1972 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Boston Bruins 6 2 2 3 2 3 4 New York Rangers 5 1 5 2 3 0 2
Location(s)	Boston:Boston Garden (1, 2, 5) New York City:Madison Square Garden (3, 4, 6)
Coaches	Boston:Tom Johnson New York:Emile Francis
Captains	Boston: Vacant New York:Vic Hadfield
Dates	April 30 – May 11, 1972
MVP	Bobby Orr (Bruins)
Series-winning goal	Bobby Orr(11:18, first, G6)
Hall of Famers	Bruins: Johnny Bucyk (1981) Gerry Cheevers (1985) Phil Esposito (1984) Bobby Orr (1979) Rangers: Eddie Giacomin (1987) Rod Gilbert (1982) Brad Park (1988) Jean Ratelle (1985) Glen Sather (1997, builder) Coaches: Emile Francis (1982) Tom Johnson (1970, player)
Networks	CTV (Canada) CBS (United States) (Games 1, 4, and 6)
Announcers	(CTV):Danny Gallivan andDick Irvin Jr. (in Boston),Bill Hewitt andBob Goldham (in New York) (CBS):Dan Kelly,Jim Gordon, andHarry Howell
← 1971 Stanley Cup Finals 1973 →

The1972 Stanley Cup Finals was thechampionship series of theNational Hockey League's (NHL)1971–72 season, and the culmination of the1972 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between theBoston Bruins and theNew York Rangers. It was the Rangers' first appearance in the finals since1950. The Bruins were making their first appearance since their victory in the1970 Finals. It was the second Boston-New York Final series, the other being the1929 Finals.

The Bruins defeated the Rangers in six games to win their second Stanley Cup in three years. This was only the second Stanley Cup Finals contested by New York in which the Rangers hosted all of their home games. The first such Final, held in1929, had lasted only two games. All other previous Finals contested by the Rangers had partly or entirely coincided with an annual circus formerly held at Madison Square Garden, compelling the Rangers to play Finals games at neutral sites and/or at the venues of their opponents.

This was the last time the Bruins won the Stanley Cup until2011.

This was the fourth meeting between teams fromBoston andNew York City for amajor professional sports championship. This previously occurred in two World Series (1912,1916), and the1929 Stanley Cup Finals.^[1]

Boston defeated theirrival in theToronto Maple Leafs in five games and swept theSt. Louis Blues to advance to the Final.

New York defeated the defending championMontreal Canadiens in six games and theChicago Black Hawks in a sweep to set up an "Original Six" Final.

Bobby Orr, who tallied 4 goals and 4 assists in the series, won theConn Smythe Trophy for the second time. It was also Orr's second Cup-clinching goal, having accomplished both feats in the 1970 finals. Phil Esposito had 41 shots in the series but was held without a goal.

Game one in Boston saw both teams play poorly. The Bruins at one point led 5–1 asKen Hodge completed ahat trick, and Hodge andDerek Sanderson scored short-handed goals on the same Rangerpower play at the end of the first period. However, the Rangers tied the game with goals from Gilbert, Hatfield, Tkaczuk, and Bruce MacGregor. With 2:16 remaining in the third period,Garnet "Ace" Bailey beat Rangers star defensemanBrad Park to have the Bruins prevail 6–5.^[2]

Gary Doak of the Rangers was ejected from the game after a heated argument with refereeBill Friday over a penalty he received at 18:50 of the first period.

Game two hadGilles Villemure replaceEd Giacomin in goal for the Rangers. He played well, but the Bruins did too and won 2–1.

In New York, Giacomin was back in goal for game three as the Rangers won 5–2.Brad Park opened the scoring with a power play goal and scored another in the first period.Rod Gilbert also had two goals in the game.

Giacomin was having trouble with a knee he injured during the Chicago series and lost game four 3–2.

Game five in Boston had Villemure again replace Giacomin. Boston led 2–1 after two periods. However,Bobby Rousseau scored twice in the third period, his second at 12:45 turned out to be the winner in a 3–2 win for the Rangers.^[2][3]

Game six in New York saw Boston play flawlessly andGerry Cheevers picked up a shutout, 3–0.Bobby Orr's first-period marker ended up standing as the Stanley Cup-winning goal, and he also assisted on the Bruins' second goal. Orr spent 10 minutes in the penalty box after arguing with refereeArt Skov but upon his return on the ice played a crucial role in killing off a penalty to the Bruins.Wayne Cashman scored two goals, one of which trickled in behindGilles Villemure.^[3]

As of 2022, the 1972 Bruins are the most recent team to have won the Cup without a formal captain.^[4] John Bucyk, as the team's senior assistant captain, accepted the Cup and circled the rink in the ceremonial skate.

Hockey Night in Canada moved all playoff coverage from CBC toCTV (in actuality,MacLaren Advertising, the actual rights holders ofHNIC at the time, worked out arrangements withCTV to move the full NHL playoffs there) to avoid conflict with the lengthyNABET strike against the CBC.

In the United States,CBS took a rather calculated risk in not televising the game five match on May 9 (CBS aired regular programming, including the originalHawaii Five-O in that time period on that Tuesday night). This was despite the fact that game five was a potential clincher with the Bruins up three games to one on the Rangers. CBS ultimately lucked out (since the Rangers won game five 3-2), and televised the clincher (game six) on Thursday night, May 11.

The following Bruins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup:

1971–72 Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins' name was misspelled as BQSTQN BRUINS with two "Q"s instead of "O"s. This error was corrected on the replica Cup created in 1992–93.

• Every person whose name was engraved won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Bruins in 1972 had already appeared on the Stanley Cup. This had previously occurred only once, in 1960, and has not occurred again since.
• Garry Peters dressed for 2 games 1 & 2 of Stanley Cup Semi-Finals, playing game 1.Chris Hayes then played in game 3 of the Semi-Finals (his only NHL game). By the rules of the time, this qualified both to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup, but neither was included. Peters also won the cup with Montreal in 1965.
• As with the 1970 team, the Boston Bruins did not have ateam captain. John Bucyk, Phil Esposito, Ted Green and Ed Westfall all served as alternate captains (all but Green held the title in 1970 as well).

• 1971–72 Boston Bruins season
• 1971–72 NHL season
• 1971–72 New York Rangers season

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000).Total Stanley Cup. NHL.
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004).Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books.ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.

• 1971–72 NHL season
• Stanley Cup Finals
• Boston Bruins games
• New York Rangers games
• Ice hockey competitions in Boston
• Ice hockey competitions in New York City
• 1972 in sports in Massachusetts
• 1972 in sports in New York City
• April 1972 sports events in the United States
• May 1972 sports events in the United States
• 1972 in Boston
• 1970s in Manhattan
• Events at the Boston Garden

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