1967–68 Los Angeles Kings season

The 1967–68 Los Angeles Kings season was the franchise's 1st season in the National Hockey League. The Kings finished 2nd in the West Division and lost in the Division Semi-finals to the St. Louis Blues 4 games to 3.
==Off-season==
The Kings were one of six expansion teams, which doubled the size of the league from six to twelve. The Kings were placed in the newly established West Division, along with the other expansion teams: the California Seals, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues. 
The Kings picked goaltenders Terry Sawchuk and Wayne Rutledge with their first picks of the Expansion Draft, but the Kings did not rely on the draft. Owner Jack Kent Cooke purchased the American Hockey League's Springfield Indians for $1 million to bolster the Kings roster. Long-time Indians player Brian Kilrea would score the Kings' first goal.
The Kings inaugural jersey colours were purple and gold with a primarily purple home jersey and a primarily gold away jersey. The jerseys had one stripe on the arms and body (on the purple jersey the body stripe was at the bottom while on the gold jersey it was near the bottom), no names on the back and the jersey numbers were not outlined. The logo was a white, purple and gold crown. These jerseys would remain in use with very minor modifications for the next decade.
==Pre-season==
The Kings held their training camp in Guelph, Ontario.
September 18, 1967: Minnesota North Stars 7, Los Angeles Kings 3 @ Hamilton, Ontario
September 19, 1967: Los Angeles 6, Minnesota 2 @ Guelph, Ontario
September 24, 1967: Minnesota 3, Los Angeles 0 @ Oshawa, Ontario
==Regular Season==
The Kings played their home games in three locations during that inaugural campaign. They alternated between both the Long Beach Arena and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena before the brand new arena built by Cooke and known as The Forum would become their permanent home. In the first game ever at The Forum, they lost 2-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers. This loss came back to haunt them as they finished in 2nd place, one point behind the Flyers.
The Los Angeles Kings were a team that writers predicted to finish last in the new West Division.Brian McFarlane, 50 Years of Hockey, pp. 140–143, Greywood Publishing Ltd, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Surprisingly, the Kings finished second, just one point out of first. Bill Flett scored 26 goals, while Eddie Joyal scored 23 goals, adding 34 assists for 57 points and was the second leading scorer in the West Division.
On December 13, 1967, the Minnesota North Stars and Cesare Maniago achieved the first shutout in team history, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-0. Maniago and the North Stars went on a shutout streak, beating the Kings 3-0 on December 15 and the Oakland Seals 1-0 on December 16. Maniago had his 4th shutout on January 3, 1968 as the Stars blanked the Kings for the third time, by 6-0. Maniago finished the season with 6 shutouts, tied for second best in the league and the most in a season in his career.
Goalie Jacques Caron played his first NHL game on December 27, 1967 in a 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Mike Corrigan and Larry Johnston played their first NHL game on December 30, 1967 as the Kings lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0. Corrigan would play over 400 games for Los Angeles.
The Kings were the only team the Seals had some success against. In January 1968, Oakland won all three games versus Los Angeles, including shutting them out twice. Gerry Ehman had the Seals only Hat trick of the season in one of these games, on January 7, 1968 in a 6-0 win. The season series ended 4-4-2 between the teams.
The Kings combined to go 20-13-4 in their 37 home games spread over 3 arenas that first season. On the road, Los Angeles posted a record of just 11-20-6. The Kings finished a surprising second place in the Western Conference behind the coaching of Red Kelly, who as a player holds the distinction of playing on the most Stanley Cup championship teams without any of them including time in Montreal. The goaltending tandem of future hall of famer Terry Sawchuk and Wayne Rutledge allowed the team to stay in most games. The Kings had the best record of any of the expansion teams against the "Original Six", going a respectable 10-12-2, including winning their first two games ever against the storied Montreal Canadiens.
===Final Standings===
===Game Log===
Game Log	Game Log	 	 	 	
October
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable"	 	 	 	 	
Game 	Date 	Opponent 	Score	Location 	Record
1 	14 	Philadelphia Flyers 	4-2 	Los Angeles	1-0-0
2 	15 	Minnesota North Stars	5-3 	Los Angeles	2-0-0
3 	18 	California Seals 	2-2 	Oakland 	2-0-1
4 	21 	St. Louis Blues 	3-3 	St. Louis 	2-0-2
5 	22 	Chicago Black Hawks 	5-3 	Chicago 	3-0-2
6 	25 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	2-4 	Toronto 	3-1-2
7 	26 	Boston Bruins 	0-2 	Boston 	3-2-2
8 	28 	Pittsburgh Penguins 	5-3 	Pittsburgh 	4-2-2
9 	31 	New York Rangers 	1-6 	Los Angeles	4-3-2
==Playoffs==
===Minnesota North Stars 4, Los Angeles Kings 3===
Doug Robinson and Lowell MacDonald led all Kings playoff scorers with 7 points, while Eddie Joyal and Gord Labossiere had 5 points each.
