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1972 Stanley Cup Finals
123456 Total
Boston Bruins 622323 4
New York Rangers 515230 2
Location(s)Boston: Boston Garden (1, 2, 5)
New York City: Madison Square Garden (3, 4, 6)
CoachesBoston: Tom Johnson
New York: Emile Francis
CaptainsBoston: Vacant
New York: Vic Hadfield
DatesApril 30 – May 11, 1972
MVPBobby Orr (Bruins)
Series-winning goalBobby Orr (11:18, first, G6)
Hall of FamersBruins:
Johnny Bucyk (1981)
Gerry Cheevers (1985)
Phil Esposito (1984)
Bobby Orr (1979)
Rangers:
Eddie Giacomin (1987)
Rod Gilbert (1982)
Brad Park (1988)
Jean Ratelle (1985)
Glen Sather (1997, builder)
Coaches:
Emile Francis (1982)
Tom Johnson (1970, player)
NetworksCTV (Canada)
CBS (United States) (Games 1, 4, and 6)
Announcers(CTV): Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin Jr. (in Boston), Bill Hewitt and Bob Goldham (in New York)
(CBS): Dan Kelly, Jim Gordon, and Harry Howell
← 1971 Stanley Cup Finals 1973 →

The 1972 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1971–72 season, and the culmination of the 1972 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers. It was the Rangers' first appearance in the finals since 1950. The Bruins were making their first appearance since their victory in the 1970 Finals. It was the second Boston-New York Final series, the other being the 1929 Finals.

The Bruins defeated the Rangers in six games to win their second Stanley Cup in three years. This was only the second Stanley Cup Finals contested by New York in which the Rangers hosted all of their home games. The first such Final, held in 1929, had lasted only two games. All other previous Finals contested by the Rangers had partly or entirely coincided with an annual circus formerly held at Madison Square Garden, compelling the Rangers to play Finals games at neutral sites and/or at the venues of their opponents.

This was the last time the Bruins won the Stanley Cup until 2011.

Paths to the Finals

[edit]

Boston defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 and the St. Louis Blues 4–0 to advance to the final.

New York defeated the defending champion Montreal Canadiens 4–2 and the Chicago Black Hawks 4–0 to set up an "Original Six" final.

Game summaries

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Bobby Orr, who tallied 4 goals and 4 assists in the series, won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second time. It was also Orr's second Cup-clinching goal, having accomplished both feats in the 1970 finals. Phil Esposito had 41 shots in the series but was held without a goal.


April 30 New York Rangers 5–6 Boston Bruins Boston Garden Recap  
Dale Rolfe (3) - 3:52 First period 5:07 - Fred Stanfield (7)
15:48 - Ken Hodge (5)
17:29 - sh - Derek Sanderson (1)
18:14 - sh - Ken Hodge (6)
Rod Gilbert (4) - pp - 11:54 Second period 10:46 - Ken Hodge (7)
Vic Hadfield (7) - pp - 1:56
Walt Tkaczuk (4) - 7:48
Bruce MacGregor (2) - 9:17 		Third period 17:44 - Garnet Bailey (2)
Ed Giacomin Goalie stats Gerry Cheevers
May 2 New York Rangers 1–2 Boston Bruins Boston Garden Recap  
No scoring First period 16:15 - pp - Johnny Bucyk (9)
Rod Gilbert (5) - 7:23 Second period No scoring
No scoring Third period 11:53 - pp - Ken Hodge (8)
Gilles Villemure Goalie stats Eddie Johnston
May 4 Boston Bruins 2–5 New York Rangers Madison Square Garden Recap  
Mike Walton (6) - 14:04 First period 1:22 - pp - Brad Park (3)
11:19 - pp - Rod Gilbert (6)
13:00 - pp - Brad Park (4)
Bobby Orr (2) - 1:10 Second period 3:46 - Rod Gilbert (7)
19:23 - Pete Stemkowski (4)
No scoring Third period No scoring
Gerry Cheevers Goalie stats Ed Giacomin
May 7 Boston Bruins 3–2 New York Rangers Madison Square Garden Recap  
Bobby Orr (3) - 5:26
Bobby Orr (4) - pp - 8:17 		First period No scoring
Don Marcotte (3) - sh - 16:33 Second period 18:38 - Ted Irvine (4)
No scoring Third period 18:35 - pp - Rod Seiling (1)
Eddie Johnston Goalie stats Ed Giacomin
May 9 New York Rangers 3–2 Boston Bruins Boston Garden Recap  
Dale Rolfe (4) - 13:45 First period 3:55 - Wayne Cashman (2)
16:07 - pp - Ken Hodge (9)
No scoring Second period No scoring
Bobby Rousseau (5) - 2:56
Bobby Rousseau (6) - 12:45 		Third period No scoring
Gilles Villemure Goalie stats Eddie Johnston
May 11 Boston Bruins 3–0 New York Rangers Madison Square Garden Recap  
Bobby Orr (5) - pp - 11:18 First period No scoring
No scoring Second period No scoring
Wayne Cashman (3) - pp - 5:10
Wayne Cashman (4) - 18:11 		Third period No scoring
Gerry Cheevers Goalie stats Gilles Villemure
Boston won series 4–2


