This Day in Hockey History – April 2, 1969 – Irvine, California

April 2nd was the first night of the postseason in 1968-69. For the first time in NHL history, two Californian teams faced each other for a playoff series. Both having received their franchise the season before, this would be the first postseason for the Oakland Seals and the second for the Los Angeles Kings. To make their Game 1 just a little more special, Kings left-winger Ted Irvine set a record for the fastest goal scored in overtime during a playoff game.

Going into the playoffs, the Seals were better off. They had ended the season with 69 points and ranked second in the new West Division. The Kings had barely made it into the playoffs in fourth place with 58 points and had ended the regular season with five straight losses and a tie.

A mere 5,429 attended Game 1 at Oakland Coliseum. The home team took the lead with two long distance shots that made it past Kings goalie Gerry Desjardins. First, just eight seconds into a penalty kill, Earl Ingarfield sent in a 40-foot, short-handed slap shot. Less than a minute later, Los Angeles rookie Gary Croteau made good on their power play to tie, but then Joe Szura sent another shot down the ice. 

In the second period, Croteau made another goal “from his favorite spot, right in the guts of it all immediately in front of enemy net.” The Seals pulled ahead again when Frank Lacombe scored on a “90-foot fluke shot.” Coach Red Kelly of the Kings noted the three long shots they allowed saying, “They just wanted to win this one so bad, they wouldn’t quit until they did. We had three bad goals scored on us, but we kept coming back.” By that point, Desjardins had pulled a knew and left the net to teammate Wayne Rutledge.

The Kings came back and took the lead thanks to two goals from their leading scorer, Eddie Joyal. Unfortunately for them, with only 2:38 remaining on the clock, “Gene Ubriaco came flying in to slip a screened shot past Rutledge from 15 feet out.”

With the way the two teams played, Seals manager Frank Selke remarked, “We never should have made it into the overtime.” His coach, Frank Glover, admitted, “We came up flat. … But our biggest single problem was that we didn’t play as a hockey team.” He pointed out that their opponents “played a very physical game. We knew they would, but the game was there for the taking.” The opposing coach agreed, “We had more good hits tonight than in any game we’ve played and that made a whale of a difference. We outplayed them badly in the last two periods.” The Oakland Tribune blamed official Bill Friday for letting the match “get out of hand” and become a “sloppy, free-wheeling battle of cross-checks, elbows, and tripping violations, none of which seemed to be called with any frequency.”

Game 1 went into overtime, if only for 19 seconds. That’s how long it took for the “Kings’ first sweep down the ice after winning the faceoff.” The Los Angeles Times recapped, “Jimmy Peters had taken the shot that was blocked by Oakland goalie Gary Smith. But the puck fell at his left foot and Irvine was there to push the puck in and end a frustrating evening in which the Kings thoroughly outplayed the Seals.” Of course, the Oakland area press saw the play differently. “Irvine stepped in front of Seal goalie Gary Smith to control a rebound of center Jimmy Peters’ shot and shove it home,” described the Tribune. The San Francisco Examiner was harsher. “It was a garbage shot by Ted Irvine as he took Jimmy Peters’ rebound and literally forced it by goalie Gary Smith in the crease.”

Regardless, 24-year-old Irvine set an NHL record for the fastest overtime goal in Stanley Cup playoff history. The previous record of 25 seconds was set March 19, 1940 by Syd Howe in a 2-1 victory by the Detroit Red Wings over the New York Americans. Irvine had actually had three game-winner against the Seals already that season. He crowded afterwards, “Never, never, I’ve never scored a bigger goal. I don’t even know how it got in. The puck was there and I just hit it.”

With that, the Kings had their first postseason overtime victory. As the Examiner complained, “Now the series must go five games if the Seals are to win the Western Division semi-finals from their hated Smogsville rivals.” It happened that the opponents needed seven games to decide the series. 

Oakland took the second game 4-2 while still at home on April 3. The series then moved to Los Angeles, where the Seals won Game 3 with a 5-2 victory but the Kings came back in Game 4 with a score of 4-2. Each won at home in Games 5 and 6 to knot the series. The final game took place back at Oakland Coliseum, where the Kings ended the series on April 13 as they began it. 

Irvine (with five goals and one assist) led his team in points for the quarter-finals. Although the Kings advanced to the semi-finals, they were swept by the St. Louis Blues.

As for Irvine’s record, it was broken little more than three years later, on April 9, 1972. Pit Martin of the Chicago Blackhawks scored just 12 seconds into overtime for a 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The current record is 9 seconds, which was set by Brian Skrudland of the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on May 18, 1986.

Additional Sources:

• Chuck Garrity, “Kings Edge Seals in Sudden Death,” Los Angeles Times, 3 April 1969, section 3, pp. 1 and 4.
• Spence Conley, “Seals 1 Down in Playoffs,” Oakland Tribune, 3 April 1969, pp. 37-38.
• Nelson Cullenward, “Unhappy Seals Try To Even Cup Series,” San Francisco Examiner, 3 April 1969, pp. 47-48.
• https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/lak-vs-oak/1969/04/02/1968030141#game=1968030141,game_state=final
• https://records.nhl.com/records/playoff-skater-records/fastest-goals/fastest-goal-period-start-playoff