The 1974–75 Buffalo Sabres season was the Sabres' fifth season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Sabres finished in a tie for the best record in the NHL in the 1974–75 regular season after a disappointing 1974 that saw the 1973–74 team fail to return to the NHL playoffs as they had the year before. Buffalo advanced to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in team history to play against the rough Philadelphia Flyers (who had been recently nicknamed the "Broad Street Bullies"), a series which included the legendary Fog Game (game three of the series). The Sabres lost the series 4–2. The season marked the Sabres' second NHL playoffs appearance. The season was the first under the tenure of Floyd Smith and the team's first in the newly created Adams Division in the NHL's Prince of Wales Conference. Sabres players earned numerous accolades. Don Luce won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. Rick Martin, Rene Robert, Jerry Korab and Luce were all selected to the 1975 NHL All-Star Game. Martin was a first team NHL All-Star team selection at left wing, while Robert was a second team selection at right wing. The French Connection (Martin, Robert and Gilbert Perreault) were all among the league leaders in important scoring statistics. Transactions Goaltender Dave Dryden was lost to the World Hockey Association following the 1973–74 season. During the 25-round May 1974 NHL amateur draft that was held by conference call, the team participated in the first twelve rounds of the draft. Although several of their selections eventually played in the NHL, the Sabres only drafted three players that played for the team that year. The Sabres acquired defenseman Lee Fogolin (1st round, 11th overall), right winger Danny Gare (2nd round, 29th overall) and defenseman Paul McIntosh (4th round, 65th overall) in the 1974 NHL amateur draft. They had acquired left winger Morris Titanic in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft (1st round, 12th overall) and he was called up from the team's American Hockey League minor league affiliate, the Hershey Bears during the season. In addition, the Sabres drafted Taro Tsujimoto with the 183rd overall pick. Prior to the season, the team had lost right winger Ron Busniuk to the Detroit Red Wings in the June 10, 1974 NHL Intra-League Draft. Buffalo lost right winger Steve Atkinson and center Randy Wyrozub to the Washington Capitals in the June 12, 1974