Original Captain Ed Westfall scores the Islanders' 1st goal, and Morris Stefaniw scores the 1st for the Flames, who win, 3-2. Stefaniw's goal is the 1st in the Coliseum's history, and it turns out to be the only one he scores in the NHL: Aside from 13 games with the Flames that season, he turns out to be a career minor leaguer.
The Isles' 1st season will be very rough, giving no indication as to the consistent excellence they will produce from 1975 to 1987, and the 4 straight Stanley Cups they will win from 1980 to 1983.
UPDATE: The Islanders have a team Hall of Fame. Through the 2025-26 season, defenseman Ed Westfall, their 1st Captain, is the only player in it who did not last until the 4 straight Stanley Cups began in 1980. "The Pats," center Pat LaFontaine and right wing Patrick Flatley, are the only players from after those Cup wins to be inducted.
Everyone else in it was a member of at least 2 of the Cup winners. Center Brent Sutter won the last 2, and defenseman Ken Morrow, also a member of the U.S. Olympic team that won the Gold Medal in 1980, won all 4.
General manager Bill Torrey was honored with a banner with a picture of his signature bow tie, and the words "The Architect." Head coach Al Arbour was honored with a banner bearing the number 739, for his coaching wins, until someone discovered that he'd coached 1,499 games, and, with the NHL's permission, was brought back to coach one more game in 2007. He won it, and, instead of a new banner with the number 740, it had the number 1500 (no comma).
The other honorees have had their uniform numbers retired: 5, defenseman and Captain Denis Potvin; 9, left wing Clark Gillies; 19, center Bryan Trottier; 22, right wing Mike Bossy, 23, right wing Bobby Nystrom; 27, left wing, John Tonelli; 31, goaltender Billy Smith; and 91, Butch Goring, who had worn 19 with the Los Angeles Kings, and reversed the digits out of respect to Trottier.
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October 7, 1972 was a Saturday. There were 6 other games played in the NHL that day:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-0 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Philadelphia Flyers and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 4-4 at the St. Louis Arena.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the California Golden Seals, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
The World Hockey Association played its 1st games 4 days later. The NBA and the ABA were a few more days away from debuting. In baseball, both Leagues' Championship Series began:
* In the American League, the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Al Kaline and Norm Cash hit home runs off Catfish Hunter, and Mickey Lolich went the distance, but ran out of gas in the 11th inning, as Gonzalo Marquez got the winning hit for the A's. The A's would win the Pennant in 5 games.
* In the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Al Oliver homered for the Pirates, Joe Morgan for the Reds. In spite of this loss, the Reds would win the Pennant in 5 games. Game 5 would be the last game for Roberto Clemente of the Pirates, who was killed in a plane crash the following New Year's Eve.
The NFL played the next day, but there were big college football games played on this Saturday:
* The Number 1-ranked University of Southern California beat Stanford, 30-21 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California. This was the closest that USC came to losing a game that season.
* Number 4 Alabama beat Georgia, 25-7 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.
* Number 7 Notre Dame beat Michigan State, 16-0 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.
* Number 10 Penn State beat Illinois, 35-17 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.
* Princeton and New York's Columbia played to a 0-0 tie at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.
* And Rutgers lost to Cornell, 36-22 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.
Also, what would become my high school, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat Woodbridge, 19-13 at Woodbridge Stadium (now Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium) in Woodbridge.
And Arsenal lost to Sheffield United, 1-0 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
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