1971–72 St. Louis Blues season

The 1971–72 St. Louis Blues season was the St. Louis Blues' 5th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Blues finished 2nd in the West Division and won in the Quarter-finals over the Minnesota North Stars 4 games to 3 and lost in the Semi-finals to the Boston Bruins 4 games to 0.
==Off-season==
==Regular Season==
===Final Standings===
===Game Log===
Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results 	Regular Season Results
No. 	R 	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	L 	October 9, 1971 	2–4 	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	0–1–0
2 	W 	October 12, 1971 	4–1 	Buffalo Sabres (1971–72) 	1–1–0
3 	L 	October 13, 1971 	0–1 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	1–2–0
4 	W 	October 16, 1971 	9–2 	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	2–2–0
5 	L 	October 17, 1971 	3–5 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	2–3–0
6 	L 	October 19, 1971 	1–3 	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	2–4–0
7 	L 	October 23, 1971 	3–4 	New York Rangers (1971–72) 	2–5–0
8 	W 	October 24, 1971 	3–2 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1971–72) 	3–5–0
9 	L 	October 27, 1971 	1–2 	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	3–6–0
10 	T 	October 30, 1971 	4–4 	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	3–6–1
11 	L 	November 3, 1971 	1–5 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	3–7–1
12 	L 	November 4, 1971 	1–6 	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	3–8–1
13 	L 	November 6, 1971 	1–5 	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	3–9–1
14 	L 	November 9, 1971 	1–4 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	3–10–1
15 	W 	November 13, 1971 	5–1 	California Golden Seals (1971–72) 	4–10–1
16 	T 	November 16, 1971 	2–2 	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	4–10–2
17 	T 	November 18, 1971 	2–2 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	4–10–3
18 	W 	November 20, 1971 	4–2 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	5–10–3
19 	L 	November 21, 1971 	2–6 	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	5–11–3
20 	W 	November 23, 1971 	3–1 	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	6–11–3
21 	L 	November 24, 1971 	3–8 	@ New York Rangers (1971–72) 	6–12–3
22 	T 	November 27, 1971 	6–6 	Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	6–12–4
23 	W 	November 30, 1971 	5–2 	California Golden Seals (1971–72) 	7–12–4
24 	L 	December 1, 1971 	2–4 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	7–13–4
25 	W 	December 4, 1971 	5–1 	Buffalo Sabres (1971–72) 	8–13–4
26 	W 	December 5, 1971 	2–1 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	9–13–4
27 	L 	December 7, 1971 	1–2 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	9–14–4
28 	T 	December 10, 1971 	4–4 	@ California Golden Seals (1971–72)	9–14–5
29 	L 	December 11, 1971 	1–4 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	9–15–5
30 	L 	December 14, 1971 	2–4 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	9–16–5
31 	L 	December 15, 1971 	1–4 	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	9–17–5
32 	L 	December 18, 1971 	2–5 	New York Rangers (1971–72) 	9–18–5
33 	L 	December 19, 1971 	0–2 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	9–19–5
34 	L 	December 22, 1971 	1–2 	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	9–20–5
35 	T 	December 25, 1971 	4–4 	Buffalo Sabres (1971–72) 	9–20–6
36 	L 	December 26, 1971 	3–6 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1971–72) 	9–21–6
37 	W 	December 29, 1971 	6–3 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	10–21–6
38 	T 	January 1, 1972 	4–4 	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	10–21–7
39 	L 	January 5, 1972 	1–9 	@ New York Rangers (1971–72) 	10–22–7
40 	W 	January 6, 1972 	3–2 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	11–22–7
41 	W 	January 8, 1972 	5–3 	Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	12–22–7
42 	W 	January 11, 1972 	7–3 	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	13–22–7
43 	W 	January 15, 1972 	7–2 	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	14–22–7
44 	W 	January 16, 1972 	4–3 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	15–22–7
45 	L 	January 18, 1972 	0–2 	Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	15–23–7
