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1968–69 Los Angeles Kings season

1968–69 Los Angeles Kings
Division4th West
1968–69 record24–42–10
Home record19–14–5
Road record5–28–5
Goals for185
Goals against260
Team information
General managerLarry Regan
CoachRed Kelly
CaptainBob Wall
Team leaders
GoalsEddie Joyal (33)
AssistsReal Lemieux (29)
PointsEddie Joyal (52)
Penalty minutesDale Rolfe (85)
WinsGerry Desjardins (18)
Goals against averageGerry Desjardins (3.26)

The 1968–69 Los Angeles Kings season was the second ever for the Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League. After finishing a surprising second place during the 1967–68 season, the Kings stumbled in their second regular season, finishing with a 24–42–10 record, good for 58 points and fourth place in the six-team Western Division. The Kings made the playoffs, losing in the West Division Final to the St. Louis Blues.

Offseason

The Kings acquired goaltender Gerry Desjardins from the Montreal Canadiens in June, giving up two first-round picks. Goaltender Terry Sawchuk was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in October for Jimmy Peters Jr. On the same day the Kings picked up goaltender prospect Wayne Thomas of the University of Wisconsin from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Desjardins would play the majority of games with Wayne Rutledge his main backup.

Regular season

The Kings second season began with playoff expectations following a second-place finish in their inaugural season. The Kings played well enough at home to be competitive for a playoff spot, but they only won 5 road games all season.

Attendance for the season exceeded 300,000 for the first time over a 38-game home schedule.

Season standings

West Division[1]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 St. Louis Blues 76 37 25 14 204 157 +47 88
2 Oakland Seals 76 29 36 11 219 251 −32 69
3 Philadelphia Flyers 76 20 35 21 174 225 −51 61
4 Los Angeles Kings 76 24 42 10 185 260 −75 58
5 Pittsburgh Penguins 76 20 45 11 189 252 −63 51
6 Minnesota North Stars 76 18 43 15 189 270 −81 51

Record vs. opponents


Playoffs

The Kings pulled off a first round upset, knocking off their in-state rivals the Oakland Seals in seven games in the NHL Quarter-finals. The Kings would then be swept by the St. Louis Blues in the West Division final. Bill Flett led all Kings playoff scorers with 7 points, while Eddie Joyal and Ted Irvine had 6 points each. Irvine had 5 goals to lead the club.

