Franchise History
Standings by Year
Final NHL standings as of the last day of the regular season, for any year on record. View by Division, Conference, or League, and track where Buffalo (and every other team) stood across a season with the trend chart below.
1971–72 Final Standings
1971–72 Game ResultsBuffalo finished 12th in the league, 6th in the East.
League
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PTS ▾ | PTS% | GF | GA | SOW | SOL | DIFF | xPTS | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Bruins | 78 | 54 | 13 | 11 | 119 | .763 | 330 | 204 | – | – | +126 | 113 | W1 |
| 2 | New York Rangers | 78 | 48 | 17 | 13 | 109 | .699 | 317 | 192 | – | – | +125 | 114 | L2 |
| 3 | Montréal Canadiens | 78 | 46 | 16 | 16 | 108 | .692 | 307 | 205 | – | – | +102 | 108 | W2 |
| 4 | Chicago Blackhawks | 78 | 46 | 17 | 15 | 107 | .686 | 256 | 166 | – | – | +90 | 110 | W2 |
| 5 | Minnesota North Stars | 78 | 37 | 29 | 12 | 86 | .551 | 212 | 191 | – | – | +21 | 86 | L1 |
| 6 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 78 | 33 | 31 | 14 | 80 | .513 | 209 | 208 | – | – | +1 | 78 | L1 |
| 7 | Detroit Red Wings | 78 | 33 | 35 | 10 | 76 | .487 | 261 | 262 | – | – | -1 | 78 | L1 |
| 8 | St. Louis Blues | 78 | 28 | 39 | 11 | 67 | .429 | 208 | 247 | – | – | -39 | 65 | L2 |
| 9 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 78 | 26 | 38 | 14 | 66 | .423 | 220 | 258 | – | – | -38 | 66 | W1 |
| 10 | Philadelphia Flyers | 78 | 26 | 38 | 14 | 66 | .423 | 200 | 236 | – | – | -36 | 65 | L1 |
| 11 | California Golden Seals | 78 | 21 | 39 | 18 | 60 | .385 | 216 | 288 | – | – | -72 | 56 | L6 |
| 12 | Buffalo Sabres | 78 | 16 | 43 | 19 | 51 | .327 | 203 | 289 | – | – | -86 | 52 | W1 |
| 13 | Los Angeles Kings | 78 | 20 | 49 | 9 | 49 | .314 | 206 | 305 | – | – | -99 | 49 | W1 |
| 14 | Vancouver Canucks | 78 | 20 | 50 | 8 | 48 | .308 | 203 | 297 | – | – | -94 | 50 | W1 |
xPTS is the points a team’s goals for and against project: the Pythagorean win estimate GF² / (GF² + GA²), scaled to points as win% × 2 × games played. It follows the current pace on any “as of” date. +/-xPTS is real points minus xPTS, after removing each team’s overtime-loss points. That step matters because xPTS splits a flat 2 points per game, while an overtime game pays out 3, so without it almost every team since 1999–00 reads as lucky. What is left is the points a team banked above or below its goal margin: positive means winning more of the close and overtime games than goal difference alone predicts.