#17: Toronto defeats well balanced LA Kings-1975 Preliminary Round
In 1974-75, the Los Angeles Kings had the best season in franchise history up to that point. In an 80 game season, the Kings finished with a record of 42-17-21 which was good enough for 105 points. Led by head coach Bob Pulford, LA gave up the 2nd fewest amount of goals.
A solid defense was matched by a good offense as they ranked 9th in goals for with 269. If you look at LA’s lineup they were deep. They’re were not any big time names, but as a unit, they coalesced very well. There were six different players that had over 50 total points for the season. This included 36 year old right winger, Bob Nevin, who had the best year of his career, talling 31 goals and 41 assists for 72 points.
Toronto on the other hand, were going through the a bit of a youth movement as this time. Many of the great Leafs players from the 60’s were long gone. The team’s core now featured a lot of young players. However, it’s not to say they didn’t have any talent. Darryl Sittler was the teams’ leading scorer and he was coming into his own. 1974-75 was he second straight 80 point season.
This Leafs squad also featured a 21 year old Lanny McDonald. He was able to contribute a bit offensively as he potted in 17 goals to go along with 27 assists for 44 points. However they weren’t as deep as LA on paper. While the Kings had six players over 50 points, the Leafs had only three. They were Sittler, Ron Ellis, and a 34 year old Dave Keon who was the last remnant of the old regime.
When it came to the masked men in the pipes, the advantage went to Los Angeles as well. Rogie Vachon started 54 games and posted .927 save percentage. Toronto’s goalie situation was a mess. Four different guys, saw action between the pipes and none really worked out well. Each gave up at least 3 goals a game. Doug Favell, who played the most amount of games with 39, had a 4.06 GAA and a .878 save percentage.
In this best of 3 preliminary round the Kings won game 1 in overtime by a score of 3-2. Bob Berry, Gene Carr, and Larry Brown each netted two points in the victory. Carr and Brown assisted on Mike Murphy’s overtime winner. All the Kings had to do was win game 2 in the Maple Leaf Gardens and they would move on to the Quarter-FInals.
Although Mike Murphy scored two more goals on the power play, the Kings could not get the most important goal. Game 2 went into overtime and this time it was Toronto prevailing when Blaine Stoughton got the game winner.
This set up a do or die game 3 in the Great Western Forum. Toronto dug LA into a 2 goal deficit by the third period. Rather than Rogie Vachon prevailing, it was Gord McRae of the Leafs that did. Don Kozak would get on the board for LA in the third, but it wasn’t enough.
Toronto won game 3 and eliminated the Kings. They would move onto the Quarter-FInals but they would get swept by the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Philadelphia Flyers. As for Los Angeles, struggles would pursue in the Preliminary Round, as they wouldn’t get past it for four of the next six seasons. The two times they did get past it was at the expense of the Atlanta Flames.