1970–71 Minnesota North Stars season

1970–71 Minnesota North Stars
Division	4th West
1970–71 record	28–34–16
Home record	16–15–8
Road record	12–19–8
Goals for	191
Goals against	223
Team information
General manager	Wren Blair
Coach	Jack Gordon
Captain	Ted Harris
Alternate captains	J. P. Parise Barry Gibbs
Arena	Met Center
Team leaders
Goals	Bill Goldsworthy (34) Danny Grant (34)
Assists	Jude Drouin(52)
Points	Jude Drouin (68)
Penalty minutes	Barry Gibbs (132)
Wins	Cesare Maniago (19)
Goals against average	Gump Worsley (2.50)

The 1970–71 Minnesota North Stars season was the North Stars' fourth season.

Coached by Jack Gordon, the team compiled a record of 28–34–16 for 72 points, to finish the regular season 4th in the West Division. In the playoffs they won the quarter-finals in a 4–2 upset over the St. Louis Blues, becoming the first expansion team to defeat the three-time Stanley Cup finalists in the playoffs. While the North Stars ultimately lost in the semi-finals 4–2 to the eventual champion Montreal Canadiens under the revised playoff format, they did become the first expansion team to win postseason games against an Original Six opponent.

Regular season

Final standings

West Division

		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Chicago Black Hawks	78	49	20	9	277	184	+93	107
2	St. Louis Blues	78	34	25	19	223	208	+15	87
3	Philadelphia Flyers	78	28	33	17	207	225	−18	73
4	Minnesota North Stars	78	28	34	16	191	223	−32	72
5	Los Angeles Kings	78	25	40	13	239	303	−64	63
6	Pittsburgh Penguins	78	21	37	20	221	240	−19	62
7	California Golden Seals	78	20	53	5	199	320	−121	45

Record vs. opponents

Vs. West Division

1970–71 NHL records
Team	CAL	CHI	LAK	MIN	PHI	PIT	STL	Total
California	—	1–5	1–5	2–4	2–3–1	1–4–1	1–4–1	8–25–3
Chicago	5–1	—	4–2	3–2–1	4–1–1	4–2	2–1–3	22–9–5
Los Angeles	5–1	2–4	—	0–5–1	1–2–3	4–2	2–4	14–18–4
Minnesota	4–2	2–3–1	5–0–1	—	1–2–3	3–1–2	3–1–2	18–9–9
Philadelphia	3–2–1	1–4–1	2–1–3	2–1–3	—	3–1–2	1–3–2	12–12–12
Pittsburgh	4–1–1	2–4	2–4	1–3–2	1–3–2	—	0–3–3	10–18–8
St. Louis	4–1–1	1–2–3	4–2	1–3–2	3–1–2	3–0–3	—	16–9–11

Vs. East Division

1970–71 NHL records
Team	BOS	BUF	DET	MTL	NYR	TOR	VAN	Total
California	1–5	3–3	2–4	1–5	2–3–1	2–3–1	1–5	12–28–2
Chicago	3–2–1	5–0–1	6–0	3–3	3–3	2–3–1	5–0–1	27–11–4
Los Angeles	1–5	1–2–3	2–1–3	2–4	0–4–2	3–3	2–3–1	11–22–9
Minnesota	0–5–1	1–5	3–2–1	1–3–2	0–6	2–2–2	3–2–1	10–25–7
Philadelphia	0–6	3–2–1	2–3–1	1–4–1	3–2–1	3–2–1	4–2	16–21–5
Pittsburgh	1–4–1	0–2–4	3–1–2	1–3–2	0–5–1	2–3–1	4–1–1	11–19–12
St. Louis	1–4–1	4–2	5–0–1	1–3–2	2–3–1	2–3–1	3–1–2	18–16–8

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

For the third time in four seasons, the North Stars played the Blues. This time, the North Stars gained the upper hand and won over the Blues after winning three in a row.

Semifinals

This was the first series played between the Canadiens and the North Stars. Their win on April 24 was the first win by a member of the expansion squad against the original teams in the playoffs.