Schedule and results

1968–69 Game Log
October
Game Date Opponent Score Location/attendance Record
1 12 St. Louis Blues 0–6 St. Louis 0–1–0
2 13 Oakland Seals 4–4 Oakland 0-1–1
3 17 Boston Bruins 2–1 Los Angeles 1–1-1
4 19 Minnesota North Stars 1–4 Minnesota 1–2–1
5 20 New York Rangers 0–7 New York 1–3–1
6 23 Montreal Canadiens 2–5 Los Angeles 1–4–1
7 26 Philadelphia Flyers 6–2 Los Angeles 2–4-1
8 30 Chicago Black Hawks 2–4 Los Angeles 2–5–1
November
Game Date Opponent Score Location/attendance Record
9 2 Pittsburgh Penguins 3–2 Los Angeles 3–5-1
10 6 New York Rangers 2–0 Los Angeles 4–5-1
11 9 Toronto Maple Leafs 3–1 Los Angeles 5–5-1
12 12 Oakland Seals 3–1 Los Angeles 6–5-1
13 14 Detroit Red Wings 2–5 Los Angeles 6–6–1
14 16 Minnesota North Stars 2–3 Minnesota 6–7–1
15 17 Philadelphia Flyers 1–3 Philadelphia 6–8–1
16 20 New York Rangers 2–4 New York 6–9–1
17 21 Boston Bruins 1–4 Boston 6–10–1
18 23 Pittsburgh Penguins 2–2 Pittsburgh 6-10–2
19 24 Philadelphia Flyers 3–1 Philadelphia 7–10-2
20 27 Montreal Canadiens 2–4 Los Angeles 7–11–2
21 30 Pittsburgh Penguins 2–4 Los Angeles 7–12–2
December
Game Date Opponent Score Location/attendance Record
22 4 Philadelphia Flyers 3–1 Los Angeles 8–12-2
23 7 Minnesota North Stars 3–2 Los Angeles 9–12-2
24 11 Detroit Red Wings 6–3 Los Angeles 10–12-2
25 14 Pittsburgh Penguins 2–1 Pittsburgh 11–12-2
26 15 St. Louis Blues 1–3 St. Louis 11–13–2
27 18 Montreal Canadiens 2–2 Montreal 11-13–3
28 19 Boston Bruins 4–6 Boston 11–14–3
29 21 Philadelphia Flyers 1–2 Los Angeles 11–15–3
30 26 Minnesota North Stars 4–4 Los Angeles 11-15–4
31 28 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 Toronto 12–15-4
32 29 Chicago Black Hawks 1–4 Chicago 12–16–4
January
Game Date Opponent Score Location/attendance Record
33 1 St. Louis Blues 0–0 Los Angeles 12-16–5
34 5 Oakland Seals 0–0 Oakland 12-16–6
35 7 St. Louis Blues 0–5 St. Louis 12–17–6
36 9 Detroit Red Wings 2–6 Detroit 12–18–6
37 11 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–4 Toronto 12–19–6
38 12 Chicago Black Hawks 2–4 Chicago 12–20–6
39 14 New York Rangers 3–1 Los Angeles 13–20-6
40 16 Chicago Black Hawks 3–2 Los Angeles 14–20-6
41 18 Pittsburgh Penguins 4–0 Los Angeles 15–20-6
42 23 New York Rangers 1–3 New York 15–21–6
43 25 Minnesota North Stars 2–3 Minnesota 15–22–6
44 26 Chicago Black Hawks 3–9 Chicago 15–23–6
45 29 Toronto Maple Leafs 3–1 Los Angeles 16–23-6
46 30 Boston Bruins 5–7 Los Angeles 16–24–6
February
Game Date Opponent Score Location/attendance Record
47 1 Oakland Seals 8–5 Los Angeles 17–24-6
48 4 St. Louis Blues 4–2 Los Angeles 18–24-6
49 6 Montreal Canadiens 2–4 Los Angeles 18–25–6
50 8 Pittsburgh Penguins 4–2 Pittsburgh 19–25-6
51 9 Detroit Red Wings 0–5 Detroit 19–26–6
52 11 Montreal Canadiens 3–7 Montreal 19–27–6
53 13 New York Rangers 4–1 Los Angeles 20–27-6
54 15 St. Louis Blues 1–4 St. Louis 20–28–6
55 16 Detroit Red Wings 3–6 Detroit 20–29–6
56 19 Minnesota North Stars 4–7 Minnesota 20–30–6
57 20 Chicago Black Hawks 2–6 Los Angeles 20–31–6
58 22 St. Louis Blues 1–3 Los Angeles 20–32–6
59 23 Oakland Seals 4–3 Oakland 21–32-6
60 24 Minnesota North Stars 1–1 Los Angeles 21-32–7
61 26 Boston Bruins 2–4 Los Angeles 21–33–7
March
Game Date Opponent Score Location/attendance Record
62 1 Philadelphia Flyers 2–2 Los Angeles 21-33–8
63 5 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–6 Toronto 21–34–8
64 6 Philadelphia Flyers 1–5 Philadelphia 21–35–8
65 8 Montreal Canadiens 3–3 Montreal 21-35–9
66 9 Boston Bruins 2–7 Boston 21–36–9
67 12 Toronto Maple Leafs 0–4 Los Angeles 21–37–9
68 15 Pittsburgh Penguins 3–1 Los Angeles 22–37-9
69 18 Oakland Seals 3–2 Los Angeles 23–37-9
70 20 Detroit Red Wings 4–2 Los Angeles 24–37-9
71 22 Oakland Seals 0–4 Los Angeles 24–38–9
72 23 Oakland Seals 4–5 Oakland 24–39–9
73 26 Pittsburgh Penguins 4–8 Pittsburgh 24–40–9
74 27 Philadelphia Flyers 2–4 Philadelphia 24–41–9
75 29 St. Louis Blues 1–3 Los Angeles 24–42–9
76 30 Minnesota North Stars 3–3 Los Angeles 24-42–10

Playoffs

West Division Semi-final

Los Angeles Kings vs. Oakland Seals

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
April 2 Los Angeles 5 Oakland 4 (OT)
April 3 Los Angeles 2 Oakland 4
April 5 Oakland 5 Los Angeles 2
April 6 Oakland 2 Los Angeles 4
April 9 Los Angeles 1 Oakland 4
April 10 Oakland 3 Los Angeles 4
April 13 Los Angeles 5 Oakland 3

Los Angeles wins best-of-seven series 4–3.

