4 2 4 2 2 4 Champion Philadelphia Flyers MVP Bernie Parent | 2 4 2 5 4 1 Start date May 15, 1975 | |
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Announcers Tim Ryan, Ted Lindsay, Brian McFarlane, Phil Esposito Similar 1973 Stanley Cup Finals, 1985 Stanley Cup Finals, 1981 Stanley Cup Finals, 1959 Stanley Cup Finals, 1969 Stanley Cup Finals | ||
The 1975 Stanley Cup Final championship series was played by the Buffalo Sabres and the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers would win the best-of-seven series four games to two. This was the first Final to have two non-"Original Six" teams since the 1967 expansion, and also the first contested by any team that had joined the league after 1967 (the Sabres were part of the 1970 expansion). The 1975 Flyers are the last Stanley Cup championship team to be composed solely of Canadian-born players.
Contents
This was the only Final between 1965 and 1979 not to feature either the Boston Bruins or the Montreal Canadiens.
Paths to the Final
Buffalo defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–1 and the Montreal Canadiens 4–2 to advance to the final.
Philadelphia defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 and the New York Islanders 4–3 to make it to the final.
The series
Bernie Parent was the outgunned Flyers' best player, allowing only 12 goals in the six games, capped with a shutout. He became the first player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy for two consecutive years. Since then, only Mario Lemieux (with the Pittsburgh Penguins when they won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992) has managed to duplicate this feat. In the deciding game six played in Buffalo, the Sabres' offensive big guns rained shot after shot on Parent in an all-out effort to turn the series around. but Parent remained perfect. He stopped French Connection linemates Gilbert Perreault and Rick Martin on a 2–1 late in period two that had Flyers legendary broadcaster Gene Hart screaming into his microphone:
Out come the Sabers...two on one...Perreault and Martin with just Dupont back...Perrault to Martin...He's in...Shot!....save by Parent...and he hangs on!...Oh baby!
The dramatic stop by Parent took the offensive energy out of the Sabres and the Flyers scored two third-period goals to take the championship.
Fog and the Bat
The third game of the series was the legendary Fog Game. Due to unusual heat in Buffalo in May 1975, and the lack of an air conditioning system in the auditorium, portions of the game were played in heavy fog. During stoppages of play, rink employees skated around the arena ice carrying bed sheets in an attempt to dispel the fog. Players, officials, and the puck were invisible to many spectators. The fog began to form just minutes after another odd incident: A bat in the arena, which flew above and around the players for the majority of the game, until Sabres center Jim Lorentz killed it with his stick. Many superstitious Buffalo fans considered this to be an 'evil omen,' pertaining to the result of the series. It was the only time that any player killed an animal during an NHL game. The game continued and the Sabres won thanks to Rene Robert's goal in overtime.
Series box score
Philadelphia wins the series 4–2.