Schedule and results

1970–71 regular season
October Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 1 L October 10, 1970 1–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71) 0–1–0 2 W October 15, 1970 4–2 Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71) 1–1–0 3 L October 17, 1970 2–3 Detroit Red Wings (1970–71) 1–2–0 4 W October 18, 1970 2–1 @ Detroit Red Wings (1970–71) 2–2–0 5 W October 21, 1970 3–1 @ Montreal Canadiens (1970–71) 3–2–0 6 L October 24, 1970 1–4 New York Rangers (1970–71) 3–3–0 7 W October 28, 1970 2–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71) 4–3–0 8 W October 31, 1970 3–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71) 5–3–0
November Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 9 L November 1, 1970 0–5 @ Boston Bruins (1970–71) 5–4–0 10 L November 4, 1970 3–4 Montreal Canadiens (1970–71) 5–5–0 11 T November 7, 1970 1–1 St. Louis Blues (1970–71) 5–5–1 12 T November 8, 1970 3–3 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71) 5–5–2 13 W November 11, 1970 3–1 Los Angeles Kings (1970–71) 6–5–2 14 T November 14, 1970 3–3 Vancouver Canucks (1970–71) 6–5–3 15 W November 17, 1970 5–3 @ St. Louis Blues (1970–71) 7–5–3 16 L November 18, 1970 4–8 Boston Bruins (1970–71) 7–6–3 17 W November 21, 1970 3–0 Buffalo Sabres (1970–71) 8–6–3 18 L November 22, 1970 0–2 @ New York Rangers (1970–71) 8–7–3 19 L November 24, 1970 2–3 @ Vancouver Canucks (1970–71) 8–8–3 20 W November 27, 1970 3–2 @ California Golden Seals (1970–71) 9–8–3 21 W November 28, 1970 3–2 @ Los Angeles Kings (1970–71) 10–8–3
December Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 22 W December 2, 1970 3–2 California Golden Seals (1970–71) 11–8–3 23 L December 5, 1970 1–4 Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71) 11–9–3 24 L December 6, 1970 0–1 @ Buffalo Sabres (1970–71) 11–10–3 25 T December 9, 1970 2–2 Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71) 11–10–4 26 L December 10, 1970 1–6 @ Montreal Canadiens (1970–71) 11–11–4 27 W December 12, 1970 1–0 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71) 12–11–4 28 L December 13, 1970 2–5 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71) 12–12–4 29 L December 15, 1970 1–2 @ St. Louis Blues (1970–71) 12–13–4 30 T December 16, 1970 1–1 Montreal Canadiens (1970–71) 12–13–5 31 L December 19, 1970 3–5 New York Rangers (1970–71) 12–14–5 32 L December 20, 1970 2–7 @ Boston Bruins (1970–71) 12–15–5 33 W December 25, 1970 6–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71) 13–15–5 34 T December 26, 1970 1–1 @ St. Louis Blues (1970–71) 13–15–6 35 L December 30, 1970 2–6 Boston Bruins (1970–71) 13–16–6 36 L December 31, 1970 1–4 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71) 13–17–6
January Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 37 T January 2, 1971 3–3 @ Los Angeles Kings (1970–71) 13–17–7 38 L January 5, 1971 0–2 Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71) 13–18–7 39 T January 6, 1971 4–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71) 13–18–8 40 L January 9, 1971 0–1 New York Rangers (1970–71) 13–19–8 41 W January 10, 1971 3–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71) 14–19–8 42 T January 14, 1971 3–3 Montreal Canadiens (1970–71) 14–19–9 43 L January 16, 1971 3–4 Buffalo Sabres (1970–71) 14–20–9 44 W January 17, 1971 2–0 @ Detroit Red Wings (1970–71) 15–20–9 45 W January 21, 1971 5–3 St. Louis Blues (1970–71) 16–20–9 46 T January 23, 1971 2–2 Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71) 16–20–10 47 L January 24, 1971 2–6 @ New York Rangers (1970–71) 16–21–10 48 L January 27, 1971 2–6 @ California Golden Seals (1970–71) 16–22–10 49 W January 29, 1971 2–1 @ Vancouver Canucks (1970–71) 17–22–10 50 W January 31, 1971 7–1 California Golden Seals (1970–71) 18–22–10
February Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 51 T February 3, 1971 4–4 Detroit Red Wings (1970–71) 18–22–11 52 L February 6, 1971 2–6 Chicago Black Hawks (1970–71) 18–23–11 53 T February 7, 1971 4–4 @ Boston Bruins (1970–71) 18–23–12 54 L February 10, 1971 3–4 @ New York Rangers (1970–71) 18–24–12 55 L February 11, 1971 2–6 @ Montreal Canadiens (1970–71) 18–25–12 56 T February 13, 1971 2–2 Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71) 18–25–13 57 W February 14, 1971 5–4 Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71) 19–25–13 58 W February 17, 1971 3–2 California Golden Seals (1970–71) 20–25–13 59 L February 18, 1971 3–5 @ Detroit Red Wings (1970–71) 20–26–13 60 L February 21, 1971 1–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71) 20–27–13 61 W February 24, 1971 5–1 Los Angeles Kings (1970–71) 21–27–13 62 T February 25, 1971 1–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1970–71) 21–27–14 63 W February 27, 1971 4–2 Detroit Red Wings (1970–71) 22–27–14 64 L February 28, 1971 2–5 @ Buffalo Sabres (1970–71) 22–28–14
March Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 65 L March 2, 1971 0–6 Boston Bruins (1970–71) 22–29–14 66 W March 6, 1971 3–1 Vancouver Canucks (1970–71) 23–29–14 67 W March 7, 1971 3–1 Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71) 24–29–14 68 W March 10, 1971 4–0 St. Louis Blues (1970–71) 25–29–14 69 T March 13, 1971 0–0 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1970–71) 25–29–15 70 L March 14, 1971 0–5 Buffalo Sabres (1970–71) 25–30–15 71 W March 16, 1971 7–2 @ Los Angeles Kings (1970–71) 26–30–15 72 W March 21, 1971 6–3 @ Vancouver Canucks (1970–71) 27–30–15 73 W March 23, 1971 3–1 Los Angeles Kings (1970–71) 28–30–15 74 T March 25, 1971 2–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71) 28–30–16 75 L March 28, 1971 2–4 @ Buffalo Sabres (1970–71) 28–31–16 76 L March 30, 1971 1–2 Vancouver Canucks (1970–71) 28–32–16 77 L March 31, 1971 1–4 @ California Golden Seals (1970–71) 28–33–16
April Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 78 L April 3, 1971 2–3 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1970–71) 28–34–16
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Playoffs

