	@ Montreal Canadiens (1973–74)	28–7–6
42	W	January 20, 1974	5–2	Los Angeles Kings (1973–74)	29–7–6
43	W	January 22, 1974	1–0	@ St. Louis Blues (1973–74)	30–7–6
44	L	January 24, 1974	1–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1973–74)	30–8–6
45	W	January 26, 1974	4–0	@ New York Islanders (1973–74)	31–8–6
46	W	January 27, 1974	5–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1973–74)	32–8–6
47	W	January 31, 1974	4–2	Atlanta Flames (1973–74)	33–8–6
48	L	February 2, 1974	2–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1973–74)	33–9–6
49	W	February 3, 1974	5–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (1973–74)	34–9–6
50	W	February 7, 1974	5–3	St. Louis Blues (1973–74)	35–9–6
51	W	February 9, 1974	5–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1973–74)	36–9–6
52	W	February 10, 1974	4–0	Minnesota North Stars (1973–74)	37–9–6
53	W	February 13, 1974	9–6	@ California Golden Seals (1973–74)	38–9–6
54	W	February 15, 1974	4–2	@ Vancouver Canucks (1973–74)	39–9–6
55	W	February 16, 1974	5–2	@ Los Angeles Kings (1973–74)	40–9–6
56	T	February 20, 1974	5–5	@ Minnesota North Stars (1973–74)	40–9–7
57	W	February 23, 1974	6–2	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1973–74)	41–9–7
58	L	February 24, 1974	2–3	@ Buffalo Sabres (1973–74)	41–10–7
59	W	February 28, 1974	8–1	Detroit Red Wings (1973–74)	42–10–7
60	T	March 2, 1974	4–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1973–74)	42–10–8
61	L	March 3, 1974	4–6	Toronto Maple Leafs (1973–74)	42–11–8
62	L	March 5, 1974	1–4	@ Atlanta Flames (1973–74)	42–12–8
63	W	March 6, 1974	8–0	@ St. Louis Blues (1973–74)	43–12–8
64	T	March 9, 1974	4–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (1973–74)	43–12–9
65	L	March 10, 1974	2–6	@ California Golden Seals (1973–74)	43–13–9
66	W	March 12, 1974	4–0	Buffalo Sabres (1973–74)	44–13–9
67	W	March 14, 1974	4–3	@ Buffalo Sabres (1973–74)	45–13–9
68	W	March 16, 1974	5–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1973–74)	46–13–9
69	W	March 17, 1974	5–2	New York Rangers (1973–74)	47–13–9
70	W	March 21, 1974	7–0	St. Louis Blues (1973–74)	48–13–9
71	L	March 23, 1974	3–4	Atlanta Flames (1973–74)	48–14–9
72	W	March 24, 1974	6–3	Montreal Canadiens (1973–74)	49–14–9
73	W	March 27, 1974	3–2	@ New York Rangers (1973–74)	50–14–9
74	L	March 30, 1974	3–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1973–74)	50–15–9
75	W	March 31, 1974	6–1	Detroit Red Wings (1973–74)	51–15–9
76	L	April 3, 1974	2–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1973–74)	51–16–9
77	L	April 6, 1974	2–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1973–74)	51–17–9
78	W	April 7, 1974	6–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1973–74)	52–17–9

Notable games

• January 24: Bobby Orr is ejected by referee Wally Harris for arguing that he was tripped by Chicago's Bill White. The ejection draws a heated response from Harry Sinden and the Boston Garden crowd.

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
	C	78	68	77	145	58	51	14	4	9
	D	74	32	90	122	82	84	11	0	4
	RW	76	50	55	105	43	40	15	0	11
	LW	78	30	59	89	111	49	5	2	2
	LW	76	31	44	75	8	13	12	0	9
	D	78	16	43	59	123	35	6	0	1
	LW	78	24	26	50	18	44	0	3	3
	C	75	16	31	47	21	23	0	3	3
	RW	76	11	24	35	94	30	0	0	1
	C	72	16	14	30	39	16	0	0	1
	D	77	6	21	27	64	26	0	0	0
	LW	63	10	16	26	41	9	0	0	1
	C	49	10	11	21	25	16	0	0	1
	C	29	8	12	20	48	17	0	0	1
	RW	27	7	13	20	31	6	1	0	1
	RW	43	5	7	12	43	3	0	0	1
	D	76	3	9	12	22	64	0	0	1
	D	52	3	8	11	20	19	1	0	2
	C	28	3	3	6	12	3	0	0	0
	D	69	0	4	4	44	−2	0	0	0
	G	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
	G	54	0	1	1	9	0	0	0	0
	RW	7	0	1	1	2	2	0	0	0
	D	1	0	0	0	0	−1	0	0	0
	G	21	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
	C	2	0	0	0	0	−1	0	0	0
	LW	1	0	0	0	0	−2	0	0	0
	LW	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	D	3	0	0	0	0	−1	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
	3210	54	34	12	8	158	2.95	6
	1170	21	16	3	0	46	2.36	3
	300	5	2	2	1	16	3.20	0
Team:	4680	78	52	17	9	220	2.82	9

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
	C	16	11	8	19	4	0	2	2
	LW	16	8	10	18	4	3	0	1
	D	16	4	14	18	28	1	0	2
	RW	16	6	10	16	16	2	0	1
	C	16	9	5	14	25	4	0	2
	LW	16	5	9	14	46	1	0	1
	D	16	1	12	13	42	1	0	0
	RW	16	3	6	9	44	0	0	0
	D	16	1	7	8	20	0	0	0
	RW	16	2	5	7	38	0	0	0
	LW	16	4	2	6	8	0	0	1
	C	16	3	2	5	24	0	0	0
	D	16	1	2	3	15	0	0	0
	G	16	0	3	3	8	0	0	0
	LW	16	0	2	2	6	0	0	0
	C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	C	5	0	0	0	9	0	0	0
	D	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	D	16	0	0	0	12	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
	977	16	10	6	43	2.64	1
Team:	977	16	10	6	43	2.64	1

^[1]

Awards and records

• Prince of Wales Trophy
• Phil Esposito, Art Ross Trophy winner
• Phil Esposito, Hart Memorial Trophy winner
• Phil Esposito, NHL leader, goals (68) ^[2]
• Phil Esposito, NHL leader, points (145)^[2]
• Bobby Orr, Norris Trophy
• Bobby Orr, NHL leader, assists (90)^[2]
• Single-game record for points in one game: (7) on November 15, 1973, by Bobby Orr^[3]

See also

• 1974 Stanley Cup Finals

External links

• Bruins on Hockey Database

Notes and References

1. Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-06-09 . 1973-74 Boston Bruins Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.
2. National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2006, p. 204, Dan Diamond & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, .
3. News: The Globe and Mail . November 16, 1973 . Orr scores three goals, assists on four in Bruins' lopsided win . 35.