1977–78 NHL season


The 1977–78 NHL season was the 61st season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens won their third Stanley Cup in a row, defeating the Boston Bruins four games to two in the Stanley Cup Finals.

League business

Prior to the start of the season, Clarence Campbell retired as NHL President. John Ziegler succeeded him in that capacity.
A trophy for the top defensive forward, the Frank J. Selke Trophy, made its debut this season and went to Bob Gainey, who played left wing for Montreal.
The league changed the playoff qualification format for this season. Whereas before the top three teams in every division qualified, the format was changed to guarantee the top two teams in each division a playoff spot. The last four qualifiers were from the next-best four regular-season records from teams finishing third or lower.
The 1977 NHL amateur draft was held on June 14, at the Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Dale McCourt was selected first overall by the Detroit Red Wings.
Teams were required to place the last names of players on the back of all jerseys starting with this season, but Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard initially refused, fearing that he would not be able to sell programs at his team's games. The NHL responded by threatening to levy a fine on the team in February 1978, so Ballard complied by making the letters the same color as the background they were on, which for the team's road jerseys was blue. The League threatened further sanctions, and despite playing more than one game with their "unreadable" sweaters, Ballard's Maple Leafs finally complied in earnest by making the letters white on the blue road jerseys.
Officials began wearing their surnames on the back of their sweaters instead of being identified by numbers, as they were previously. The NHL returned to using uniform numbers for officials for the 1994–95 season.

Arena changes

The St. Louis Blues's home arena, St. Louis Arena, was renamed the Checkerdome after Ralston Purina purchased both the team and the arena, referencing the pet food company's checkerboard logo.

Regular season

Bobby Orr sat out the season to rest his oft-injured knee in the hope that rest would allow him to return to play in 1978–79; he would return for that season, only playing in six games before retiring. However, defenseman Doug Wilson proved to be an excellent replacement for the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Detroit Red Wings made changes, adding rookie Dale McCourt and
Andre St. Laurent, who led the Wings to their first playoff appearance since 1970.
On December 11, 1977, the Philadelphia Flyers' Tom Bladon became the first defenceman in NHL history to score eight points in one game. He scored four goals and four assists versus the Cleveland Barons. It was 25% of his point total for the entire season.
The Colorado Rockies qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They would not make the playoffs again until after the team had moved to New Jersey, in 1988. The next time the playoffs came to Colorado would be the Colorado Avalanche's championship season of 1996.

Final standings

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in 'bold'''''

Playoffs

For the first time in NHL history, all of the Original Six teams qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The playoffs were held in four rounds, preliminary, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. In the preliminary round, the Detroit Red Wings was the only lower-placed team to win over the higher-placed team. The Red Wings were then defeated in five games by the first-place Montreal Canadiens. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Los Angeles Kings to advance to the quarterfinals, where the Leafs upset the third-place New York Islanders in seven games, setting up an Original Six playoff against Montreal. The upsets ended there as the Canadiens swept the Leafs to advance to the finals. In the other groupings, the higher-placed team won each round, and the second-place Boston Bruins advanced to the finals against the first-place Canadiens. In the finals, the Canadiens defeated the Bruins in six games to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup.
The Colorado Rockies made their one and only playoff appearance in the preliminary round against the Philadelphia Flyers, and were swept in two games. It would take another ten years before they got to the playoffs again in New Jersey. The Chicago Black Hawks were swept in the other Original Six matchup of the playoffs, losing to Boston in the quarterfinals.

Playoff seeds

Under the new postseason format, the top two teams in each division made the playoffs, along with the four next-best regular-season records from teams in the entire league finishing third or lower. All 12 clubs then were seeded 1–12 based on regular season points, regardless of conference or division.
Note: Only teams that qualified for the playoffs are listed here.
  1. Montreal Canadiens, Norris Division champions, Prince of Wales Conference regular season champions, NHL regular season champions – 129 points
  2. [1977–78 1977–78 Boston Bruins season|Boston Bruins season|Boston Bruins], Adams Division champions – 113 points
  3. [1977–78 1977–78 New York Islanders season|New York Islanders season|New York Islanders], Patrick Division champions, Clarence Campbell Conference regular season champions – 111 points
  4. Philadelphia Flyers – 105 points
  5. [1977–78 1977–78 Buffalo Sabres season|Buffalo Sabres season|Buffalo Sabres] – 105 points
  6. [1977–78 1977–78 Toronto Maple Leafs season|Toronto Maple Leafs season|Toronto Maple Leafs] – 92 points
  7. [1977–78 1977–78 Atlanta Flames season|Atlanta Flames season|Atlanta Flames] – 87 points
  8. [1977–78 Chicago Blackhawks|Chicago Black Hawks season|Chicago Black Hawks], Smythe Division champions – 83 points
  9. [1977–78 1977–78 Detroit Red Wings season|Detroit Red Wings season|Detroit Red Wings] – 78 points
  10. Los Angeles Kings – 77 points
  11. [1977–78 1977–78 New York Rangers season|New York Rangers season|New York Rangers] – 73 points
  12. [1977–78 1977–78 Colorado Rockies season|Colorado Rockies season|Colorado Rockies] – 59 points

Playoff bracket

The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system: in each round, the highest remaining seed was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth.
Regardless of playoff seed, all four division winners received a bye to the Quarterfinals. Each series in the Preliminary Round was played in a best-of-three format while each series in the other three rounds were played in a best-of-seven format.