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
April 4 	Minnesota 	1 	Los Angeles	2 	
April 6 	Minnesota 	0 	Los Angeles	2 	
April 9 	Los Angeles	5 	Minnesota 	7 	
April 11	Los Angeles	2 	Minnesota 	3 	
April 13	Minnesota 	2 	Los Angeles	3 	
April 16	Los Angeles	3 	Minnesota 	4 	(OT)
April 18	Minnesota 	9 	Los Angeles	4 	
==Player Stats==
===Forwards===
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
# 	Player 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
16 	Eddie Joyal 	74	23	34	57 	20
17 	Bill Flett 	73	26	20	46 	97
11 	Lowell MacDonald	74	21	24	45 	12
15 	Ted Irvine 	73	18	22	40 	26
20 	Gord Labossiere 	68	13	27	40 	31
9 	Real Lemieux 	74	12	23	35 	60
7 	Terry Gray 	65	12	16	28 	22
19, 23	Howie Menard 	35	9 	15	24 	32
10 	Howie Hughes 	74	9 	14	23 	20
12 	Bryan Campbell 	44	6 	15	21 	16
8 	Brian Smith 	58	10	9 	19 	33
23 	Doug Robinson 	34	9 	9 	18 	6
19 	Brian Kilrea 	25	3 	5 	8 	12
22 	Jim Anderson 	7 	1 	2 	3 	2
22 	Bill Inglis 	12	1 	1 	2 	0
19 	Mike Corrigan 	5 	0 	0 	0 	2
===Defencemen===
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
# 	Player 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
21 	Bill White 	74	11	27	38 	100
2 	Bob Wall 	71	5 	18	23 	66
6 	Dale Rolfe 	68	3 	13	16 	84
4, 5	Brent Hughes 	44	4 	10	14 	36
3, 5	Dave Amadio 	58	4 	6 	10 	101
4 	Jacques Lemieux	16	0 	3 	3 	8
4 	Jim Murray 	30	0 	2 	2 	14
3 	Poul Popiel 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
5 	Larry Johnston 	4 	0 	0 	0 	4
===Goaltending===
Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average
# 	Player 	GP	MIN 	W 	L 	T	SO	GAA
1 	Wayne Rutledge	45	2444	20	18	4	2 	2.87
30	Terry Sawchuk 	36	1936	11	14	6	2 	3.07
30	Jacques Caron 	1 	60 	0 	1 	0	0 	4.00
==Awards and Records==
*Team Records:
**Fastest two goals, 6 seconds apart, Bill Flett at 9:14 of first period, and Eddie Joyal at 9:20 on March 10, 1968.
**Fewest short-handed goals against in season, 3
**Most shutouts against in season, 9
==Milestones==
Regular season	Regular season 	Regular season 	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season
Player 	Milestone 	Reached 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Brian Kilrea 	First Kings goal	October 14, 1967	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==Transactions==
*June 8, 1967 – Acquired the rights to Red Kelly from Toronto for Ken Block.
*June 16, 1967 – Acquired Trevor Fahey, Jim Murray and Ken Turlik from the New York for Barclay Plager.
==Draft Picks==
===NHL Draft===
Round	Pick	Player 	Nationality
1 	1 	Rick Pagnutti	
===Expansion Draft===
* Los Angeles Kings selections
# 	Player 	Drafted from
1. 	Terry Sawchuk (G) 	Toronto Maple Leafs
2. 	Wayne Rutledge (G) 	New York Rangers
3. 	Gord Labossiere (C) 	Montreal Canadiens
4. 	Bob Wall (D) 	Detroit Red Wings
5. 	Eddie Joyal (C) 	Toronto Maple Leafs
6. 	Réal Lemieux (W) 	Detroit Red Wings
7. 	Poul Popiel (D) 	Boston Bruins
8. 	Terry Gray (RW) 	Detroit Red Wings
9. 	Bryan Campbell (C) 	New York Rangers
10.	Ted Irvine (LW) 	Boston Bruins
11.	Howie Hughes (RW) 	Montreal Canadiens
12.	Bill Inglis (C) 	Montreal Canadiens
13.	Doug Robinson (LW) 	New York Rangers
14.	Mike Corrigan (LW) 	Toronto Maple Leafs
15.	Jacques Lemieux (LW) 	Montreal Canadiens
16.	Lowell MacDonald (LW)	Toronto Maple Leafs
17.	Ken Block (D) 	New York Rangers
18.	Bill Flett (RW) 	Toronto Maple Leafs
19.	Brent Hughes (D) 	Detroit Red Wings
20.	Marc Dufour (RW) 	New York Rangers
==Farm Teams==
* Springfield Indians (American Hockey League)
==Trivia==
*Kings who recorded a hat trick this season include:
**Bill Flett during the 6-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on November 5, 1967.
**Lowell MacDonald during the 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on November 19, 1967.
**Bill Flett during the 8-6 win over Detroit on February 1, 1968.
==Gallery==
67-68NHLExhLAKingsBarrieGameAd.jpg|Pre-season @ Barrie, Ontario
26Oct1967-Buyck_scores_Rutledge_Joyal.jpg|John Bucyk scores one of his two goals in the 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on October 26, 1967.
1967-Dec27-Melynk goal.gif|Gerry Melnyk from Don McKenney and Red Berenson, December 27, 1967.
1967-68 Stars-Kings.jpg|North Stars and Kings in 1967-68 season action.
 
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==References==
* Kings on Hockey Database
Category:Los Angeles Kings seasons
Category:1967 in hockey
Category:1968 in hockey