46 	W 	January 22, 1972 	1–0 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	16–23–7
47 	L 	January 23, 1972 	1–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	16–24–7
48 	W 	January 26, 1972 	2–1 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	17–24–7
49 	L 	January 29, 1972 	0–4 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	17–25–7
50 	L 	January 30, 1972 	2–5 	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	17–26–7
51 	L 	February 1, 1972 	1–3 	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	17–27–7
52 	L 	February 3, 1972 	3–4 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	17–28–7
53 	W 	February 5, 1972 	6–5 	New York Rangers (1971–72) 	18–28–7
54 	T 	February 6, 1972 	2–2 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	18–28–8
55 	L 	February 8, 1972 	1–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	18–29–8
56 	L 	February 10, 1972 	1–3 	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	18–30–8
57 	W 	February 12, 1972 	5–4 	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	19–30–8
58 	L 	February 15, 1972 	2–3 	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	19–31–8
59 	W 	February 16, 1972 	3–1 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	20–31–8
60 	L 	February 18, 1972 	2–5 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	20–32–8
61 	T 	February 20, 1972 	4–4 	@ California Golden Seals (1971–72)	20–32–9
62 	W 	February 23, 1972 	2–0 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	21–32–9
63 	W 	February 26, 1972 	3–2 	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	22–32–9
64 	L 	February 27, 1972 	0–2 	@ New York Rangers (1971–72) 	22–33–9
65 	L 	March 1, 1972 	1–3 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	22–34–9
66 	L 	March 4, 1972 	2–6 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	22–35–9
67 	W 	March 5, 1972 	6–2 	@ Buffalo Sabres (1971–72) 	23–35–9
68 	W 	March 7, 1972 	4–2 	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	24–35–9
69 	L 	March 9, 1972 	1–5 	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	24–36–9
70 	W 	March 11, 1972 	4–2 	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	25–36–9
71 	T 	March 17, 1972 	2–2 	@ California Golden Seals (1971–72)	25–36–10
72 	T 	March 19, 1972 	3–3 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	25–36–11
73 	W 	March 22, 1972 	4–1 	California Golden Seals (1971–72) 	26–36–11
74 	W 	March 25, 1972 	5–3 	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	27–36–11
75 	L 	March 26, 1972 	0–4 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	27–37–11
76 	W 	March 28, 1972 	2–1 	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	28–37–11
77 	L 	April 1, 1972 	0–2 	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	28–38–11
78 	L 	April 2, 1972 	2–6 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	28–39–11
==Playoffs==
===St. Louis Blues 4, Minnesota North Stars 3===
Kevin O’Shea scored the series winning goal in overtime in Game 7.
===Boston Bruins 4, St. Louis Blues 0===
The Bruins and Blues last met in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals where the Bruins swept the series in four games, highlighted by Bobby Orr's overtime winner in Game 4. Despite missing Derek Sanderson for the entire series, the Bruins swept the Blues again, winning three of the games easily. John Bucyk scored 4 goals and 13 points in the series.
Game 1 at the Boston Garden saw Eddie Johnston start in net for the Bruins and Jacques Caron for the Blues. Garry Peters dressed in his only playoff game of the year. Garry Unger opened the scoring on the power play at 3:18 of the first period, but that's all the scoring St. Louis mustered. While the Blues effectively checked the Phil Esposito line, the second line of Fred Stanfield, John Bucyk and John McKenzie ran rampant. Stanfield tied the game a little over a minute after Unger's goal before Mike Walton put the Bruins up for good. Bucyk added a goal at 17:24 to make it 3-1 Boston. At 5:39 of the second period, Curt Bennett and Carol Vadnais fought which resulted in a melee. Don Awrey was given a game misconduct for being the third man in. Stanfield scored at 10:48 on the power play and then completed the Hat trick at 19:32. Caron was pulled for Ernie Wakely to start the third period. Esposito scored at 14:44 on the power play to compete the Bruins 6-1 win.
