Record: 24-39-15 (63 points)
Finish: 5th in NHL East Division
Coach: Punch Imlach
In 1970, the Buffalo Sabres were created along with their Canadian cousins, the Vancouver Canucks, to help expand the NHL from 12 teams to 14. The owners of the new team in Buffalo were Seymour and Northrop Knox, who in 1967, tried to get Buffalo a hockey team but were passed over by the NHL for expansion in California with the Oakland Seals (present-day Dallas Stars).
Buffalo picked recently fired legendary Maple Leafs coach Punch Imlach to build the Sabres. Imlach had an eye for talent and did a great job quickly building the Sabres into a contender, but he needed a little luck for the centrepiece of this team.
That year, the NHL draft was led by a Quebec phenom named Gilbert Perrault. With Buffalo and Vancouver being the two expansion teams, the first overall pick was decided by using a wheel with 20 numbers. Numbers 1-10 were the Canucks and 11-20 were the Sabres. When the wheel stopped it looked as though Vancouver won with the pointer on the No. 1.
Imlach told the NHL president, Clarance Campbell, to look again and sure enough, No.11 was the number. The Sabres had their centrepiece and Perrault had his number… 11.
Stats
1970-71 POS GP G A PTS +/- PIM Gilbert Perreault C 78 38 34 72 -38 19 Phil Goyette C 60 15 46 61 -17 6 Gerry Meehan C 77 24 31 55 -10 8 Don Marshall LW 62 20 29 49 -13 6 Eddie Shack LW 56 25 17 42 -28 93 Steve Atkinson RW 57 20 18 38 3 12 Paul Andrea RW 47 11 21 32 -15 4 Al Hamilton D 69 2 28 30 -22 71 Larry Keenan LW 51 7 20 27 -11 6 Doug Barrie D 75 4 23 27 -19 168 Ron Anderson RW 74 14 12 26 -12 44 Dick Duff LW 53 7 13 20 -18 12 Floyd Smith RW 77 6 11 17 -13 46 Reggie Fleming LW 78 6 10 16 -8 159 Cliff Schmautz RW 26 5 7 12 -11 10 Jim Watson D 78 2 9 11 -28 147 Skip Krake C 74 4 5 9 -21 68 Kevin O'Shea RW 41 4 4 8 -11 8 Tracy Pratt D 76 1 7 8 -17 179 Jean-Guy Talbot D 57 0 7 7 -20 36 Randy Wyrozub C 16 2 2 4 -10 6 Joe Daley G 38 0 1 1 0 12 Dave Dryden G 10 0 1 1 0 0 Billy Inglis C 14 0 1 1 -4 4 Francois Lacombe D 1 0 1 1 -2 2 Terry Ball D 2 0 0 0 0 0 Roger Crozier G 44 0 0 0 0 0 Butch Deadmarsh LW 10 0 0 0 -3 9 Jean-Guy Lagace D 3 0 0 0 0 2 Brian McDonald C 12 0 0 0 -8 29 Mike McMahon D 12 0 0 0 -9 4 Hap Myers D 13 0 0 0 -10 6 Brian Perry C 1 0 0 0 0 0 Paul Terbenche D 3 0 0 0 -3 2
1970-71 Record GAA SV% SHO Joe Daley 12-16-8 3.74 .895 1 Roger Crozier 9-20-7 3.69 .900 1 Dave Dryden 3-3-0 3.23 .903 1 Schedule/Results
Game Date H/A Opponent GF GA W/L W L T 1 1970-10-10 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 2 1 W 1 0 0 2 1970-10-14 @ New York Rangers 0 3 L 1 1 0 3 1970-10-15 Montreal Canadiens 0 3 L 1 2 0 4 1970-10-17 @ St. Louis Blues 1 4 L 1 3 0 5 1970-10-18 Pittsburgh Penguins 1 1 T 1 3 1 6 1970-10-22 @ Philadelphia Flyers 2 4 L 1 4 1 7 1970-10-23 Detroit Red Wings 4 3 W 2 4 1 8 1970-10-25 Chicago Black Hawks 0 4 L 2 5 1 9 1970-10-27 @ Vancouver Canucks 2 7 L 2 6 1 10 1970-10-30 @ California Golden Seals 1 6 L 2 7 1 11 1970-11-01 @ Los Angeles Kings 2 4 L 2 8 1 12 1970-11-05 Vancouver Canucks 1 4 L 2 9 1 13 1970-11-07 @ Montreal Canadiens 2 11 L 2 10 1 14 1970-11-08 Philadelphia Flyers 1 3 L 2 11 1 15 1970-11-13 California Golden