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1972–73 Buffalo Sabres season
NHL hockey team season
NHL hockey team season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| League | NHL |
| Season | 1972–73 |
| year | 1972 |
| Team | Buffalo Sabres |
| Division | East |
| DivisionRank | 4th |
| Record | 37–27–14 |
| HomeRecord | 30–6–3 |
| RoadRecord | 7–21–11 |
| GoalsFor | 257 |
| GoalsAgainst | 219 |
| GeneralManager | Punch Imlach |
| Coach | Joe Crozier |
| Captain | Gerry Meehan |
| AltCaptain | Tim Horton |
| Gilbert Perreault | |
| Tracy Pratt | |
| Arena | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium |
| Attendance | 15,632 |
| GoalsLeader | Rene Robert (40) |
| AssistsLeader | Gilbert Perreault (60) |
| PointsLeader | Gilbert Perreault (88) |
| PIMLeader | Jim Schoenfeld (178) |
| WinsLeader | Roger Crozier (23) |
| GAALeader | Dave Dryden (2.65) |
Gilbert Perreault Tracy Pratt The 1972–73 Buffalo Sabres season was the Sabres' third season of operation in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team made it to the playoffs for the first time, but lost in the first round to Montreal, four games to two.
Offseason
The Sabres added future Hall of Fame defenseman Tim Horton in the intra-league draft. In the Amateur Draft, the Sabres picked defenseman Jim Schoenfeld as their first-round pick, fifth over-all.
Regular season
Final standings
Record vs. opponents
Schedule and results
|- |1||W||October 8, 1972||5–3 || align="left"| Atlanta Flames (1972–73) ||1–0–0 |- |2||W||October 11, 1972||7–3 || align="left"| Los Angeles Kings (1972–73) ||2–0–0 |- |3||T||October 14, 1972||1–1 || align="left"| @ Atlanta Flames (1972–73) ||2–0–1 |- |4||W||October 15, 1972||3–2 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73) ||3–0–1 |- |5||W||October 19, 1972||6–0 || align="left"| Vancouver Canucks (1972–73) ||4–0–1 |- |6||T||October 21, 1972||1–1 || align="left"| @ St. Louis Blues (1972–73) ||4–0–2 |- |7||W||October 22, 1972||7–2 || align="left"| Atlanta Flames (1972–73) ||5–0–2 |- |8||T||October 25, 1972||2–2 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1972–73) ||5–0–3 |- |9||T||October 28, 1972||3–3 || align="left"| @ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73) ||5–0–4 |- |10||W||October 29, 1972||2–1 || align="left"| Minnesota North Stars (1972–73) ||6–0–4
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| Legend:
Playoffs
The 1972–73 season saw the Sabres qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time. The team would ultimately lose to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens in 6 games. After falling behind three games to none the Sabres won two straight to earn a final home game that was memorable for the "Thank you Sabres" chant from the end of the game.
|- |1|| April 4 || Buffalo Sabres || 1–2 || Montreal Canadiens || || 0–1 |- |2|| April 5 || Buffalo Sabres || 3–7 || Montreal Canadiens || || 0–2 |- |3|| April 7 || Montreal Canadiens || 5–2 || Buffalo Sabres || || 0–3 |- |4|| April 8 || Montreal Canadiens || 1–5 || Buffalo Sabres || || 1–3 |- |5 || April 10 || Buffalo Sabres || 3–2 || Montreal Canadiens || 9:18 || 2–3 |- |6 || April 12 || Montreal Canadiens || 4–2 || Buffalo Sabres || || 2–4
| - |
|---|
| Legend:
Player statistics
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 78 | 28 | 60 | 88 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 7 | |
| RW | 75 | 40 | 43 | 83 | 83 | 16 | 9 | 0 | 6 | |
| LW | 75 | 37 | 36 | 73 | 79 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 4 | |
| C/RW | 78 | 27 | 35 | 62 | 30 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 5 | |
| C | 77 | 31 | 29 | 60 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | |
| C | 78 | 18 | 25 | 43 | 32 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |
| C | 60 | 12 | 26 | 38 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 78 | 5 | 24 | 29 | 56 | −3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 76 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| RW | 77 | 15 | 9 | 24 | 47 | −6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| D | 65 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 40 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 66 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 178 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 61 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 36 | −5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| D | 69 | 1 | 16 | 17 | 56 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 74 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 116 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 21 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| D | 40 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 52 | −1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 42 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 45 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| C | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 34 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 26 | −3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | −2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| - |
|---|
|
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2633 | 49 | 23 | 13 | 7 | 121 | 2.76 | 3 | |
| 2018 | 37 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 89 | 2.65 | 3 | |
| 29 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6.21 | 0 | |
| **Team:** | 4680 | 78 | 37 | 27 | 14 | 213 | 2.73 | 6 |
|- |}
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 6 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| RW | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| LW | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C/RW | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| - |
|---|
|
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | GA | GAA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 249 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 2.65 | 0 | |
| 120 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 4.50 | 0 | |
| **Team:** | 369 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 3.25 | 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
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Gilbert Perreault
Transactions
Trades
| February 14, 1973 | To Atlanta FlamesButch Deadmarsh | To Buffalo SabresNorm Gratton |
|---|
Lost via retirement
| Player |
|---|
| Dick Duff |
Claimed via Waivers
| Player | Former team | Date claimed off waivers |
|---|
Lost via Waivers
| Player | New team | Date claimed off waivers |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin O'Shea | St. Louis Blues | March 3, 1972 |
Lost in the expansion draft
| June 6, 1972 | To Atlanta FlamesRod Zaine |
|---|
1972 NHL Intraleague Draft
| June 5, 1972 | From Pittsburgh PenguinsTim Horton |
|---|
Draft picks
NHL draft
| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Jim Schoenfeld | Canada | Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA) |
| 2 | 25 | Larry Carriere | Canada | Loyola University (CIAU) |
| 3 | 37 | Jim McMasters | Canada | Calgary Centennials (WCHL) |
| 4 | 53 | Rychard Campeau | Canada | Sorel Black Hawks (QMJHL) |
| 5 | 69 | Gilles Gratton | Canada | Oshawa Generals (OHA) |
| 6 | 85 | Peter McNab | Canada | U. of Denver (WCHA) |
Farm teams
The 1972–73 AHL season was a successful one for the Sabres' AHL affiliate, the Cincinnati Swords. The Swords would finish first overall in the regular season with a 54–17–5 record. They would go on to win the Calder Cup in the playoffs losing only 3 games in the 3 round best-of-7 event. It would be the only championship won by the team in its short existence.
References
References
- "1972-73 Buffalo Sabres Schedule".
- "1972–73". The 40th Anniversary Site of the Buffalo Sabres.
- "1972-73 Buffalo Sabres Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com.
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