1971–72 Buffalo Sabres season

The 1971–72 Buffalo Sabres season was the Sabres' 2nd season in the National Hockey League. The Sabres finished 6th in the East Division and did not qualify for the playoffs.
==Off-season==
==Regular Season==
In the season's final game, the Philadelphia Flyers needed a win or a tie against the second year Sabres to beat out the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final playoff spot. The score was tied late in the game, but with just four seconds on the clock, former Flyer Gerry Meehan took a shot from 80 feet away that somehow eluded Flyers goalie Doug Favell. The Flyers lost the tiebreaker to Pittsburgh and missed out on the playoffs for the second time in three years.
===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
6 	W 	October 20, 1971 	7–2 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	2–4–0
7 	L 	October 21, 1971 	2–5 	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	2–5–0
8 	L 	October 23, 1971 	1–5 	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	2–6–0
9 	L 	October 24, 1971 	2–3 	St. Louis Blues (1971–72) 	2–7–0
10 	W 	October 27, 1971 	3–2 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	3–7–0
11 	T 	October 30, 1971 	4–4 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	3–7–1
12 	T 	October 31, 1971 	2–2 	@ California Golden Seals (1971–72)	3–7–2
13 	T 	November 4, 1971 	4–4 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	3–7–3
14 	W 	November 5, 1971 	5–2 	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	4–7–3
15 	T 	November 7, 1971 	3–3 	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	4–7–4
16 	L 	November 11, 1971 	2–4 	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	4–8–4
17 	L 	November 13, 1971 	2–5 	@ New York Rangers (1971–72) 	4–9–4
18 	T 	November 14, 1971 	2–2 	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	4–9–5
19 	L 	November 18, 1971 	5–7 	California Golden Seals (1971–72) 	4–10–5
20 	L 	November 21, 1971 	3–4 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	4–11–5
21 	L 	November 24, 1971 	3–5 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	4–12–5
22 	L 	November 27, 1971 	2–5 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	4–13–5
23 	L 	November 28, 1971 	3–5 	@ California Golden Seals (1971–72)	4–14–5
24 	L 	December 1, 1971 	2–7 	@ New York Rangers (1971–72) 	4–15–5
25 	W 	December 2, 1971 	2–0 	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	5–15–5
26 	L 	December 4, 1971 	1–5 	@ St. Louis Blues (1971–72) 	5–16–5
27 	W 	December 5, 1971 	3–1 	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	6–16–5
28 	L 	December 9, 1971 	1–3 	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	6–17–5
29 	T 	December 11, 1971 	3–3 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	6–17–6
30 	L 	December 12, 1971 	2–4 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	6–18–6
31 	L 	December 15, 1971 	1–2 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	6–19–6
32 	L 	December 16, 1971 	0–5 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	6–20–6
33 	L 	December 18, 1971 	1–8 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	6–21–6
34 	W 	December 19, 1971 	5–1 	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	7–21–6
35 	T 	December 23, 1971 	4–4 	Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	7–21–7
36 	T 	December 25, 1971 	4–4 	@ St. Louis Blues (1971–72) 	7–21–8
37 	W 	December 26, 1971 	6–3 	St. Louis Blues (1971–72) 	8–21–8
38 	L 	December 29, 1971 	3–7 	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	8–22–8
39 	T 	December 31, 1971 	3–3 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	8–22–9
40 	T 	January 2, 1972 	4–4 	California Golden Seals (1971–72) 	8–22–10
41 	L 	January 6, 1972 	2–5 	Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	8–23–10
42 	L 	January 9, 1972 	1–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	8–24–10
43 	L 	January 13, 1972 	2–5 	New York Rangers (1971–72) 	8–25–10
44 	L 	January 15, 1972 	2–6 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	8–26–10
45 	W 	January 16, 1972 	4–2 	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	9–26–10
46 	W 	January 20, 1972 	1–0 	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	10–26–10
47 	L 	January 22, 1972 	2–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	10–27–10
48 	T 	January 23, 1972 	3–3 	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	10–27–11
49 	L 	January 26, 1972 	1–5 	@ New York Rangers (1971–72) 	10–28–11
