1975–76 NHL season

The **1975–76 NHL season** was the 59th season of the National Hockey League. Eighteen teams each played 80 games. The Montreal Canadiens set records in wins with 58 and points with 127, beginning a four-year stretch where they would dominate the league in the regular season and win four straight Stanley Cup titles.

### 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_

#### Prince of Wales Conference

|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="40%"|Adams Division|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|W|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|L|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|T|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|Pts|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GF|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GA|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|PIM|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Boston Bruins**|80|48|15|17|113|313|237|1195||||||||||
|**Buffalo Sabres**|80|46|21|13|105|339|240|943||||||||||
|**Toronto Maple Leafs**|80|34|31|15|83|294|276|1368||||||||||
|California Golden Seals|80|27|42|11|65|250|278|1058||||||||||

|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="40%"|Norris Division|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|W|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|L|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|T|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|Pts|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GF|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GA|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|PIM|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Montreal Canadiens**|80|58|11|11|127|337|174|977||||||||||
|**Los Angeles Kings**|80|38|33|9|85|263|265|1022||||||||||
|**Pittsburgh Penguins**|80|35|33|12|82|339|303|1004||||||||||
|Detroit Red Wings|80|26|44|10|62|226|300|1922||||||||||
|Washington Capitals|80|11|59|10|32|224|394|951||||||||||

#### Clarence Campbell Conference

|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="40%"|Patrick Division|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|W|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|L|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|T|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|Pts|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GF|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GA|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|PIM|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Philadelphia Flyers**|80|51|13|16|118|348|209|1980||||||||||
|**New York Islanders**|80|42|21|17|101|297|190|1277||||||||||
|**Atlanta Flames**|80|35|33|12|82|262|237|928||||||||||
|New York Rangers|80|29|42|9|67|262|333|911||||||||||

|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="40%"|Smythe Division|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|W|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|L|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%"|T|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|Pts|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GF|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GA|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|PIM|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Chicago Black Hawks**|80|32|30|18|82|254|261|944||||||||||
|**Vancouver Canucks**|80|33|32|15|81|271|272|1122||||||||||
|**St. Louis Blues**|80|29|37|14|72|249|290|1274||||||||||
|Minnesota North Stars|80|20|53|7|47|195|303|1191||||||||||
|Kansas City Scouts|80|12|56|12|36|190|351|984||||||||||

### Scoring leaders

_Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points_
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30%"|Player|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30%"|Team|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|G|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|A|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|Pts|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="7.5%"|PIM|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Guy Lafleur|Montreal Canadiens|80|56|69|125|36||||||||
|Bobby Clarke|Philadelphia Flyers|76|30|89|119|136||||||||
|Gilbert Perreault|Buffalo Sabres|80|44|69|113|36||||||||
|Bill Barber|Philadelphia Flyers|80|50|62|112|104||||||||
|Pierre Larouche|Pittsburgh Penguins|76|53|58|111|33||||||||
|Jean Ratelle|Boston Bruins / New York Rangers|80|36|69|105|18||||||||
|Pete Mahovlich|Montreal Canadiens|80|34|71|105|76||||||||
|Jean Pronovost|Pittsburgh Penguins|80|52|52|104|24||||||||
|Darryl Sittler|Toronto Maple Leafs|79|41|59|100|90||||||||
|Syl Apps, Jr.|Pittsburgh Penguins|80|32|67|99|24||||||||

### Finals

The two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Philadelphia Flyers, once again made it to the finals, but lost in four games to the Montreal Canadiens.

**Montreal Canadiens** vs. **Philadelphia Flyers**

|width="50"|Date|width="90"|Visitors|width="25"|Score|width="90"|Home|width="25"|Score|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|May 9|Philadelphia|3|**Montreal **|**4**|||||||
|May 11|Philadelphia|1|**Montreal **|**2**|||||||
|May 13|**Montreal**|**3**|Philadelphia|2|||||||
|May 16|**Montreal**|**5**|Philadelphia|3|||||||

## NHL awards

|Prince of Wales Trophy:|Montreal Canadiens|
| --- | --- |
|Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:|Philadelphia Flyers|
|Art Ross Memorial Trophy:|Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadiens|
|Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:|Rod Gilbert, New York Rangers|
|Calder Memorial Trophy:|Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders|
|Conn Smythe Trophy:|Reggie Leach, Philadelphia Flyers|
|Hart Memorial Trophy:|Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers|
|Jack Adams Award:|Don Cherry, Boston Bruins|
|James Norris Memorial Trophy:|Denis Potvin, New York Islanders|
|Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:|Jean Ratelle, New York Rangers/Boston Bruins|
|Lester B. Pearson Award:|Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadiens|
|NHL Plus/Minus Award:|Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers|
|Vezina Trophy:|Ken Dryden, Montreal Canadiens|
|Lester Patrick Trophy:|Stan Mikita, George A. Leader, Bruce A. Norris|

### All-Star teams

|First Team|Position|Second Team||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Ken Dryden, Montreal Canadiens|align=center|G|Glenn Resch, New York Islanders|
|Denis Potvin, New York Islanders|align=center|D|Borje Salming, Toronto Maple Leafs|
|Brad Park, Boston Bruins|align=center|D|Guy Lapointe, Montreal Canadiens|
|Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers|align=center|C|Gilbert Perreault, Buffalo Sabres|
|Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadiens|align=center|RW|Reggie Leach, Philadelphia Flyers|
|Bill Barber, Philadelphia Flyers|align=center|LW|Rick Martin, Buffalo Sabres|

## References

- Hockey Database
- NHL.com