1974 Stanley Cup Final vs Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers defeat the Bruins 4–2 to become the first 1967 expansion team to win the Stanley Cup.
The 1974 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1973–74 season, and the culmination of the 1974 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers. 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 and 1972. 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 Cup champion since the Montreal Maroons in 1935, and the first non-Original Six team to appear in the Final since they stopped being guaranteed a spot after Chicago switched divisions in 1970.
- Champion
- Boston Bruins
- Runner-up
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Series Result
- 4-2
- MVP
- Ken Hodge
- Season
- 1973–74
- Key Venue
- Boston Garden
Lore & Background
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 Final, 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. Game one saw Bobby Orr score the game-winner with a little over a minute remaining to give the Bruins a 3–2 win. In game two, the Flyers tied the game with less than a minute left and won 3–2 in overtime on a goal by Bobby Clarke. Game three was a 4–1 Flyers win, game four a 4–2 Flyers win. Game five in Boston was a sloppy affair marred by many fights and penalties as Boston easily won. In game six, Bernie Parent posted a 30-save shutout as the Flyers won 1–0 on a goal by Rick MacLeish. Parent made a spectacular kick save to stop a slapshot from Ken Hodge with less than three minutes left. Parent was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
In Their Own Story
The air inside Boston Garden was thick with smoke and anticipation, the roar of the crowd a physical force against the ice. As Ken Hodge skated toward the net in Game Six, the world seemed to slow down. He wasn't just chasing a puck; he was chasing history. The Flyers' defense closed in like a pack of wolves, but Hodge's wrist shot slipped past the goalie, sealing the destiny of a city that had waited too long for this moment.
Reader's Guide
The series was played between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers won the series 4–2. The Conn Smythe Trophy winner was Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were the first of the 1967 expansion teams to win the championship. The Stanley Cup was presented to Flyers captain Bobby Clarke by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Flyers 1–0 win over the Bruins in game six.
Did You Know?
- The Flyers were the first non-Original Six Cup champion since the Montreal Maroons in 1935.
- Bernie Parent made a spectacular kick save to stop a slapshot from Ken Hodge with less than three minutes left in game six.
- The Flyers were the first team to clinch the Stanley Cup at home since the Bruins did so four years earlier on Bobby Orr's famous overtime goal vs. the St. Louis Blues in game four.
- More than two million lined Broad Street for a ticker-tape parade after the Flyers won the Cup.
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