1972–73 Los Angeles Kings season

1972–73 Los Angeles Kings
Division 6th West
1972–73 record 31–36–11
Goals for 232
Goals against 245
Team information
General Manager Larry Regan
Coach Bob Pulford
Captain None
Alternate captains Ralph Backstrom
Harry Howell
Juha Widing
Team leaders
<1971–72 1973–74>

The 1972–73 Los Angeles Kings season was the Kings'sixth season of play. The team did not qualify for the playoffs and finished in sixth place out of eight teams in the West Division, only three points behind fourth place, the final playoff position. Kings' captain Bob Pulford retired from play before the season and took over as the Kings' head coach.

Regular season

Bob Pulford became full-time head coach and instituted a disciplined defense oriented system. Consequently, the Kings allowed 60 fewer goals than in 1971-72. Their penalty killing, once the worst in the NHL, was led by Jimmy Peters and Real Lemieux and was the best in the league. Offensively, the Kings were led by "The Hot Line," which consisted of Juha Widing, Bob Berry, and Mike Corrigan; they combined for 89 goals and 112 assists.

After starting 1-6, the Kings went on a club record 8-game winning streak. But from early January through February, they endured a 4-13-5 stretch that saw them fall from 4th to 7th place. They got hot again in March, going 6-4-2 to get within 2 points of the 4th place St. Louis Blues, who held the final playoff spot with 3 games to play. But L.A. suffered two straight disastrous losses to the last place California Golden Seals, and fell to 6th, missing the playoffs by 3 points.

Final standings

West Division[1]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 Chicago Black Hawks 78 42 27 9 284 225 +59 93
2 Philadelphia Flyers 78 37 30 11 296 256 +40 85
3 Minnesota North Stars 78 37 30 11 254 230 +24 85
4 St. Louis Blues 78 32 34 12 233 251 −18 76
5 Pittsburgh Penguins 78 32 37 9 257 265 −8 73
6 Los Angeles Kings 78 31 36 11 232 245 −13 73
7 Atlanta Flames 78 25 38 15 191 239 −106 65
8 California Golden Seals 78 16 46 16 213 323 −177 48