Game 2 at Boston saw Gerry Cheevers man the pipes for Boston while Caron started for St. Louis. As in Game 1, the Blues had no answer for the Bruins offensive depth. Bucyk opened the scoring at 7:17 of the first period on the power play before Esposito added a goal a minute later. The Bruins third line of Mike Walton, Garnet Bailey and Ed Westfall combined for a goal at 9:54. In the second period, Bailey scored at 6:33, resulting in Caron being pulled for Ernie Wakely. John McKenzie scored on the power play shortly after to make it 5-0 Bruins. Bucyk scored his second of the game at 3:47 of the third period on the power play. The Blues scored two quick goals by Mike Murphy and Phil Roberto to cut the lead to 6-2. Any hope of a comeback was quickly dashed as Boston scored four goals in the last ten minutes of the game. Walton, Don Marcotte, Bucyk and Westfall were the markers as the Bruins trounced the Blues 10-2. Bucyk had a hat trick and four points while Bailey also had four points. Incredibly, St. Louis out shot Boston 33-31.
Game 3 at the St. Louis Arena saw Ed Johnston back in net for Boston and the Blues go with third-string goalie Peter McDuffe. Chris Hayes played the only NHL game of his career. Mike Murphy opened the scoring for the Blues at 2:05 of the first period, slipping a shot between Johnston's pads on the power play. The Blues were on another power play six minutes later when Ed Westfall picked off a Barclay Plager pass and went in on a breakaway. He deked McDuffe and roofed his shot to make it 1-1. On a Bruins power play, John McKenzie deflected a Bobby Orr shot in at 10:36. With seconds left in the period, Ken Hodge's pass from the corner to Phil Esposito saw him lift it over McDuffe to make it 3-1 Bruins. At 2:58 of the second period, Mike Walton scored before Ken Hodge deked Barclay Plager at the St. Louis blueline and blasted a slapshot between McDuffe's pads. At 11:12 on the power play, John McKenzie corralled a John Bucyk rebound and shot it over McDuffe's shoulder for a 6-1 Bruins lead. In the third period, Walton intercepted an errant Gary Sabourin pass and put a low shot in at 11:09. Sabourin scored a consolation goal with less than two minutes left as Boston won 7-2 and took a three games to none stranglehold on the series.
Game 4 at St. Louis saw the Bruins continue to rotate their goalies with Gerry Cheevers starting while Jacques Caron was back in net for the Blues. This was the closest game of the series, with St. Louis out shooting Boston 36-27, but penalties would be the Blues undoing. Only 1:29 into the game, Phil Esposito fired a Wayne Cashman rebound past Caron to make it 1-0. At 9:27 on the power play, Esposito kept the puck in the Blues zone, passed to Fred Stanfield who found John Bucyk alone in front of the net. His shot to Caron's glove side made it 2-0 Bruins. Terry Crisp cut the lead to 2-1 late in the period. With Garry Unger in the box, Bucyk scored his second power play goal of the game at 4:44 of the second period. At 17:53 on the power play, Esposito took a John McKenzie pass in the right slot and fired a shot past Caron's stick to make it 4-1. In the third period, Cheevers continued to hold the Blues at bay until 9:50 when André Dupont fired a slapshot that eluded him. At 15:25, Chris Evans beat Cheevers with a point shot to make it 4-3. That was as close as St. Louis came as Wayne Cashman scored his first goal of the playoffs into an empty net for a 5-3 Bruins win and a series sweep.
