1970 - 71 NHL season The 1970 - 71 NHL season was the 54th season of the National Hockey League . Fourteen teams each played 78 games ( six games against each opponent ) . Two new teams , the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks made their debuts and were both put into the East Division . The Chicago Black Hawks were moved to the West Division . Prior to the start of the season , the Oakland Seals were renamed California Golden Seals . The Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup by beating the Black Hawks in seven games in the finals . From this season through the 2002 - 03 season , teams wore their white jerseys at home and their dark jerseys on the road . A new award for the most outstanding player as voted by the members of the NHL Players Association , the Lester B . Pearson Award , was introduced this season and the first winner was Phil Esposito . Regular season . This season saw a marked increase in goal scoring , especially by the Boston Bruins , who shattered dozens of scoring records as they set the mark for most goals by a team ( 399 ) by nearly a hundred over the previous record holder . They also set records for most victories ( 57 ) and points ( 121 ) . Phil Esposito set records for most goals in a season with 76 and for most points with 152 . Defenceman Bobby Orr won his second consecutive Hart Trophy and set a new record for assists with 102 . The Bruins also had the four league leading scorers , the first time in history this was achieved ( the only other time being by the Bruins in 1974 ) , and seven of the top ten leading scorers , the only time in NHL history this has ever been achieved . Boston won the East Division championship in a runaway . In the West Division , the powerful Chicago Black Hawks had been moved there partially to accommodate the expansion Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks ( both of which were placed in the East Division ) but more in an effort to provide greater balance between the divisions . Chicago broke St . Louis ' stranglehold over the division , winning handily over the Blues and advancing to the Stanley Cup finals . The Montreal Canadiens , who missed the playoffs in 1969 - 70 , appeared to be sinking once more . Players did not like Claude Ruel ' s dictatorial rule as coach , and Ralph Backstrom and John Ferguson retired . Ruel resigned and Al MacNeil took over . Both Ferguson and Backstrom returned , but Backstrom was later traded to Los Angeles for draft choices . The Vancouver Canucks played well at first and were around the . 500 mark at mid - season . Then Orland Kurtenbach was injured and the team sagged . On October 29th , Gordie Howe became the first player to record 1000 assists in a 5 - 3 win over Boston at the Detroit Olympia . Detroit introduced a fine rookie goaltender , Jim Rutherford , who had bright moments despite the Red Wings last place finish . However , they suffered their worst defeat in franchise history January 2nd , when Toronto crushed them 13 - 0 . On March 12th , Boston ' s Phil Esposito broke Bobby Hull ' s record for goals by a player in a season at 7 : 03 of the first period on Denis DeJordy of Los Angeles at the Forum in Inglewood , California . Then , at 15 : 40 he became the first player to score 60 goals . The Bruins won 7 - 2 . Buffalo had a star , Gilbert Perreault , who on March 18th broke Nels Stewart ' s ( and Danny Grant ' s , and Norm Ferguson ' s ) rookie record with his 35th goal in a 5 - 3 win over St . Louis . He went on to finish the season with 38 . Billy Taylor and Don Gallinger , now middle - aged , were finally forgiven for their gambling in 1948 and were reinstated to the NHL . However , they did not return to the NHL . 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 . A significant controversy arose before the playoffs , where the Minnesota North Stars - having had a substantial lead for third place in the West over the Philadelphia Flyers - lost several games in a row to finish in 4th place by a single point . It was widely rumored that they did so to avoid playing the far superior Chicago Black Hawks , since at this time in the playoffs the first place team played the third place team and the second played the fourth . Nothing was proven against the North Stars ( who defeated their first round opponents , St . Louis , four games to two , while the Flyers were swept by the powerful Black Hawks ) , but the format was changed the following year to the 1 - 4 / 2 - 3 format that prevailed thereafter . The Montreal Canadiens were matched against the Boston Bruins , and in one of the most extraordinary upsets in hockey history , Ken Dryden was hot in goal for the Canadiens as the Habs beat the Bears in seven games . In game 4 , Bobby Orr became the first defenseman to get a hat trick in a playoff game when Boston won 5 - 2 . The Canadiens ' upset was so sensational that the Canadiens nearly suffered a fatal letdown against the Minnesota North Stars , but won the series in six games to advance to the finals . John Ferguson of Montreal openly criticized coach Al MacNeil . New York beat Toronto , but Bobby Hull and the Chicago Black Hawks were just too much for the Rangers and the Black Hawks advanced to the finals in seven games . Hull won two games with goals on face - offs , despite Glen Sather ' s coverage of him to check him . Finals . The 1971 Stanley Cup finals were played by the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Black Hawks . The series went the full seven games , with the Canadiens winning in Chicago despite trailing 2 - 0 halfway into the second period of game seven . Jacques Lemaire took a shot from centre ice that miraculously escaped goaltender Tony Esposito ' s notice , cutting the Black Hawks ' lead to 2 - 1 . Henri Richard tied the game just before the end of the second period , and scored again 2 : 34 into the third , giving the Habs the lead . Montreal goalie Ken Dryden kept Chicago off the board for the rest of the game , and the Habs won their third Stanley Cup in four years . It was the final game for Canadien superstar and captain Jean Beliveau , who retired after the season . To date , the Canadiens are the last road team to win a Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final . The only other team to do so were the 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs . It was Al MacNeil ' s final game as Montreal coach — after he had benched Richard for Game 5 , The Pocket Rocket declared that " [ MacNeil ] is the worst coach I ever played for ! " Although Richard retracted his " angry comment " , as he called it , MacNeil still resigned . Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1970 - 71 ( 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 1970 - 71 ( listed with their last team ) :