for those of us who were kids in the 70’s, you got to admit,the 71 Bruins were the greatest team ever (despite the loss to the canadians) and in 77 or 78 we were ripped off of a stanly cup win all because of an unessessary call of too many men on the ice,,,who wasnt pissed!
I still remember the fourth Simpson Halloween special where Homer was on Trial for his soul. The jury box had all sorts of criminals and evil doers but the best was the starting line-up of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers.
1. They finished the 80-game schedule with only 8 losses, along with 12 ties. They broke NHL records for both wins and points ... records which they had set themselves just a year earlier.
2. They outscored their opponents by a 387-171 margin. To put that into perspective ... their total goal differential (216 goals) exceeded the total goals for 13 of the 30 teams in the NHL this past season.
3. 14 players on their roster scored 10 or more goals.
4. Defenseman Larry Robinson finished the season with a plus/minus rating of +120.
5. In addition to the Stanley Cup, other trophy winners for Montreal that year included Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque (Vezina Trophy), Guy Lafleur (Art Ross, Hart and Conn Smythe Trophies), Larry Robinson (Norris Trophy), and coach Scotty Bowman (Jack Adams Award). Steve Shutt led the NHL with 60 goals, though that was before the league awarded the Maurice Richard Trophy for that feat.
6. The two Montreal goalies finished #1 and #2 in the NHL for lowest goals-against average that year. I don't think that's ever happened before or since.
7. Four of the six first-team NHL All-Stars that year were Canadiens (Dryden, Lafleur, Shutt and Robinson).
8. The team lost only two games in the playoffs that year, sweeping both their first-round series against St. Louis and the finals against Boston.
I'd say that was about a dominant a team as you'll ever see in the NHL.