1974–75 Buffalo Sabres season
Buffalo advanced to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in team history to play against the rough Philadelphia Flyers (who had been recently nicknamed the "Broad Street Bullies"), a series which included the legendary Fog Game (game three of the series).
[1] The season was the first under the tenure of Floyd Smith and the team's first in the newly created Adams Division in the NHL's Prince of Wales Conference.
Rick Martin, Rene Robert, Jerry Korab and Luce were all selected to the 1975 NHL All-Star Game.
The French Connection (Martin, Robert and Gilbert Perreault) were all among the league leaders in important scoring statistics.
[7] In addition, the Sabres drafted fictional Japanese forward Taro Tsujimoto with the 183rd overall pick, presenting the protest selection as real until well into training camp that year.
[8][9] Prior to the season, the team had lost right winger Ron Busniuk to the Detroit Red Wings in the June 10, 1974 NHL intra-league draft.
[10] Buffalo lost right winger Steve Atkinson and center Randy Wyrozub to the Washington Capitals in the June 12, 1974 NHL expansion draft.
The veteran Stanfield had finished in the top ten in the league four times in assists before being acquired by the Sabres.
[15] The Sabres acquired the NHL rights to goaltender Gerry Desjardins from the New York Islanders for defenseman Garry Lariviere on February 19, 1975.
[18] The Sabres returned after a season of injury and tragedy in which their captain Tim Horton died in an automobile accident.
[29] Martin had the second four-goal game of his career in a December 3 5–3 victory against the Washington Capitals on the road.
[33] Following Martin's injury, the Sabres eleven-game unbeaten streak came to an end, and the team had two different three-game stretches without a win that started in December.
[37] The final game of the streak was a 5–0 shutout victory over the Los Angeles Kings, who had handed the Sabres three of their eleven defeats prior to that point in the season.
[38] At the beginning of March, Desjardins quit the Baltimore Blades of the World Hockey Association to join the Sabres.
[40] In their last win of the month, the Sabres clinched the division title on March 23 with a 9–4 victory over the California Golden Seals.
[42] Rookie defenseman Hajt was injured with a broken bone in his foot during a 5–1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on March 26.
[23] The Sabres did not clinch the Prince of Wales Conference until winning the final game of the season against the Maple Leafs.
[23] The French Connection members led the Sabres in scoring by finishing 1–2–3 in both goals and points, although none of them played as many as 75 of the team's 80 games.
[52] Other statistical leaders included Luce who had a 61 plus/minus, which ranked fourth and Peter McNab who led the league in shooting percentage.
[19] In game two, Robert was sidelined with the flu and Dudley was inactive due to a sprained knee, but the checking line of Luce, Ramsay and Gare each scored a goal as the Sabres took a 2–0 lead with a 4–2 victory.
[69] In game two, the Sabres were held to 19 shots on goal with none coming after Bobby Clarke scored at the 6:43 mark of the third period.
Robert scored the game winner in overtime with a goal that Flyer goalie Bernie Parent did not see until it was too late.
During a face-off and through the fog, Sabres center Jim Lorentz spotted a bat flying across the rink, raised his stick, and killed it.
[70][72] In game four, the unseasonable temperature only caused the play to be stopped twice (with 8:08 and 4:44 remaining) as five pairs of arena employees skated around the ice with bed sheets to clear the haze.