50 	L 	January 27, 1972 	1–3 	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	10–29–11
51 	T 	January 30, 1972 	2–2 	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	10–29–12
52 	L 	February 3, 1972 	2–4 	New York Rangers (1971–72) 	10–30–12
53 	T 	February 5, 1972 	3–3 	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	10–30–13
54 	W 	February 6, 1972 	8–2 	Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	11–30–13
55 	L 	February 10, 1972 	2–4 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72) 	11–31–13
56 	L 	February 12, 1972 	1–5 	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72) 	11–32–13
57 	T 	February 13, 1972 	4–4 	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	11–32–14
58 	L 	February 17, 1972 	0–2 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	11–33–14
59 	L 	February 19, 1972 	1–4 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72) 	11–34–14
60 	L 	February 20, 1972 	0–4 	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	11–35–14
61 	W 	February 23, 1972 	2–1 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	12–35–14
62 	W 	February 24, 1972 	5–3 	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	13–35–14
63 	T 	February 27, 1972 	4–4 	California Golden Seals (1971–72) 	13–35–15
64 	L 	March 1, 1972 	1–4 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72) 	13–36–15
65 	L 	March 2, 1972 	3–4 	New York Rangers (1971–72) 	13–37–15
66 	L 	March 5, 1972 	2–6 	St. Louis Blues (1971–72) 	13–38–15
67 	L 	March 8, 1972 	3–6 	@ California Golden Seals (1971–72)	13–39–15
68 	L 	March 10, 1972 	2–3 	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	13–40–15
69 	L 	March 11, 1972 	3–5 	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72) 	13–41–15
70 	W 	March 14, 1972 	4–3 	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	14–41–15
71 	T 	March 16, 1972 	3–3 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	14–41–16
72 	L 	March 17, 1972 	2–6 	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72) 	14–42–16
73 	T 	March 19, 1972 	3–3 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72) 	14–42–17
74 	W 	March 22, 1972 	4–3 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	15–42–17
75 	T 	March 23, 1972 	4–4 	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72) 	15–42–18
76 	T 	March 26, 1972 	2–2 	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72) 	15–42–19
77 	L 	March 30, 1972 	1–3 	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	15–43–19
78 	W 	April 2, 1972 	3–2 	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72) 	16–43–19
==Playoffs==
*The Sabres failed to qualify for the post season.
==Player Stats==
===Regular Season===
;Scoring
Player	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	73	44	30	74 	36 	-38	19 	0 	5
 	76	26	48	74 	24 	-40	11 	0 	1
 	77	19	27	46 	12 	-28	4 	0 	2
 	76	4 	30	34 	105	-12	1 	0 	1
 	50	11	14	25 	34 	-11	4 	0 	0
 	67	14	10	24 	26 	-22	3 	0 	0
 	33	10	14	24 	12 	-11	2 	0 	1
 	61	6 	18	24 	98 	-20	2 	0 	0
 	37	3 	21	24 	14 	-10	3 	0 	0
 	78	11	8 	19 	38 	-18	0 	0 	1
 	78	10	6 	16 	15 	-23	0 	1 	0
 	46	9 	7 	16 	12 	-20	3 	0 	1
 	57	6 	10	16 	0 	5 	0 	0 	2
 	52	6 	9 	15 	44 	-19	0 	0 	0
 	31	2 	10	12 	22 	-14	1 	0 	0
 	43	1 	11	12 	58 	-21	0 	0 	0
 	27	0 	10	10 	52 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	12	6 	3 	9 	2 	-5 	3 	0 	0
 	66	2 	6 	8 	101	-33	1 	0 	0
 	34	3 	4 	7 	0 	-2 	0 	0 	0
 	27	2 	5 	7 	45 	-21	0 	0 	1
 	8 	2 	2 	4 	0 	-2 	0 	0 	0
 	37	0 	4 	4 	19 	-10	0 	0 	0
 	24	2 	1 	3 	4 	-14	0 	0 	1
 	39	0 	3 	3 	18 	-12	0 	0 	0
 	14	2 	0 	2 	2 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	12	1 	1 	2 	4 	-10	0 	0 	0
 	2 	1 	0 	1 	0 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	10	0 	1 	1 	6 	-7 	0 	0 	0
 	4 	0 	1 	1 	0 	-1 	0 	0 	0
 	6 	0 	1 	1 	2 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	9 	0 	0 	0 	2 	-13	0 	0 	0
 	20	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	63	0 	0 	0 	10 	0 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T 	GA 	GAA 	SO
 	3654	63	13	34	14	214	3.51	2
 	1026	20	3 	9 	5 	68 	3.98	0
Team: 	4680	78	16	43	19	282	3.62	2
==Awards and Records==
*The Sabres did not win any awards this season.
==Gallery==
14Oct1971-Johnston_Orr_Goyette.jpg|Eddie Johnston, Phil Goyette, Bobby Orr, October 14, 1971.
Walton_goal-12Feb1972.gif|Mike Walton benefited from playing with Phil Esposito and Wayne Cashman, scoring against Buffalo on February 12, 1972.
==See Also==
*1971–72 NHL season
==References==
category:Buffalo Sabres seasons
Category:1971 in hockey
Category:1972 in hockey