1971 Stanley Cup playoffs
Quarterfinals vs. (W2) St. Louis Blues – North Stars win 4–2 Game Result Date Score Opponent Series 1 W April 7, 1971 3–2 @ St. Louis Blues North Stars lead 1–0 2 L April 8, 1971 2–4 @ St. Louis Blues Series tied 1–1 3 L April 10, 1971 0–3 St. Louis Blues Blues lead 2–1 4 W April 11, 1971 2–1 St. Louis Blues Series tied 2–2 5 W April 13, 1971 4–3 @ St. Louis Blues North Stars lead 3–2 6 W April 15, 1971 5–2 St. Louis Blues North Stars win 4–2
Semifinals vs. (E3) Montreal Canadiens – Canadiens win 4–2 Game Result Date Score Opponent Series 1 L April 20, 1971 2–7 @ Montreal Canadiens Canadiens lead 1–0 2 W April 22, 1971 6–3 @ Montreal Canadiens Series tied 1–1 3 L April 24, 1971 3–6 Montreal Canadiens Canadiens lead 2–1 4 W April 25, 1971 5–2 Montreal Canadiens Series tied 2–2 5 L April 27, 1971 1–6 @ Montreal Canadiens Canadiens lead 3–2 6 L April 29, 1971 2–3 Montreal Canadiens Canadiens win 4–2
Legend:   Win   Loss

Draft picks

Minnesota's draft picks at the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	17	Buster Harvey	Canada	Hamilton Red Wings (OHA)
2	20	Fred Barrett	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
3	34	Dennis Patterson	Canada	Peterborough Petes (OHA)
4	48	Dave Cressman	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
5	62	Hank Lehvonen	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
6	76	Murray McNeil	Canada	Calgary Centennials (WCHL)
7	89	Gary Geldart	Canada	London Knights (OHA)
8	101	Mickey Donaldson	Canada	Peterborough Petes (OHA)

See also

• 1970–71 NHL season