West Division Final

Los Angeles Kings vs. St. Louis Blues

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
April 4 Los Angeles 0 St. Louis 4
April 6 Los Angeles 2 St. Louis 3
April 9 St. Louis 5 Los Angeles 2
April 11 St. Louis 4 Los Angeles 1

St. Louis wins best-of-seven series 4–0.

Player statistics

Forwards

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player GP G A Pts PIM
Eddie Joyal 73 33 19 52 24
Bill Flett 72 24 25 49 53
Real Lemieux 75 11 29 40 68
Ted Irvine 76 15 24 39 47
Howie Hughes 73 16 14 30 10
Lowell MacDonald 58 14 14 38 10
Gord Labossiere 48 10 18 28 12
Howie Menard 56 10 17 27 31
Jimmy Peters 76 10 15 25 28
Phil "Skip" Krake 30 3 9 12 11
Doug Robinson 31 2 10 12 2
Ron Anderson 56 3 5 8 26
Gary Croteau 11 5 1 6 6
Bryan Campbell 18 2 1 3 4
Bill Inglis 10 0 1 1 0
Gerry Foley 1 0 0 0 0
Marc Dufour 2 0 0 0 0

Defencemen

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player GP G A Pts PIM
Bill White 75 5 28 33 38
Bob Wall 71 13 13 26 16
Dale Rolfe 75 3 19 22 85
Brent Hughes 72 2 19 21 73
Larry Cahan 72 3 11 14 76
Dave Amadio 65 1 5 6 60
Jacques Lemieux 0 0 0 0 0

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Player GP MIN W L T SO GAA
Gerry Desjardins 60 3499 18 34 6 4 3.26
Wayne Rutledge 17 921 6 7 4 0 3.65
Jacques Caron 3 140 0 1 0 0 3.86

Awards and records

Records

Milestones

Transactions

The Kings were involved in the following transactions during the 1968–69 season.[3]

Trades

May 20, 1968 To Los Angeles Kings
Skip Krake 		To Boston Bruins
1st round pick in 1970 – Reggie Leach
June 11, 1968 To Los Angeles Kings
Gerry Desjardins 		To Montreal Canadiens
1st round pick in 1969 – Dick Redmond
1st round pick in 1972 – Steve Shutt
June 11, 1968 To Los Angeles Kings
Myron Stankiewicz 		To St. Louis Blues
Terry Gray
July 1, 1968 To Los Angeles Kings
Larry Cahan 		To Montreal Canadiens
Brian Smith
Yves Locas
September 30, 1968 To Los Angeles Kings
Gary Croteau
Brian Murphy
Wayne Thomas 		To Toronto Maple Leafs
Grant Moore
Lou Deveault
October 10, 1968 To Los Angeles Kings
Jimmy Peters Jr. 		To Detroit Red Wings
Terry Sawchuk
November 12, 1968 To Los Angeles Kings
Ron Anderson 		To Detroit Red Wings
Poul Popiel

Reverse Draft

June 6, 1968 To Vancouver Canucks (WHL)
Brian Kilrea
June 10, 1968 From Montreal Canadiens
Noel Price

Intra-league Draft

June 12, 1968 To St. Louis Blues
Myron Stankiewicz

Draft picks

See also: 1968 NHL Entry Draft
Round Pick Player Nationality
1 7 Jim McInally  Canada
  • NOTE: Back before 1979, the amateur draft was held with varying rules and procedures. In 1968, teams only needed to select as many player as they wanted to, which is why there was only one Kings player drafted.

References

  1. ^ "1968–1969 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
  2. ^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
Retrieved from "https://en.Wik.ipedia.Pro.org/w/index.php?title=1968–69_Los_Angeles_Kings_season&oldid=1230072616"

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