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.
1970–71 Final Standings
1970–71 Game ResultsBuffalo finished 10th in the league, 5th in the East.
League
East
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PTS ▾ | PTS% | GF | GA | SOW | SOL | DIFF | xPTS | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Bruins | 78 | 57 | 14 | 7 | 121 | .776 | 399 | 207 | – | – | +192 | 123 | W3 |
| 2 | New York Rangers | 78 | 49 | 18 | 11 | 109 | .699 | 259 | 177 | – | – | +82 | 106 | W1 |
| 3 | Montréal Canadiens | 78 | 42 | 23 | 13 | 97 | .622 | 291 | 216 | – | – | +75 | 101 | L1 |
| 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 78 | 37 | 33 | 8 | 82 | .526 | 248 | 211 | – | – | +37 | 90 | W1 |
| 5 | Buffalo Sabres | 78 | 24 | 39 | 15 | 63 | .404 | 217 | 291 | – | – | -74 | 56 | T2 |
| 6 | Vancouver Canucks | 78 | 24 | 46 | 8 | 56 | .359 | 229 | 296 | – | – | -67 | 58 | L1 |
| 7 | Detroit Red Wings | 78 | 22 | 45 | 11 | 55 | .353 | 209 | 308 | – | – | -99 | 49 | L2 |
West
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PTS ▾ | PTS% | GF | GA | SOW | SOL | DIFF | xPTS | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago Blackhawks | 78 | 49 | 20 | 9 | 107 | .686 | 277 | 184 | – | – | +93 | 108 | L1 |
| 2 | St. Louis Blues | 78 | 34 | 25 | 19 | 87 | .558 | 223 | 208 | – | – | +15 | 83 | T1 |
| 3 | Philadelphia Flyers | 78 | 28 | 33 | 17 | 73 | .468 | 207 | 225 | – | – | -18 | 72 | T1 |
| 4 | Minnesota North Stars | 78 | 28 | 34 | 16 | 72 | .462 | 191 | 223 | – | – | -32 | 66 | L4 |
| 5 | Los Angeles Kings | 78 | 25 | 40 | 13 | 63 | .404 | 239 | 303 | – | – | -64 | 60 | W2 |
| 6 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 78 | 21 | 37 | 20 | 62 | .397 | 221 | 240 | – | – | -19 | 72 | T1 |
| 7 | California Golden Seals | 78 | 20 | 53 | 5 | 45 | .288 | 199 | 320 | – | – | -121 | 44 | L2 |
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.