1971 - 72 NHL season The 1971 - 72 NHL season was the 55th season of the National Hockey League . Fourteen teams each played 78 games . The Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers four games to two for their second Stanley Cup in three seasons in the finals . Four players were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this year . They were recently deceased Toronto star Busher Jackson and Detroit legend Terry Sawchuk , oldtimer Gordon Roberts , and ex - Bruin and Senator star Cooney Weiland . Arthur Wirtz , the powerful long - time owner of the Chicago Black Hawks , was inducted as a Builder . Regular season . Among notable first year players this season were Montreal ' s Guy Lafleur , who despite scoring 29 goals was felt lacking in comparison to newly - retired superstar Jean Beliveau by the Canadiens ' faithful ; Buffalo ' s Rick Martin , who set a new record for goals by a rookie with 44 ; Gilles Meloche , goaltender for the hapless California Golden Seals ; and Ken Dryden , the sensational new goalie for the Canadiens , who despite winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP the previous season was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year , on the grounds that he had only played six prior regular season games . 43 - year - old Gump Worsley , left unprotected ( and unclaimed ) in the waiver draft by the Minnesota North Stars , led the league with a 2 . 12 goals against average . Less fortunately , Philadelphia goaltender Bruce Gamble suffered a heart attack during a 3 - 1 win in Vancouver in February and was forced to retire from hockey . In what was widely seen as preemptive moves to help forestall the incipient World Hockey Association , the NHL announced that Atlanta and Long Island had been granted expansion franchises to start in the 1972 - 73 season . The bids had been hastily put together in comparison with the 1967 and 1971 expansions . Milestones this season included Gerry Cheevers setting an NHL record for the Boston Bruins ( which has yet to be surpassed ) with 33 straight undefeated games . On February 12 , it was Gordie Howe Day in Detroit as his famous # 9 was retired . On March 25 , Bobby Hull scored his 600th NHL goal in a 5 - 5 tie with Boston at the Boston Garden . An exciting scoring race in which Ranger Jean Ratelle had been leading Bruin Phil Esposito was shortcircuited when Ratelle suffered a serious injury costing him over a month of play . Ratelle finished third in scoring behind Esposito and Bruin Bobby Orr , while his teammates Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert finished fourth and fifth . A resurgent Frank Mahovlich , rejuvenated by a trade to Montreal , finished sixth , while Bobby Hull , in his final year in Chicago , finished seventh in points and second to Esposito in goals . Although they had fallen somewhat from their overwhelming offensive dominance from the previous season , once again the Boston Bruins had the best record in the league and once again the Chicago Black Hawks had the best record in the West Division . Final standings . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pts = Points , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against , PIM = Penalties in minutes " < br > " Note : Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold " Stanley Cup playoffs . The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs , before sweeping the Chicago Black Hawks in four straight games in the semifinals . Chicago had beaten the Pittsburgh Penguins in four straight games . Boston easily handled the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games , facing a St . Louis Blues team that had eked out a hard - fought seven game victory against the North Stars in the quarter finals . The powerful Bruins set a record for the most goals in a four game series by pounding the Blues 28 - 8 over a four - game sweep . Finals . New York Rangers vs . Boston Bruins " Boston Bruins win the best - of - seven series 4 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup " Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1971 - 72 ( listed with their first team , asterisk ( * ) marks debut in playoffs ) : Last games . The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1971 - 72 listed with their last team ) :