Cowboy Rides Into L.A. and Burns His Old Team in 1972 Return

When Bill “Cowboy” Flett stepped onto the ice at the Forum on March 9, 1972, it wasn’t just another regular-season game. Less than six weeks earlier, Flett had been part of a blockbuster January 28 trade that sent him from the Los Angeles Kings to the Philadelphia Flyers alongside Eddie Joyal, Ross Lonsberry, and Jean Potvin. Heading west in return were Serge Bernier, Larry Brown, Bill Lesuk, and Jim Johnson.

Now back in Los Angeles wearing orange and black, Flett made sure Kings fans knew exactly what they had given up.

Through two periods and halfway into the third, the Kings held a 2-1 lead and Flett was still off the scoresheet. That changed quickly, and dramatically, beginning at 10:58 of the third period. On the power play, Flett buried his 13th goal of the season past Gary Edwards, assisted by Jean Potvin and Bobby Clarke.

Thirty seconds later, he turned playmaker, setting up Clarke for the Flyers’ go-ahead goal. Just ten seconds after that, Flett struck again, scoring his second of the night and 14th of the season off another Clarke assist. In under a minute, the Cowboy had completely flipped the game, putting Philadelphia ahead 4-2 with what would stand as the game-winning goal in a 5-3 Flyers victory.

He wasn’t finished.

After Backstrom pulled the Kings within one, Flett completed the story at 14:29 of the third period, netting his hat trick goal with helpers from Rick Foley and Clarke. The goal capped a four-point night in his return to Los Angeles and marked the fourth hat trick of Flett’s NHL career. Interestingly, his first three hat tricks had all come against the Detroit Red Wings.

Flett and Clarke each finished the night with seven shots on goal, while Gary Edwards faced 32 shots in the Kings’ net. Flett closed out the 1971-72 season with 11 goals in 31 games for the Flyers, added to the seven he scored in 45 games with Los Angeles, good for 18 total on the year.

The following season, the Cowboy truly broke out, erupting for a career-high 43 goals and proving just how costly that January trade turned out to be for the Kings.

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Tony Esposito and the Only Road Shutout of the 1974 Playoffs

The 1973-74 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs featured five shutouts in total, split among some of the era’s elite goaltenders. Bernie Parent recorded two, Tony Esposito posted two of his own, and Gilles Gilbert added one more. Yet among those five clean sheets, only one came on the road.

That lone road shutout occurred during the quarterfinal series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings, a matchup defined by elite goaltending on both sides. Chicago’s Tony Esposito and Los Angeles netminder Rogie Vachon turned the series into a battle of patience, positioning, and shot suppression.

Game 3 was played at the Forum in Los Angeles on April 13, 1974, and it required only one goal to decide the outcome.

Just 40 seconds into the contest, Germain Gagnon stunned the home crowd by beating Vachon for what would stand as the game’s only goal. Stan Mikita and Cliff Koroll earned assists on the play, and from that moment on, scoring chances became scarce. Vachon allowed no further damage, stopping the final nine shots he faced.

At the opposite end of the ice, Tony Esposito was far busier. The Kings fired 32 shots on goal, but none found their way past the Chicago netminder. Esposito’s flawless performance sealed the 1-0 victory and marked the only shutout by a visiting team during the entire 1974 postseason.

The win pushed the Blackhawks to a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Los Angeles avoided the sweep by winning Game 4, but Esposito closed the door again in Game 5 at Chicago Stadium with another 1-0 shutout. Over the five-game series, Chicago outscored the Kings by just a 10-7 margin, advancing despite averaging only two goals per game.

That defensive formula would not carry into the next round. Facing the Boston Bruins in the semifinals, the Blackhawks surrendered 28 goals over six games and were eliminated. Adding to the sting was the performance of Phil Esposito, Tony’s brother, who torched Chicago for six goals and two assists while firing 32 shots on net.

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Ted Irvine Takes Control In The Third To Beat His Former Team In 1971

Some NHL performances seem to follow a script, and for Ted Irvine, hat tricks often arrived in a very specific way. Across his career, Irvine recorded three of them, and each felt like its own self-contained takeover: three consecutive goals, all natural hat tricks, all including the game winner. It became a pattern fans could almost sense coming once he got rolling.

His first came during the 1968-69 season, when Irvine scored three straight to give the Los Angeles Kings an early 3-0 cushion in a 3-2 win over the Oakland Seals. His third would come later with the St. Louis Blues, again featuring three unanswered goals in the third period to flip a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The second, though, may have been the most poetic, doing it against the team he once called home.

