Stoner Posted April 1, 2006 Report Posted April 1, 2006 April 1, 1973 At the Aud, the Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on the final day of the regular season to clinch their first appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. April 1, 1976 The Sabres announce they will purchase the decommissioned guided missile cruiser the U.S.S. Little Rock for use as the team yacht. And some people actually believe it.
Taro T Posted April 1, 2006 Report Posted April 1, 2006 April 1, 1973 At the Aud, the Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on the final day of the regular season to clinch their first appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. (PA, I'm probably stealing your thunder for tomorrow, but I'll post this anyway. Sorry.) The win came 1 day shy of 1 year after the Sabres 1st "playoff" victory. On April 2, '72, the Sabres scored a late goal to beat the Flyers 3-2 in the Aud. The win came 3 days after a loss to the same Flyers in the Sabres "House of Horrors" (the Spectrum, for the uninitiated). The victory knocked the Flyers out of the playoffs, as they lost out on the "Western" Conference's 4th and final playoff spot to the Pens due to tie breakers. It probably wouldn't have mattered much, as Chicago made short work of the Pens, (who were then thumped by the Rangers, who were then beat (in 6 games) by the Bruins) but it was still pretty cool that the Sabres knocked a team out of the playoffs before they themselves had even been in the playoffs. Also, getting back to the '73 team, at the time it was considered extremely impressive that a team that had only existed for 3 short years could make the playoffs. (Especially in the stacked Eastern Conference.) Had they played in the "woeful West", they'd have been the #2 seed; which was VERY impressive for a 3rd year expansion team.
Recommended Posts