Schedule and results

No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1LOctober 7, 19722–4 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73) 0–1–0
2WOctober 8, 19724–2 @ Boston Bruins (1972–73) 1–1–0
3LOctober 11, 19723–7 @ Buffalo Sabres (1972–73) 1–2–0
4LOctober 12, 19722–3 @ New York Islanders (1972–73) 1–3–0
5LOctober 14, 19724–6 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73) 1–4–0
6LOctober 15, 19722–8 @ Detroit Red Wings (1972–73) 1–5–0
7LOctober 18, 19723–4 Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73) 1–6–0
8WOctober 21, 19723–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73) 2–6–0
9WOctober 24, 19725–0 California Golden Seals (1972–73) 3–6–0
10WOctober 26, 19723–1 Atlanta Flames (1972–73) 4–6–0
11WOctober 28, 19725–2 Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73) 5–6–0
12WOctober 31, 19724–1 Vancouver Canucks (1972–73) 6–6–0
13WNovember 2, 19725–2 Boston Bruins (1972–73) 7–6–0
14WNovember 4, 19729–2 New York Islanders (1972–73) 8–6–0
15WNovember 7, 19723–2 @ St. Louis Blues (1972–73) 9–6–0
16TNovember 8, 19723–3 @ Atlanta Flames (1972–73) 9–6–1
17LNovember 11, 19722–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73) 9–7–1
18LNovember 12, 19721–5 @ New York Rangers (1972–73) 9–8–1
19LNovember 14, 19721–4 @ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73) 9–9–1
20TNovember 15, 19723–3 Buffalo Sabres (1972–73) 9–9–2
21LNovember 17, 19724–8 @ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73) 9–10–2
22WNovember 18, 19728–3 Detroit Red Wings (1972–73) 10–10–2
23TNovember 22, 19723–3 Montreal Canadiens (1972–73) 10–10–3
24LNovember 25, 19720–3 Minnesota North Stars (1972–73) 10–11–3
25TNovember 29, 19722–2 New York Rangers (1972–73) 10–11–4
26WDecember 2, 19723–2 St. Louis Blues (1972–73) 11–11–4
27WDecember 5, 19726–1 @ New York Islanders (1972–73) 12–11–4
28LDecember 6, 19720–6 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73) 12–12–4
29WDecember 9, 19723–1 Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73) 13–12–4
30WDecember 13, 19723–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73) 14–12–4
31LDecember 16, 19721–3 Montreal Canadiens (1972–73) 14–13–4
32LDecember 17, 19720–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73) 14–14–4
33LDecember 20, 19721–4 @ Detroit Red Wings (1972–73) 14–15–4
34LDecember 21, 19723–6 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73) 14–16–4
35WDecember 23, 19722–0 Buffalo Sabres (1972–73) 15–16–4
36WDecember 24, 19725–3 @ California Golden Seals (1972–73) 16–16–4
37WDecember 27, 19724–1 New York Islanders (1972–73) 17–16–4
38WDecember 30, 19725–3 Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73) 18–16–4
39LJanuary 3, 19730–3 @ New York Rangers (1972–73) 18–17–4
40LJanuary 6, 19732–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73) 18–18–4
41WJanuary 9, 19733–2 @ New York Islanders (1972–73) 19–18–4
42WJanuary 11, 19733–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73) 20–18–4
43LJanuary 13, 19731–3 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73) 20–19–4
44LJanuary 14, 19731–4 @ Atlanta Flames (1972–73) 20–20–4
45TJanuary 17, 19734–4 New York Rangers (1972–73) 20–20–5
46WJanuary 19, 19734–0 @ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73) 21–20–5
47LJanuary 20, 19732–6 Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73) 21–21–5
48TJanuary 23, 19735–5 @ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73) 21–21–6
49LJanuary 24, 19735–7 St. Louis Blues (1972–73) 21–22–6
50TJanuary 26, 19733–3 @ Atlanta Flames (1972–73) 21–22–7
51LJanuary 28, 19735–6 @ Boston Bruins (1972–73) 21–23–7
52LJanuary 31, 19731–4 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73) 21–24–7
53LFebruary 1, 19733–5 @ Buffalo Sabres (1972–73) 21–25–7
54LFebruary 3, 19731–7 Montreal Canadiens (1972–73) 21–26–7
55WFebruary 7, 19732–1 Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73) 22–26–7
56WFebruary 10, 19734–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73) 23–26–7
57LFebruary 11, 19730–2 @ Boston Bruins (1972–73) 23–27–7
58LFebruary 13, 19732–4 @ St. Louis Blues (1972–73) 23–28–7
59TFebruary 14, 19732–2 Detroit Red Wings (1972–73) 23–28–8
60TFebruary 17, 19733–3 Atlanta Flames (1972–73) 23–28–9
61WFebruary 18, 19734–2 @ California Golden Seals (1972–73) 24–28–9
62LFebruary 21, 19733–4 New York Rangers (1972–73) 24–29–9
63LFebruary 24, 19735–7 Boston Bruins (1972–73) 24–30–9
64LFebruary 28, 19732–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73) 24–31–9
65WMarch 1, 19732–0 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73) 25–31–9
66WMarch 3, 19732–0 St. Louis Blues (1972–73) 26–31–9
67TMarch 6, 19732–2 Buffalo Sabres (1972–73) 26–31–10
68WMarch 8, 19734–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73) 27–31–10
69WMarch 10, 19734–2 California Golden Seals (1972–73) 28–31–10
70TMarch 13, 19732–2 @ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73) 28–31–11
71LMarch 14, 19732–3 Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73) 28–32–11
72LMarch 16, 19732–4 @ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73) 28–33–11
73LMarch 17, 19733–4 Minnesota North Stars (1972–73) 28–34–11
74WMarch 21, 19735–1 Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73) 29–34–11
75WMarch 24, 19735–3 Detroit Red Wings (1972–73) 30–34–11
76LMarch 28, 19732–3 California Golden Seals (1972–73) 30–35–11
77LMarch 30, 19731–3 @ California Golden Seals (1972–73) 30–36–11
78WMarch 31, 19736–3 Vancouver Canucks (1972–73) 31–36–11

Playoffs

Did not qualify

Awards and records

None

Roster

See also

References

External links

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