The 1974 Stanley Cup Finals was the

championship series In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

's (NHL) 1973–74 season, and the culmination of the

1974 Stanley Cup playoffs Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

. It was contested between the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

and the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...

. The Flyers made their first Finals appearance and the Bruins returned to the Finals for the third time in five years, having won the Stanley Cup in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. The Flyers won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, becoming the first team from the 1967 Expansion to win the Stanley Cup, as well as the first non-

Original Six The Original Six () are the teams that comprised the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1942 and 1967. The six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs ...

Cup champion since the

Montreal Maroons The Montreal Maroons (officially the Montreal Professional Hockey Club) were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935. They were the la ...

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

Paths to the Finals

Boston defeated the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

4–0 and the

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

4–2 to advance to the final. Philadelphia defeated the

Atlanta Flames The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...

4–0 and the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

4–3 to make it to the final.

Game summaries

In the previous 19 games against the Bruins in Boston, the Flyers had lost 17 and tied two. Boston had the best regular season record in the league finishing one point ahead of the Flyers. The Bruins also had home ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals, and were made heavy favorites to win the series. A key confidence-building win late in the regular season saw the Flyers defeating the Bruins 5–3 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. The first two games at Boston Garden were full of late game dramatics. In game one, the Flyers nearly scored late in the third period to break a 2–2 tie.

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

, having saved the Flyers' shot by blocking the open Boston net with his leg, then took the puck up the ice and scored on a slapshot past goaltender

Bernie Parent Bernard Marcel Parent (born April 3, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 13 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs, and also spent one seaso ...

with a little over a minute remaining in regulation time to propel the Bruins to a 3–2 win. Game two saw the Bruins on the verge of a 2–0 series lead when Flyers defenseman Andre Dupont scored with Parent pulled with less than a minute remaining for an extra attacker to tie the score at 2–2, and

Bobby Clarke Robert Earle Clarke (born August 13, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played his entire 15-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Philadelphia Flyers and is currently an executive with the team. Popular ...

scored the 3–2 game winner in overtime. The Flyers, led by Parent's play in goal, won the next two games on home ice to take a 3–1 series lead. Game five in Boston was a sloppy affair marred by many fights and penalties as Boston easily won to extend the series to a game six in Philadelphia. Before a national audience watching the game on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and a raucous Philadelphia crowd, Parent posted an epic 30-save shutout against the Bruins as the Flyers won the game 1–0, the series four games to two, and the Stanley Cup. Parent made a spectacular kick save to stop a tremendous slapshot from

Ken Hodge Kenneth Raymond Hodge, Sr. (born 25 June 1944) is an English-born Canadian former hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He was born in Birmingham, England, b ...

with less than three minutes left to play. The blast was the Bruins' final shot of the series. Parent was named the winner of the

Conn Smythe Trophy The Conn Smythe Trophy (french: Trophée Conn Smythe) is awarded annually to the most valuable player (MVP) of his team during the National Hockey League's (NHL) Stanley Cup playoffs. It is named after Conn Smythe, the longtime owner, general man ...

as playoff MVP. The Flyers were the first of the 1967 expansion teams in the NHL to win the championship.

Aftermath

The Flyers Stanley Cup win triggered the largest celebration in Philadelphia sports history. Some observers of the celebration noted that they had seen that type of event in Philadelphia only once before, upon the announcement of the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

on 14 August 1945. The day after the Flyers won the Cup, more than two million lined Broad Street for a

ticker-tape parade A ticker-tape parade is a parade event held in an urban setting, characterized by large amounts of shredded paper thrown onto the parade route from the surrounding buildings, creating a celebratory flurry of paper. Originally, actual ticker tap ...

, making it the largest championship parade in the history of Philadelphia sports. One of the fans who attended the parade was future

goaltender

Mike Richter Michael Thomas Richter (born September 22, 1966) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played his entire career with the New York Rangers organization, and led the team to the Stanley Cup in 1994. He also represented the Un ...

. Richter grew up near Philadelphia in

Flourtown, Pennsylvania Flourtown is a census-designated place (CDP) in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Flourtown is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Erdenheim, ...

idolizing Flyers goalie

. The following year, the Flyers successfully returned to the Finals and captured their second consecutive Stanley Cup; this time, over the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

in Buffalo, also winning in six games. As for the Bruins, they lost in the first round to the

2–1.

Team rosters

Philadelphia Flyers

Boston Bruins

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1974 Stanley Cup was presented to Flyers captain Bobby Clarke by NHL President

Clarence Campbell Clarence Sutherland Campbell, (July 9, 1905 – June 24, 1984) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, referee, and soldier. He refereed in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1930s, served in the Canadian Army during World War II, then s ...

following the Flyers 1–0 win over the Bruins in game six. The following Flyers players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1973–74 Philadelphia Flyers *Bruce Cowick didn't play any regular season games for the Flyers in 1973–74 but was an injury replacement for eight games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, thus becoming eligible to receive a Stanley Cup ring and have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Notes

References

* * {{Navboxes, list1= {{Stanley Cup Finals {{1973–74 NHL season by team {{Boston Bruins {{Philadelphia Flyers {{NHL on NBC {{Hockey Night in Canada

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

Stanley Cup Finals Boston Bruins games Philadelphia Flyers games Sports competitions in Philadelphia Sports competitions in Boston

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...

1970s in Philadelphia

Boston Garden