1953–54 Montreal Canadiens season

	1953–54 Montreal Canadiens
Division	2nd NHL
1953–54 record	35-24-11
Goals for	195
Goals against	141
Team information
General manager	Frank J. Selke
Coach	Dick Irvin
Captain	Emile Bouchard
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Maurice Richard (37)
Assists	Bert Olmstead (37)
Points	Maurice Richard (67)
Penalty minutes	Maurice Richard (112)
Wins	Gerry McNeil (28)
Goals against average	Jacques Plante (1.59)
	← 1952–53 1954–55 →

The 1953–54 Montreal Canadiens season was the 45th season in franchise history. The team placed first second in the regular season to qualify for the playoffs. The Canadiens lost in 1954 Stanley Cup Finals to Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 3.

Regular Season[]

20Dec1953-Geoffrion Murphy — Bernie Geoffrion clubs Ron Murphy, December 20, 1953.

The December 20, 1953 game between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens saw stick work between Ron Murphy and Bernie Geoffrion. Geoffrion wanted to fight and had dropped his stick but Murphy wouldn't let go of his. Geoffrion retrieved his stick and swung it at Murphy until he made contact with his head. Murphy was knocked unconscious, suffered a broken jaw and concussion and missed the reason of the season recovering from the attack. Geoffrion was suspended for all remaining games versus the Rangers for the season.

Final Standings[]

National Hockey League
	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Detroit Red Wings	70	37	19	14	88	191	132
Montreal Canadiens	70	35	24	11	81	195	141
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	32	24	14	78	152	131
Boston Bruins	70	32	28	10	74	177	181
New York Rangers	70	29	31	10	68	161	182
Chicago Black Hawks	70	12	51	7	31	133	242

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game Log[]

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 8, 1953	3–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	1–0–0
2	W	October 10, 1953	4–1	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	2–0–0
3	L	October 11, 1953	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	2–1–0
4	W	October 15, 1953	6–1	New York Rangers (1953–54)	3–1–0
5	W	October 17, 1953	5–2	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	4–1–0
6	L	October 18, 1953	0–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	4–2–0
7	W	October 22, 1953	3–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	5–2–0
8	W	October 24, 1953	1–0	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	6–2–0
9	W	October 25, 1953	2–1	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	7–2–0
10	W	October 29, 1953	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	8–2–0
11	L	October 31, 1953	0–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	8–3–0
12	L	November 1, 1953	1–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	8–4–0
13	W	November 5, 1953	4–3	New York Rangers (1953–54)	9–4–0
14	W	November 7, 1953	5–2	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	10–4–0
15	L	November 8, 1953	0–2	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	10–5–0
16	L	November 11, 1953	1–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	10–6–0
17	W	November 12, 1953	4–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	11–6–0
18	L	November 14, 1953	2–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	11–7–0
19	T	November 15, 1953	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	11–7–1
20	W	November 19, 1953	1–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	12–7–1
21	W	November 21, 1953	1–0	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	13–7–1
22	T	November 22, 1953	2–2	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	13–7–2
23	W	November 26, 1953	6–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	14–7–2
24	L	November 28, 1953	1–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	14–8–2
25	L	November 29, 1953	1–2	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	14–9–2
26	W	December 3, 1953	5–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	15–9–2
27	W	December 5, 1953	4–2	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	16–9–2
28	W	December 6, 1953	7–2	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	17–9–2
29	L	December 9, 1953	0–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	17–10–2
30	W	December 10, 1953	5–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	18–10–2
31	W	December 12, 1953	7–2	New York Rangers (1953–54)	19–10–2
32	L	December 13, 1953	3–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	19–11–2
33	W	December 19, 1953	7–3	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	20–11–2
34	L	December 20, 1953	1–3	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	20–12–2
35	W	December 26, 1953	2–0	New York Rangers (1953–54)	21–12–2
36	T	December 30, 1953	2–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	21–12–3
37	T	December 31, 1953	2–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	21–12–4
38	T	January 2, 1954	1–1	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	21–12–5
39	L	January 3, 1954	3–4	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	21–13–5
40	W	January 7, 1954	7–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	22–13–5
41	W	January 9, 1954	12–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	23–13–5
42	L	January 10, 1954	1–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	23–14–5
43	W	January 16, 1954	2–1	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	24–14–5
44	L	January 17, 1954	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	24–15–5
45	L	January 21, 1954	0–1	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	24–16–5
46	W	January 23, 1954	5–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	25–16–5
47	L	January 24, 1954	3–8	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	25–17–5
48	W	January 27, 1954	2–0	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	26–17–5
49	L	January 30, 1954	1–2	New York Rangers (1953–54)	26–18–5
50	L	February 4, 1954	2–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	26–19–5
51	W	February 6, 1954	4–3	New York Rangers (1953–54)	27–19–5
52	W	February 7, 1954	4–1	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	28–19–5
53	T	February 11, 1954	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	28–19–6
54	T	February 13, 1954	2–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	28–19–7
55	L	February 14, 1954	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	28–20–7
56	W	February 18, 1954	4–2	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	29–20–7
57	W	February 20, 1954	2–0	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	30–20–7
58	L	February 22, 1954	0–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	30–21–7
59	T	February 25, 1954	0–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	30–21–8
60	W	February 27, 1954	5–0	New York Rangers (1953–54)	31–21–8
61	L	February 28, 1954	0–2	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	31–22–8
62	T	March 4, 1954	1–1	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	31–22–9
63	T	March 6, 1954	3–3	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	31–22–10
64	T	March 7, 1954	2–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	31–22–11
65	L	March 11, 1954	0–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	31–23–11
66	W	March 13, 1954	4–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	32–23–11
67	W	March 14, 1954	6–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	33–23–11
68	L	March 17, 1954	1–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	33–24–11
69	W	March 20, 1954	6–1	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54)	34–24–11
70	W	March 21, 1954	3–1	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	35–24–11

