April 2, 1972:
I was reminded of this recently.
Buffalo scored a goal with four seconds left in regulation to beat the Flyers on the last day of the regular season. Four seconds was the difference between making the playoffs or not. The Flyers entered the day two points in front of Pittsburgh, who held an easy tiebreaker (GF), for the final spot.
Also, this was the day that Gil Hodges, the active manager of the New York Mets, passed away suddenly and shockingly. He managed the Miracle Mets to a World Series championship less than three years earlier.
From UPI.com:
Hodges Dies After Round Of Golf
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (UPI)—Gil Hodges, manager of the New York Mets and a gentle giant who was one of baseball's greatest sluggers with the old Brooklyn Dodgers, died Sunday from his second heart attack in four years. He would have been 48 on Tuesday.
Hodges collapsed after a round of golf with three of his coaches and was dead at a hospital 45 minutes later. He thrilled hundreds of thousands of fans with his slugging as a player, but perhaps his greatest achievement was taking the rag-tag Mets to a National League pennant and a world championship in 1969. “He was among a breed of ballplayers who, I guess, will pass out one by one,” said Walter O’Malley, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mots’ manager was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where Dr. James Smith, a local obstetrician inserted a tube in his throat and a needle in his heart in an effort to save his life. However, a cardiogram showed a complete arrest of the heart and an examination disclosed that the pupils of his eyes were dilated. His body was to be flown back to New York today with funeral services scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday. He is survived by his widow, Joan; three daughters, Irene, Cynthia and Barbara; and a son, Gil Jr., who is a minor league player in the Mets’ farm system.