Game one

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April 30New York Rangers5–6
(1–4, 1–1, 3–1)		Boston BruinsBoston Garden
Attendance: 14,995
Game reference
Eddie GiacominGoaliesGerry CheeversReferee:
Bill Friday
Dale Rolfe 3 (Rod Gilbert, Brad Park) – 3:521–0
1–15:07 – Fred Stanfield 7 (John McKenzie)
1–215:48 – Ken Hodge 5 (Phil Esposito, Mike Walton)
1–317:29 – Derek Sanderson 1 (Ed Westfall) (SH)
1–418:14 – Ken Hodge 6 (Phil Esposito) (SH)
1–510:46 – Ken Hodge 7 (Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr)
Rod Gilbert 4 (Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle) (PP) – 11:542–5
Vic Hadfield 7 (Walt Tkaczuk, Rod Gilbert) (PP) – 1:463–5
Ted Irvine 4 – 7:484–5
Bruce MacGregor 2 (Ted Irvine, Pete Stemkowski) – 9:175–5
5–617:44 – Garnet Bailey 2 (Mike Walton, Ed Westfall)
29Shots28

Game one in Boston saw both teams play poorly. The Bruins at one point led 5–1 as Ken Hodge completed a hat trick, and Hodge and Derek Sanderson scored short-handed goals on the same Ranger power play at the end of the first period. However, the Rangers tied the game with goals from Gilbert, Hatfield, Tkaczuk, and Bruce MacGregor. With 2:16 remaining in the third period, Garnet "Ace" Bailey beat Rangers star defenseman Brad Park to have the Bruins prevail 6–5.[1]

Gary Doak of the Rangers was ejected from the game after a heated argument with referee Bill Friday over a penalty he received at 18:50 of the first period.

Game two

[edit]
May 2New York Rangers1–2
(0–1, 1–0, 0–1)		Boston BruinsBoston Garden
Attendance: 14,995
Game reference
Gilles VillemureGoaliesEd Johnston
0–116:15 – Johnny Bucyk 9 (Bobby Orr, Fred Stanfield) (PP)
Rod Gilbert 5 (Jim Neilson, Vic Hadfield) – 7:231–1
1 –211:53 – Ken Hodge 8 (Mike Walton, Phil Esposito) (PP)
28Shots25

Game two had Gilles Villemure replace Ed Giacomin in goal for the Rangers. He played well, but the Bruins did too and won 2–1.

Game three

[edit]
May 4Boston Bruins2–5New York RangersMadison Square Garden

In New York, Giacomin was back in goal for game three as the Rangers won 5–2. Brad Park opened the scoring with a power play goal and scored another in the first period. Rod Gilbert also had two goals in the game.

Game four

[edit]
May 7Boston Bruins3–2New York RangersMadison Square Garden

Giacomin was having trouble with a knee he injured during the Chicago series and lost game four 3–2.

Game five

[edit]
May 9New York Rangers3–2Boston BruinsBoston Garden

Game five in Boston had Villemure again replace Giacomin. Boston led 2–1 after two periods. However, Bobby Rousseau scored twice in the third period, his second at 12:45 turned out to be the winner in a 3–2 win for the Rangers.[1][2]

Game six

[edit]
May 11Boston Bruins3–0New York RangersMadison Square Garden

Game six in New York saw Boston play flawlessly and Gerry Cheevers picked up a shutout, 3–0. Bobby Orr's first-period marker ended up standing as the Stanley Cup-winning goal, and he also assisted on the Bruins' second goal. Orr spent 10 minutes in the penalty box after arguing with referee Art Skov but upon his return on the ice played a crucial role in killing off a penalty to the Bruins. Wayne Cashman scored two goals, one of which trickled in behind Gilles Villemure.[2]

As of 2022, the 1972 Bruins are the most recent team to have won the Cup without a formal captain.[3] John Bucyk, as the team's senior assistant captain, accepted the Cup and circled the rink in the ceremonial skate.

Broadcasting

[edit]

Hockey Night in Canada moved all playoff coverage from CBC to CTV (in actuality, MacLaren Advertising, the actual rights holders of HNIC at the time, worked out arrangements with CTV to move the full NHL playoffs there) to avoid conflict with the lengthy NABET strike against the CBC.

In the United States, CBS took a rather calculated risk in not televising the game five match on May 9 (CBS aired regular programming, including the original Hawaii Five-O in that time period on that Tuesday night). This was despite the fact that game five was a potential clincher with the Bruins up three games to one on the Rangers. CBS ultimately lucked out (since the Rangers won game five 3-2), and televised the clincher (game six) on Thursday night, May 11.

Stanley Cup engraving

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The following Bruins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup:

1971–72 Boston Bruins

Players

Coaching and administrative staff

Stanley Cup engraving

The Boston Bruins' name was misspelled as BQSTQN BRUINS with two "Q"s instead of "O"s. This error was corrected on the replica Cup created in 1992–93.

  • Every person whose name was engraved won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Bruins in 1972 had already appeared on the Stanley Cup. This had previously occurred only once, in 1960, and has not occurred again since.
  • Chris Hayes played in game 2 of the Finals (his only NHL game) and Garry Peters played in Stanley Cup Semi-Finals game 1. By the rules of the time, this qualified both to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup, but neither was included. Peters also won the cup with Montreal in 1965.
  • As with the 1970 team, the Boston Bruins did not have a team captain. John Bucyk, Phil Esposito, Ted Green and Ed Westfall all served as alternate captains (all but Green held the title in 1970 as well).

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Mulvoy, Mark (May 8, 1972). "Violence Is The Goal". SI Vault. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Mulvoy, Mark (May 22, 1972). "An Iceman Too Hot To Handle". SI Vault. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2010.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ Fischler, Stan (August 15, 2022). "Fischler Report: So You Want Your Son to be an NHL Star". thehockeynews.com. The Hockey News. The last team to win a Stanley Cup without having a captain was the 1972 Boston Bruins. But they had Bobby Orr; so who needed a captain?

References

[edit]
  • Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Stanley Cup. NHL.
  • Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.
Preceded by Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup champions
1972 		Succeeded by
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