Their early round playoff upset by Toronto (where the Kings scored only six goals in three games) prompted them to make one of the biggest trades in club history.
High scoring superstar Marcel Dionne was in a contract dispute with the Detroit Red Wings and was available to a team that would meet his salary demands.
While Dionne delivered a club record 40 goals and 94 points, the team missed Harper's leadership and defense, and Maloney's tough guy presence.
A number of players missed significant time with injuries, and the club actually scored six fewer goals that the year before despite the addition of Dionne.
One the larger ice surface at the Forum, the Kings' offense got going and, led by Marcel Dionne's hat trick, won game three by a score of 6–4.
After a scoreless first period in which Vachon made numerous outstanding saves, the Kings' Tom Williams beat Gerry Cheevers over the glove hand on a wicked 55 foot slap shot to send the crowd into a frenzy.
After Vachon made numerous great saves, the first overtime was winding down to its final minute when Butch Goring took a pass in the top of the slot and beat Cheevers, sending the crowd into a frenzy and the series back to Boston for the seventh game.
Goring's game winner prompted Kings' hall of fame announcer Bob Miller's famous call "We're going back to Boston!