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	April 18	St. Louis Blues	1-6 	Boston Bruins 	0-1
2	April 20	St. Louis Blues	2-10 	Boston Bruins 	0-2
3	April 23	Boston Bruins 	7-2 	St. Louis Blues	3-0
4	April 25	Boston Bruins 	5-3 	St. Louis Blues	4-0
==Player Stats==
===Regular Season===
;Scoring
Player	Pos 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	78	36	34	70 	104	-8 	14 	1 	4
 	RW 	78	16	36	52 	32 	5 	1 	0 	1
 	RW 	63	21	25	46 	34 	5 	5 	0 	2
 	RW 	77	28	17	45 	52 	3 	4 	0 	7
 	RW 	63	20	23	43 	19 	-4 	5 	0 	3
 	C 	75	13	18	31 	12 	7 	1 	6 	3
 	D 	78	7 	22	29 	176	6 	1 	2 	0
 	RW 	49	12	13	25 	76 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	42	2 	16	18 	40 	-6 	0 	0 	1
 	C 	41	8 	9 	17 	6 	-13	1 	0 	1
 	LW 	46	5 	11	16 	54 	-2 	0 	0 	1
 	D 	60	3 	10	13 	147	11 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	42	2 	11	13 	7 	-11	2 	0 	1
 	D/RW	26	5 	7 	12 	4 	4 	1 	2 	0
 	D 	65	1 	11	12 	64 	-15	0 	0 	1
 	D 	50	4 	7 	11 	81 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	47	2 	9 	11 	10 	-1 	0 	0 	1
 	C 	15	5 	5 	10 	2 	-6 	2 	0 	0
 	LW 	49	4 	6 	10 	48 	-9 	0 	0 	2
 	LW 	31	3 	5 	8 	30 	-4 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	20	3 	3 	6 	11 	-4 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	15	1 	5 	6 	50 	1 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	15	3 	2 	5 	9 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	9 	2 	3 	5 	2 	4 	0 	1 	0
 	D 	55	1 	2 	3 	8 	-1 	0 	1 	0
 	C 	21	1 	2 	3 	8 	-1 	1 	0 	0
 	LW 	18	0 	3 	3 	8 	-13	0 	0 	0
 	C/RW	12	0 	1 	1 	12 	-8 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	16	0 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	28	0 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	30	0 	1 	1 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	1 	0 	0 	0 	4 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	4 	0 	0 	0 	2 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	4 	0 	0 	0 	2 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	6 	0 	0 	0 	0 	-2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	17	0 	0 	0 	10 	-4 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	10	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T 	GA 	GAA 	SO
 	1619	28	14	8 	5 	68 	2.52	1
 	1614	30	8 	18	2 	92 	3.42	1
 	880 	16	6 	6 	4 	44 	3.00	0
 	467 	10	0 	6 	0 	29 	3.73	0
 	100 	2 	0 	1 	0 	9 	5.40	0
Team: 	4680	78	28	39	11	242	3.10	2
===Playoffs===
;Scoring
Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	RW 	11	7	6	13 	29 	3 	0 	1
 	C 	11	4	5	9 	35 	2 	0 	1
 	RW 	11	3	5	8 	6 	1 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	3	3	6 	6 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	2	3	5 	6 	1 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	1	4	5 	14 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	1	4	5 	21 	1 	0 	1
 	D 	11	1	4	5 	5 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	11	1	3	4 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	2	1	3 	10 	0 	0 	1
 	D 	11	0	2	2 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	10	0	2	2 	36 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	1	0	1 	20 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	1	0	1 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	3 	0	0	0 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	10	0	0	0 	12 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	0	0	0 	8 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	0	0	0 	12 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	1 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	3 	0	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	9 	0	0	0 	2 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA 	SO
 	499	9 	4	5	26	3.13	0
 	60 	1 	0	1	7 	7.00	0
 	113	3 	0	1	13	6.90	0
Team: 	672	11	4	7	46	4.11	0
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals 
MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts 
==Awards and Records==
*The Blues did not win any awards this season.
==Gallery==
Cashman_uncounted_goal-8Jan1972.gif|Officials missed this goal by Wayne Cashman, January 8, 1972.
==See Also==
*1971–72 NHL season
==References==
* 
category:St. Louis Blues seasons
Category:1971 in hockey
Category:1972 in hockey