1972–73 Los Angeles Kings season

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.

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
Goals	Mike Corrigan (37)
Assists	Juha Widing (54)
Points	Joha Widing (70)
Penalty minutes	Mike Corrigan (146)
Wins	Rogie Vachon (22)
Goals against average	Rogie Vachon (2.85)

Offseason

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	−48	65
8	California Golden Seals	78	16	46	16	213	323	−110	48

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 7, 1972	2–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73)	0–1–0
2	W	October 8, 1972	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1972–73)	1–1–0
3	L	October 11, 1972	3–7	@ Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	1–2–0
4	L	October 12, 1972	2–3	@ New York Islanders (1972–73)	1–3–0
5	L	October 14, 1972	4–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	1–4–0
6	L	October 15, 1972	2–8	@ Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	1–5–0
7	L	October 18, 1972	3–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	1–6–0
8	W	October 21, 1972	3–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	2–6–0
9	W	October 24, 1972	5–0	California Golden Seals (1972–73)	3–6–0
10	W	October 26, 1972	3–1	Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	4–6–0
11	W	October 28, 1972	5–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73)	5–6–0
12	W	October 31, 1972	4–1	Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	6–6–0
13	W	November 2, 1972	5–2	Boston Bruins (1972–73)	7–6–0
14	W	November 4, 1972	9–2	New York Islanders (1972–73)	8–6–0
15	W	November 7, 1972	3–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	9–6–0
16	T	November 8, 1972	3–3	@ Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	9–6–1
17	L	November 11, 1972	2–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	9–7–1
18	L	November 12, 1972	1–5	@ New York Rangers (1972–73)	9–8–1
19	L	November 14, 1972	1–4	@ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	9–9–1
20	T	November 15, 1972	3–3	Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	9–9–2
21	L	November 17, 1972	4–8	@ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	9–10–2
22	W	November 18, 1972	8–3	Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	10–10–2
23	T	November 22, 1972	3–3	Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	10–10–3
24	L	November 25, 1972	0–3	Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	10–11–3
25	T	November 29, 1972	2–2	New York Rangers (1972–73)	10–11–4
26	W	December 2, 1972	3–2	St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	11–11–4
27	W	December 5, 1972	6–1	@ New York Islanders (1972–73)	12–11–4
28	L	December 6, 1972	0–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	12–12–4
29	W	December 9, 1972	3–1	Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73)	13–12–4
30	W	December 13, 1972	3–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	14–12–4
31	L	December 16, 1972	1–3	Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	14–13–4
32	L	December 17, 1972	0–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	14–14–4
33	L	December 20, 1972	1–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	14–15–4
34	L	December 21, 1972	3–6	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	14–16–4
35	W	December 23, 1972	2–0	Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	15–16–4
36	W	December 24, 1972	5–3	@ California Golden Seals (1972–73)	16–16–4
37	W	December 27, 1972	4–1	New York Islanders (1972–73)	17–16–4
38	W	December 30, 1972	5–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	18–16–4
39	L	January 3, 1973	0–3	@ New York Rangers (1972–73)	18–17–4
40	L	January 6, 1973	2–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	18–18–4
41	W	January 9, 1973	3–2	@ New York Islanders (1972–73)	19–18–4
42	W	January 11, 1973	3–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	20–18–4
43	L	January 13, 1973	1–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73)	20–19–4
44	L	January 14, 1973	1–4	@ Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	20–20–4
45	T	January 17, 1973	4–4	New York Rangers (1972–73)	20–20–5
46	W	January 19, 1973	4–0	@ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	21–20–5
47	L	January 20, 1973	2–6	Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	21–21–5
48	T	January 23, 1973	5–5	@ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	21–21–6
49	L	January 24, 1973	5–7	St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	21–22–6
50	T	January 26, 1973	3–3	@ Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	21–22–7
51	L	January 28, 1973	5–6	@ Boston Bruins (1972–73)	21–23–7
52	L	January 31, 1973	1–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73)	21–24–7
53	L	February 1, 1973	3–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	21–25–7
54	L	February 3, 1973	1–7	Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	21–26–7
55	W	February 7, 1973	2–1	Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	22–26–7
56	W	February 10, 1973	4–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	23–26–7
57	L	February 11, 1973	0–2	@ Boston Bruins (1972–73)	23–27–7
58	L	February 13, 1973	2–4	@ St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	23–28–7
59	T	February 14, 1973	2–2	Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	23–28–8
60	T	February 17, 1973	3–3	Atlanta Flames (1972–73)	23–28–9
61	W	February 18, 1973	4–2	@ California Golden Seals (1972–73)	24–28–9
62	L	February 21, 1973	3–4	New York Rangers (1972–73)	24–29–9
63	L	February 24, 1973	5–7	Boston Bruins (1972–73)	24–30–9
64	L	February 28, 1973	2–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1972–73)	24–31–9
65	W	March 1, 1973	2–0	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1972–73)	25–31–9
66	W	March 3, 1973	2–0	St. Louis Blues (1972–73)	26–31–9
67	T	March 6, 1973	2–2	Buffalo Sabres (1972–73)	26–31–10
68	W	March 8, 1973	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1972–73)	27–31–10
69	W	March 10, 1973	4–2	California Golden Seals (1972–73)	28–31–10
70	T	March 13, 1973	2–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	28–31–11
71	L	March 14, 1973	2–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–73)	28–32–11
72	L	March 16, 1973	2–4	@ Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	28–33–11
73	L	March 17, 1973	3–4	Minnesota North Stars (1972–73)	28–34–11
74	W	March 21, 1973	5–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1972–73)	29–34–11
75	W	March 24, 1973	5–3	Detroit Red Wings (1972–73)	30–34–11
76	L	March 28, 1973	2–3	California Golden Seals (1972–73)	30–35–11
77	L	March 30, 1973	1–3	@ California Golden Seals (1972–73)	30–36–11
78	W	March 31, 1973	6–3	Vancouver Canucks (1972–73)	31–36–11

Playoffs

Did not qualify

Player statistics

Awards and records

None

Transactions

Roster

• 1 Gary Edwards G
• 2 Terry Harper D
• 3 Larry Brown D
• 4 Gilles Marotte D
• 5 Harry Howell D
• 7 Real Lemieux LW
• 9 Ralph Backstrom C
• 10 Vic Venasky C
• 11 Mike Corrigan RW
• 12 Jimmy Peters C
• 14 Frank St. Marseille RW
• 15 Juha Widing C
• 16 Bill Lesuk LW
• 17 Dan Maloney LW
• 18 Bob Berry LW
• 19 Butch Goring C
• 21 Serge Bernier RW
• 22 Barry Long D
• 23 Neil Komadoski D
• 24 Don Kozak RW
• 30 Rogatien Vachon G

Draft picks

Los Angeles's draft picks at the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
2	20	Don Kozak	Canada	Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL)
3	36	Dave Hutchison	Canada	London Knights (OMJHL)
4	52	John Dobie	Canada	Regina Pats (WCHL)
5	68	Bernie Germain	Canada	Regina Pats (WCHL)
6	84	Mike Usitalo	United States	Michigan Tech University (WCHA)
7	100	Glen Toner	Canada	Regina Pats (WCHL)

Farm teams

See also

• 1972–73 NHL season

References

1. "1972–1973 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.

External links

• "1972–73 Los Angeles Kings Games". Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-05-07.