That moment arrived on March 7, 1971, when the New York Rangers hosted the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden. The opening period was scoreless, but Jean Ratelle broke through at 2:40 of the second to put New York ahead. The Kings responded late in the frame, however, as Eddie Joyal and Gilles Marotte struck to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead heading into the third.

That’s when Irvine took over. At 3:57 of the final period, he beat Denis DeJordy for his 16th goal of the season, tying the game and shifting the momentum. Just over nine minutes later, with help from Pete Stemkowski, Irvine buried what would stand as the game winner, giving the Rangers their first lead since early in the night. With DeJordy pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute, Irvine completed the familiar pattern. He scored his third straight goal, unassisted, with 43 seconds remaining to seal a 4-2 Rangers victory. 

About Ted Irvine

Between 1963-64 and 1976-77, Ted Irvine played 724 regular season and 83 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. He was a 20 goal scorer twice during his NHL career, topping out with 26 in 1973-74 with the New York Rangers.

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NHL Hockey Trivia: Ted Irvine

Much more NHL hockey trivia can be found at our website: World's Best Hockey Trivia

1. Ted Irvine made his NHL debut with which team during the 1963–64 season?

Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
Los Angeles Kings
St. Louis Blues

2. Ted Irvine recorded his most productive NHL season while playing for which team?

Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
Los Angeles Kings
St. Louis Blues

3. What was Ted Irvine’s career-high in goals during a single NHL season?

22
26
30
35

4. Ted Irvine recorded multiple hat tricks during his NHL career, most shared which distinction?

They were natural hat tricks
They occurred in playoff games
They came in overtime games
They were all short-handed goals

5. Ted Irvine is the father of which future professional wrestler?

Chris Jericho
Bret Hart
Edge
Roddy Piper

Darcy Rota Lights the Lamp in His First NHL Game

Darcy Rota arrived in the NHL with serious scoring credentials. Drafted 13th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft, he was fresh off a massive 73-goal season with the Edmonton Oil Kings. While he would never match those junior numbers at the NHL level, his career high was 42 goals with Vancouver in 1982-83, Rota wasted no time proving he belonged among the pros.

His NHL debut came on October 10, 1973, when the Blackhawks opened their season on the road against the Los Angeles Kings at the famed Forum. The matchup featured two elite goaltenders in Tony Esposito and Rogie Vachon, and for most of the night, both lived up to their reputations. All three goals came in a tight eight-and-a-half-minute stretch of the second period: J.P. Bordeleau opened the scoring at 5:35, Dennis Hull added another at 7:40, and Rota capped the run at 14:13, marking his first NHL goal in his first NHL game and helping seal a 3-0 Chicago win.

Rota’s milestone goal was one of four shots he fired at Vachon that night, with Cliff Koroll and Stan Mikita picking up the assists. It was the first of 21 goals he scored during his rookie campaign, where he totaled 33 points in 74 games. He added three more goals in the postseason, including his first playoff goal, also against the Kings, in his very first playoff game.

Across his NHL career from 1973-74 through 1983-84, Rota was a reliable and consistent scorer. Playing 794 regular-season games and 60 playoff contests with Chicago, Atlanta, and Vancouver, he finished with 256 goals and recorded nine 20-goal seasons. His debut goal was just the opening chapter of a career defined by steady production and timely scoring.

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NHL Hockey Trivia: Darcy Rota

Much more NHL hockey trivia can be found at our website: World's Best Hockey Trivia

1. Which team drafted Darcy Rota 13th overall in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft?

Chicago Blackhawks
Atlanta Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Detroit Red Wings

2. Darcy Rota scored his first NHL goal against which goaltender?

Rogie Vachon
Bernie Parent
Ken Dryden
Tony Esposito

3. How many 20-goal seasons did Darcy Rota record in his NHL career?

Nine
Five
Eleven
Seven

4. With which team did Darcy Rota record his NHL career-high 42-goal season?

Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks
Atlanta Flames
Winnipeg Jets

5. How many regular season goals did Darcy Rota finish with in his NHL career?

256
198
311
227

Butch Goring’s First NHL Game: Marked By A Rare Trip to the Penalty Box

When fans think of Butch Goring, they picture discipline, consistency, and almost no time spent in the penalty box. Across 1,107 NHL regular-season games from 1969-70 to 1984-85, Goring collected only 102 penalty minutes, a stunningly low total for someone who played through the gritty, high-contact 1970s and 80s. But his NHL debut on November 26, 1969, told a different story.

