1970 Stanley Cup Finals | |||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Bobby Orr of the Bruins airborne after scoring the Cup-winning goal in overtime of game four; behind him isNoel Picard of the Blues | |||||||||||||||||||
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* indicates periods of overtime | |||||||||||||||||||
Location(s) | St. Louis:St. Louis Arena (1, 2) Boston:Boston Garden (3, 4) | ||||||||||||||||||
Coaches | St. Louis:Scotty Bowman Boston:Harry Sinden | ||||||||||||||||||
Captains | St. Louis:Al Arbour Boston: Vacant | ||||||||||||||||||
Dates | May 3–10, 1970 | ||||||||||||||||||
MVP | Bobby Orr (Bruins) | ||||||||||||||||||
Series-winning goal | Bobby Orr(0:40, OT, G4) | ||||||||||||||||||
Hall of Famers | Blues: Al Arbour (1996, builder) Glenn Hall (1975) Jacques Plante (1978) Bruins: Johnny Bucyk (1981) Gerry Cheevers (1985) Phil Esposito (1984) Bobby Orr (1979) Coaches: Scotty Bowman (1991) Harry Sinden (1983) | ||||||||||||||||||
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The1970 Stanley Cup Finals was thechampionship series of theNational Hockey League's (NHL)1969–70 season, and the culmination of the1970 Stanley Cup playoffs.It was a contest between theBoston Bruins and theSt. Louis Blues, who appeared in their third consecutive finals series. The Bruins were making their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals since1958.
The Bruins swept the Blues to win their firstStanley Cup title since1941.Bobby Orr scored the Cup-winning goal on Mother's Day against St. Louis' veteran Hall of Fame goalieGlenn Hall, with an assist from close friend and teammate "The Turk"Derek Sanderson, at forty seconds of overtime. The subsequent image of Orr flying through the air, his arms stretched out in victory — (he had been tripped by Blues' defensemanNoel Picard immediately after scoring the goal) — is considered the most famous and recognized hockey image of all time. With the win, the Bruins became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup since theChicago Black Hawks in1961. The Blues, who had gone to the Finals their first three years in the league, would eventually lose each of the three series in four-game sweeps. St. Louis would not appear in a Stanley Cup Finals again until2019, where they also faced (and defeated) the Bruins in seven games, ending the second-longestFinals drought in league history.
Boston defeated theNew York Rangers 4–2 and theChicago Black Hawks 4–0 to advance to the Finals.
St. Louis defeated theMinnesota North Stars 4–2 and thePittsburgh Penguins 4–2.
This was the seventh meeting between teams fromBoston andSt. Louis for amajor professional sports championship. This previously happened in two World Series (1946,1967), and four NBA Finals (1957,1958,1960,1961).[1]
The Boston Bruins tied for first in the East Division with theChicago Black Hawks with 99 points. The Bruins lost the tiebreaker of wins with 40 to Chicago's 45. The St. Louis Blues finished first in the West Division with 86 points. This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. In this year's regular-season series, there were three wins for Boston, one for St. Louis and two ties.
At 3:57 of the second period of game one, a hard shot fromFred Stanfield was deflected and struckJacques Plante in the forehead of his face mask, splitting the mask in half and injuring Plante.[2] Plante was finished for the series. Doctors later said if he hadn't been wearing the mask, he surely would have been killed.Ernie Wakely took over in goal but only held off the Bruins for a few minutes before becoming a rather easy mark for Bruins sharpshooters.
May 3 | Boston Bruins | 6–1 | St. Louis Blues | St. Louis Arena | Recap | |||
Johnny Bucyk (6) - 19:45 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
Johnny Bucyk (7) - 5:16 | Second period | 1:52 -Jimmy Roberts (2) | ||||||
Wayne Carleton (2) - 4:59 Johnny Bucyk (8) - 5:31 Derek Sanderson (3) -sh - 17:20 Phil Esposito (12) - 18:58 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
Gerry Cheevers 28 saves / 29 shots | Goalie stats | Ernie Wakely 16 saves / 21 shots Jacques Plante 13 saves / 14 shots |
May 5 | Boston Bruins | 6–2 | St. Louis Blues | St. Louis Arena | Recap | |||
Fred Stanfield (4) -pp - 8:10 Ed Westfall (2) - 13:38 Ed Westfall (3) -sh - 19:15 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
Derek Sanderson (4) -pp - 9:37 | Second period | 17:26 -pp -Terry Gray (2) | ||||||
Derek Sanderson (5) - 00:58 Johnny Bucyk (9) - 15:00 | Third period | 4:15 -pp -Frank St. Marseille (5) | ||||||
Gerry Cheevers 17 saves / 19 shots | Goalie stats | Ernie Wakely 29 saves / 35 shots |
May 7 | St. Louis Blues | 1–4 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
Frank St. Marseille (6) -pp - 5:32 | First period | 13:23 -pp -Johnny Bucyk (10) 18:23 -John McKenzie (5) | ||||||
No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
No scoring | Third period | 3:26 -Wayne Cashman (4) 14:26 - Wayne Cashman (5) | ||||||
Glenn Hall 20 saves / 21 shots | Goalie stats | Gerry Cheevers 42 saves / 46 shots |
May 10 | St. Louis Blues | 3–4 | OT | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | ||
Red Berenson (7) - 19:17 | First period | 5:28 -Rick Smith (1) | ||||||
Gary Sabourin (5) - 3:22 | Second period | 14:22 -Phil Esposito (13) | ||||||
Larry Keenan (7) -pp - 00:19 | Third period | 13:28 -Johnny Bucyk (11) | ||||||
No scoring | First overtime period | 00:40 -Bobby Orr (9) | ||||||
Glenn Hall 28 saves / 32 shots | Goalie stats | Gerry Cheevers 28 saves / 31 shots |
Boston won series 4–0 | |
Bobby Orr… behind the net to Sanderson to ORR! BOBBY ORR!… scores and theBoston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup!
— Dan Kelly calling Orr's Stanley Cup winning goal
The most commonly seen video clip ofBobby Orr's famous overtime goal ("The Flight") in game four is the American version broadcast onCBS as called byDan Kelly. This archival clip can be considered a rarity, since survivingkinescopes or videotapes of the telecasts of hockey games from this era usually emanate fromCBC's coverage. According toDick Irvin Jr.'s bookMy 26 Stanley Cups (Irvin was in the CBC booth withDanny Gallivan during the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals), he was always curious why even the CBC typically uses the CBS replay of the Bobby Orr goal (with Dan Kelly's commentary) instead of Gallivan's call. The explanation that Irvin received was that the CBC'smaster tape of the game (along with others) was thrown away in order to clear shelf space at the network.[3]
TheNew England Sports Network has played the CBS video of the goal but has used the original WBZ-FM radio call withFred Cusick andJohnny Peirson.[4]
The 1970 Stanley Cup was presented to Bruins alternate captain Johnny Bucyk byNHL PresidentClarence Campbell following the Bruins 4–3 overtime win over the Blues in game four.
The following Bruins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
1969–70 Boston Bruins
Preceded by | Boston Bruins Stanley Cup champions 1970 | Succeeded by |