Preliminary round

(1) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (8) Colorado Rockies

This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams. It was the Rockies' only playoff appearance in their first eight seasons before moving to New Jersey in 1982.

(2) Buffalo Sabres vs. (7) New York Rangers

This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.

(3) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (6) Los Angeles Kings

This was the second playoff series meeting between these two teams. The only previous meeting was in the 1975 preliminary round, in which Toronto won the series 2–1.

(4) Atlanta Flames vs. (5) Detroit Red Wings

This was the first playoff series between these two teams; they would not meet again in Stanley Cup play until 2004, after the Flames had relocated to Calgary.
For Detroit, it was their only playoff series win in the twenty years between 1967 and 1986.

Quarterfinals

(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (8) Detroit Red Wings

This was the 12th playoff series meeting between these two teams. Detroit led 7–4 in previous playoff meetings. Montreal won their most recent meeting in six games in the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals. When Detroit won game two 4–2, the Red Wings victory marked the only time in the 1978 Stanley Cup playoffs that the Canadiens lost a game on home ice.
Game 4 was the final playoff game at the Detroit Olympia.

(2) Boston Bruins vs. (7) Chicago Black Hawks

This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams. Boston won four of the previous five meetings. Chicago won their last series meeting 2–1 in the 1975 preliminary round.

(3) New York Islanders vs. (6) Toronto Maple Leafs

This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.
Lanny McDonald scored the game-winning goal at 4:13 of overtime in game seven to win the series for the Maple Leafs.

(4) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (5) Buffalo Sabres

This was the second playoff series meeting between these two teams. Philadelphia won the only previous meeting in six games in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals.

Semifinals

(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (4) Toronto Maple Leafs

This was the 14th playoff series meeting between these two teams. Toronto lead 7–6 in previous meetings. Toronto won the most recent meeting in six games in the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals.

(2) Boston Bruins vs. (3) Philadelphia Flyers

This was the fourth playoff series meeting between these two teams. Philadelphia won two of the previous three meetings. This was the third straight semifinal meeting following Philadelphia's win in five games in 1976 and Boston's four-game sweep last season.
Game five was Fred Shero's last game as head coach of the Flyers, and Bernie Parent's final playoff game.

Stanley Cup Finals

This was the 17th playoff series meeting between these two teams. Montreal led 14–2 in previous meetings. This was a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Finals, in which Montreal won in a four-game sweep.

Awards

The league introduced the Frank J. Selke trophy this season. It rewards the forward judged to be the best at defensive abilities.

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes
PlayerTeamGPGAPtsPIM
Guy LafleurMontreal Canadiens78607213226
Bryan TrottierNew York Islanders77467712346
Darryl SittlerToronto Maple Leafs804572117100
Jacques LemaireMontreal Canadiens7636619714
Denis PotvinNew York Islanders8030649481
Mike BossyNew York Islanders735338916
Terry O'ReillyBoston Bruins77296190211
Gilbert PerreaultBuffalo Sabres7941488920
Bobby ClarkePhiladelphia Flyers7121688983
Lanny McDonaldToronto Maple Leafs7447408754
Wilf PaiementColorado Rockies80315687114

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts
PlayerTeamGPMINGAGAAWLTSO
Ken DrydenMontreal Canadiens5230711052.0537775
Bernie ParentPhiladelphia Flyers4929231082.22296137
Gilles GilbertBoston Bruins251326562.5315622
Chico ReschN.Y. Islanders4526371122.5528973
Tony EspositoChicago Black Hawks6438401682.632822145
Don EdwardsBuffalo Sabres7242091852.643816175
Billy SmithN.Y. Islanders382154952.6520882
Michel LarocqueMontreal Canadiens301729772.6722341
Mike PalmateerToronto Maple Leafs6337601722.74341995
Dan BouchardAtlanta Flames5833401532.752512192

Other statistics

;Plus-minus:

Coaches

Patrick Division

Adams Division

Norris Division

Smythe Division

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1977–78 :
''Nedomansky began his major professional career in the World Hockey Association.''

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1977–78 :
''NOTE: Goldsworthy and Neilson would finish their major professional careers in the World Hockey Association.''

Broadcasting

Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television televised Saturday night regular season games and Stanley Cup playoff games.
In the U.S., this was the third season that NHL games aired in national broadcast syndication under the NHL Network package. Starting in the 1978 playoffs, the NHL Network began simulcasting most games with HNIC/CBC.