Skating for the Los Angeles Kings at Chicago Stadium, Goring recorded no points in the Kings’ 6-0 loss to Tony Esposito and the Blackhawks. But he did make the scoresheet by taking a minor penalty for hooking at 7:22 of the second period. Chicago converted on the power play, with Lou Angotti scoring and Bobby Hull and Gilles Marotte drawing assists.

That hooking call was one of just four minors Goring took in his entire rookie season. Even more impressively, he followed it up with one minor penalty per season for the next four years. Despite this remarkable discipline, Goring earned the Lady Byng Trophy only once, in 1977-78 with the Kings.

His cleanest year came in 1980-81 with the New York Islanders, when he played 78 games without taking a single penalty and still put up 23 goals and 60 points. Somehow, that season earned him only a seventh-place finish in Byng voting.

Goring didn’t wait long for his first NHL goal, though. The very next night in Detroit, he snapped Roger Crozier’s shutout bid at 18:38 of the third period, scoring the lone Kings goal in a 5–1 loss at the Olympia.

About Butch Goring

Butch Goring played 1,107 regular season and 134 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1969-70 and 1984-85 with the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. The four-time Stanley Cup champion was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1980-81 as playoff MVP.

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NHL Hockey Trivia: Butch Goring

Much more NHL hockey trivia can be found at our website: World's Best Hockey Trivia

1. Before joining the New York Islanders, Butch Goring spent the first decade of his NHL career with which team?

Boston Bruins
Los Angeles Kings
Detroit Red Wings
Vancouver Canucks

---

2. How many Lady Byng Trophies did Butch Goring win in his NHL career?

None
One
Two
Three

---

3. Butch Goring joined the New York Islanders just before their run of four consecutive Stanley Cups. Which season did that trade happen?

1978-79
1979-80
1980-81
1981-82

---

4. In 1980-81, Goring played all 78 games without taking a single penalty. How many points did he record that season?

42
51
60
72

---

5. Which award did Butch Goring win as playoff MVP during the Islanders' dynasty years?

Hart Trophy
Conn Smythe Trophy
Selke Trophy
Masterton Trophy

---

NHL Hockey Card Greats: Butch Goring [Video]

Ralph Backstrom’s 2 Goals in 6 Seconds Set Kings Record

When the Boston Bruins visited the Los Angeles Kings at the Forum on November 2, 1972, Ralph Backstrom delivered one of the fastest scoring bursts in Kings history.

Backstrom was already riding a hot streak, with 8 goals and 9 assists over a seven-game stretch. Against Boston, the game was tied 1-1 entering the third period, with Serge Bernier scoring for L.A. late in the first and Mike Walton tallying for the Bruins.

At 8:30 of the third, Backstrom put the Kings ahead 2-1 with his sixth goal of the season, beating Boston goalie Eddie Johnston unassisted. Just six seconds later, he struck again, this time with help from Butch Goring, to extend the lead to 3-1. The Kings went on to win 5-2, with Backstrom firing seven of the team’s 33 shots on net. Goalie Gary Edwards held Boston to just two goals on 31 shots.

Backstrom finished the 1972-73 season with 20 goals in 63 games for the Kings, including six game-winners. Traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in February 1973, he wrapped up his NHL career before moving to the WHA.

His two goals in six seconds remain a Kings franchise record. The closest anyone has come since was Jari Kurri’s pair in 1991, just ten seconds apart.

About Ralph Backstrom

Ralph Backstrom played 1,032 regular season and 116 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1956-57 and 1972-73 with the Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks. In 1958-59, Ralph was awarded the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. With the Habs, Backstrom was a six-time Stanley Cup champion.

In the WHA, Backstrom played another 304 regular season and 38 playoff games between 1973-74 and 1976-77 with the Chicago Cougars, Ottawa Civics and New England Whalers. In his first year with Chicago he scored 33 goals, the most over his major league career.

NHL Hockey Trivia: Ralph Backstrom

Much more NHL hockey trivia can be found at our website: World's Best Hockey Trivia

1. Ralph Backstrom played the majority of his career with which NHL team?

Los Angeles Kings
Chicago Blackhawks
Montreal Canadiens
Minnesota North Stars

2. How many Stanley Cups did Ralph Backstrom win as a member of the Montreal Canadiens?

3
6
4
2

3. In 1972, Backstrom set a Kings franchise record by scoring two goals how many seconds apart?

4 seconds
6 seconds
8 seconds
10 seconds

4. Which player assisted on Backstrom’s second goal in that record-setting 1972 game?

Serge Bernier
Eddie Johnston
Butch Goring
Jari Kurri

5. After his NHL career, Ralph Backstrom played in which league before retiring?

WHA
AHL
IHL
OHA