Seals 4 2 W 3 11 1 16 1970-11-15 Montreal Canadiens 2 2 T 3 11 2 17 1970-11-18 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 7 2 W 4 11 2 18 1970-11-21 @ Minnesota North Stars 0 3 L 4 12 2 19 1970-11-25 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 4 4 T 4 12 3 20 1970-11-26 New York Rangers 2 2 T 4 12 4 21 1970-11-29 California Golden Seals 1 2 L 4 13 4 22 1970-12-03 Boston Bruins 4 4 T 4 13 5 23 1970-12-06 Minnesota North Stars 1 0 W 5 13 5 24 1970-12-09 @ Chicago Black Hawks 1 6 L 5 14 5 25 1970-12-10 @ Boston Bruins 2 8 L 5 15 5 26 1970-12-12 @ Detroit Red Wings 3 5 L 5 16 5 27 1970-12-13 Toronto Maple Leafs 0 4 L 5 17 5 28 1970-12-16 @ New York Rangers 0 4 L 5 18 5 29 1970-12-17 Los Angeles Kings 4 3 W 6 18 5 30 1970-12-19 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 0 2 L 6 19 5 31 1970-12-20 Toronto Maple Leafs 2 4 L 6 20 5 32 1970-12-22 New York Rangers 2 7 L 6 21 5 33 1970-12-26 @ Montreal Canadiens 4 4 T 6 21 6 34 1970-12-27 Detroit Red Wings 5 2 W 7 21 6 35 1971-01-01 Boston Bruins 4 9 L 7 22 6 36 1971-01-03 Chicago Black Hawks 3 5 L 7 23 6 37 1971-01-07 Detroit Red Wings 7 4 W 8 23 6 38 1971-01-09 @ Detroit Red Wings 2 3 L 8 24 6 39 1971-01-10 Los Angeles Kings 2 2 T 8 24 7 40 1971-01-13 @ Chicago Black Hawks 2 4 L 8 25 7 41 1971-01-14 St. Louis Blues 2 1 W 9 25 7 42 1971-01-16 @ Minnesota North Stars 4 3 W 10 25 7 43 1971-01-17 Montreal Canadiens 4 4 T 10 25 8 44 1971-01-21 New York Rangers 5 5 T 10 25 9 45 1971-01-23 @ St. Louis Blues 1 7 L 10 26 9 46 1971-01-24 Philadelphia Flyers 6 4 W 11 26 9 47 1971-01-27 @ Los Angeles Kings 3 3 T 11 26 10 48 1971-01-29 @ California Golden Seals 4 2 W 12 26 10 49 1971-01-31 @ Vancouver Canucks 6 1 W 13 26 10 50 1971-02-04 Los Angeles Kings 5 2 W 14 26 10 51 1971-02-06 @ Boston Bruins 3 4 L 14 27 10 52 1971-02-07 Toronto Maple Leafs 3 4 L 14 28 10 53 1971-02-09 @ Vancouver Canucks 3 6 L 14 29 10 54 1971-02-10 @ California Golden Seals 1 5 L 14 30 10 55 1971-02-12 California Golden Seals 3 0 W 15 30 10 56 1971-02-14 Philadelphia Flyers 3 2 W 16 30 10 57 1971-02-17 @ Chicago Black Hawks 1 5 L 16 31 10 58 1971-02-18 Pittsburgh Penguins 6 6 T 16 31 11 59 1971-02-20 @ Detroit Red Wings 5 6 L 16 32 11 60 1971-02-21 St. Louis Blues 1 3 L 16 33 11 61 1971-02-23 Boston Bruins 3 6 L 16 34 11 62 1971-02-25 @ Philadelphia Flyers 2 3 L 16 35 11 63 1971-02-27 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 0 2 L 16 36 11 64 1971-02-28 Minnesota North Stars 5 2 W 17 36 11 65 1971-03-03 @ Los Angeles Kings 3 3 T 17 36 12 66 1971-03-05 Chicago Black Hawks 2 2 T 17 36 13 67 1971-03-07 Vancouver Canucks 6 3 W 18 36 13 68 1971-03-13 @ St. Louis Blues 0 9 L 18 37 13 69 1971-03-14 @ Minnesota North Stars 5 0 W 19 37 13 70 1971-03-18 St. Louis Blues 5 3 W 20 37 13 71 1971-03-20 @ Montreal Canadiens 2 5 L 20 38 13 72 1971-03-21 @ Boston Bruins 7 5 W 21 38 13 73 1971-03-23 @ New York Rangers 2 7 L 21 39 13 74 1971-03-26 Vancouver Canucks 3 1 W 22 39 13 75 1971-03-28 Minnesota North Stars 4 2 W 23 39 13 76 1971-03-31 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 6 4 W 24 39 13 77 1971-04-01 Pittsburgh Penguins 3 3 T 24 39 14 78 1971-04-04 @ Philadelphia Flyers 3 3 T 24 39 15 Highlights