This Day in Hockey History – December 25, 1971 – Kings Bring Golden Seals for Christmas

In back-to-back years and days, two California teams played each other for the final NHL game played on Christmas Day and then the final game ever played on Christmas Eve. On December 25, 1971, the California Golden Seals defeated the Los Angeles Kings, and on December 24, 1972, they traded places.

The teams played at the Forum (in Inglewood) in 1971 and at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena (in Oakland) in 1972. The former saw a “surprisingly large Christmas night crowd of 7,251, which braved the rain to cheer its hapless favorite.” The latter saw “one of the smallest crowds, 1796, ever to watch” an NHL game.

During both games, the crowd became displeased as the home team failed to even get many shots on goal during the first two periods. As the Los Angeles Times bemoaned in 1971, much of the Kings’ play was “pitiful” and “exceedingly dull” with only 14 shots on rookie goalie Gilles Meloche until the last 15 minutes of the game. The fans began to boo at the “height of futility” at the beginning of the third period when the Kings failed to take any shots during a power play. The Kings finally scored their only goal at 6:38 in the third. In 1972, the San Francisco Examiner groused, “Last night California’s Golden Seals seemed to be dreaming of a White Christmas for two periods of an alleged hockey game with the Los Angeles Kings.” The Seals only managed six shots on Grogatien Vachon in each of the first two periods until finally racking up 16 for the last. Only after a big fight in the third period did the Golden Seals finally start scoring.

In both cases, the home team lost to the visitors. In 1971, the Golden Seals won 3-1, and in 1972, the Kings won 5-3. The Golden Seals ended the last Christmas Day game with an empty net goal by Stan Gilbertson. This ended a seven-game losing streak at the Forum and put the Kings behind the Seals (by 12 points) in the standings. Although Juha Widing scored the last ever Christmas Eve goal (in the last five minutes of the game), all four of Los Angeles’ earlier goals were scored by Serge Bernier. He became the first Kings player to score four in one game and the second player in the NHL to score as many in that season. At that point, the Golden Seals had the second-to-worst record in the NHL.

 Additional Sources:

• “Seals Choke Off Kings’ Late Bid, 3-1,” Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 1971, p. 1C and 4C.
• “Seals Stay In 2d, Top Kings, 3-0,” San Francisco Examiner, 26 Dec. 1971, p. 6C.
• Nelson Cullenward, “Seals Win Fight But Lose Game,” San Francisco Examiner, 26 Dec. 1972, p. 77.
• “Bernier Scores 4 as Kings Wins, 5-3,” Los Angeles Times, 25 Dec. 1972, part 3, p. 1-2.
• “Giacomin Stops Wings for 40th Shutout, 5-0,” Los Angeles Times, 25 Dec. 1972, part 3, p. 2.