The Montreal Canadiens once again dominated the playoffs as, for the second straight year, they swept their opponent four games to none in the final series for the Stanley Cup.
This season was Clarence Campbell's last as NHL President before he was succeeded by John Ziegler.
The previous season saw the Montreal Canadiens set new records in wins and points.
Scoring 216 more goals than they allowed, the Canadiens were a full 20 points ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Flyers.
On February 2, 1977, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Ian Turnbull became the first player in NHL history to score five goals on five shots.
[1] [2] [2] [2] [2] The New York Islanders won six consecutive games before the semifinal and were the only team from the preliminary round to make it to the semifinals, where they lost to the first-ranked, defending, and eventual Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens.
Second-ranked Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the quarterfinals, before being swept by the third-ranked Boston Bruins in the semifinals.
For the quarterfinal, semifinal, and the Stanley Cup Finals, each series was a best-of-seven, with home-ice advantage in games 1, 2, 5, and 7 (if necessary) going to the team with the better regular season record.
The four quarterfinal winners advanced to the semifinals, with the match-ups again being reseeded by regular season records.
The twelve teams that qualified for the playoffs are ranked 1–12 based on regular season points.
This was a rematch of last year's preliminary round, in which Los Angeles won in a two-game sweep.
Montreal won both previous meetings in four-game sweeps in both the 1968 & 1969 Stanley Cup Finals.
The defending champion Montreal Canadiens took on the "Original Six" rival, the third-ranked Boston Bruins in the Finals.
GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes Source: NHL.