^[1]

Playoffs[]

Montreal Canadiens 4, Boston Bruins 0[]

The teams met the previous year in the 1953 Stanley Cup Finals where Montreal prevailed 4 games to 1. The Canadiens won in convincing fashion, never trailing in a game and despite Maurice Richard not registering a point in the series. Jacques Plante was brilliant, allowing only 4 goals in 4 games and posting 2 shutouts. At the end of the playoffs, after managing the Bruins since their first season in 1924-25, Art Ross announced his retirement and was replaced by Lynn Patrick.

23Mar1954-Plante stops Klukay — Jacques Plante stops Joe Klukay in Game 1 of the Semi-finals, March 23, 1954.

Game 1 at the Montreal Forum saw the Canadiens pepper Bruins goalie Jim Henry with 43 shots. After Canadiens Lorne Davis opened the scoring at 4:25 in the second period it appeared Boston had tied it up when a Doug Mohns shot eluded Plante and skittered towards the open net. Doug Harvey batted it out and the goal judge declared the puck hadn't crossed the line. The Bruins couldn't solve Plante and Bernie Geoffrion scored in the third period for a 2-0 Montreal win.

Game 2 in Montreal saw the Canadiens dominate from the opening faceoff as Dickie Moore scored 10 seconds into the game. Montreal scored three more in the first period then Moore potted his second for a 5-0 lead. After Jean Béliveau scored his first career playoff goal early in the second, the game got chippy. Fleming Mackell scored Boston's only goal of the game at 13:02 and then several fights broke out. The fighting continued in the third period as 94 minutes in penalties were called in the game. Paul Meger and Beliveau added goals for a 8-1 Canadiens romp and 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 at the Boston Garden was the closest game of the series. After a scoreless first period, Butch Bouchard and Cal Gardner traded goals in the first minute of the second period. Geoffrion and Bouchard made it 3-1 going into the third period. The Bruins fought back hard and goals by Doug Mohns and Milt Schmidt (the last of his career) tied it up with four minutes left. Dickie Moore scored with 1:30 left to win it 4-3 for Montreal.

Game 4 in Boston saw Montreal sweep the series on goals by Floyd Curry and Dickie Moore's 4th of the series.

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	March 23	Boston Bruins	0-2	Montreal Canadiens	0-1
2	March 25	Boston Bruins	1-8	Montreal Canadiens	0-2
3	March 28	Montreal Canadiens	4-3	Boston Bruins	3-0
4	March 30	Montreal Canadiens	2-0	Boston Bruins	4-0

Detroit Red Wings 4, Montreal Canadiens 3[]

For more details on this topic, see 1954 Stanley Cup Finals.

^[2]

Player Stats[]

Regular Season[]

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard	RW	70	37	30	67	112
Geoffrion, BernieBernie Geoffrion	RW	54	29	25	54	87
Olmstead, BertBert Olmstead	LW	70	15	37	52	85
Mosdell, KenKen Mosdell	C	67	22	24	46	64
Harvey, DougDoug Harvey	D	68	8	29	37	110
Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau	C	44	13	21	34	22
Masnick, PaulPaul Masnick	C	50	5	21	26	57
Lach, ElmerElmer Lach	C	48	5	20	25	28
MacKay, CalumCalum MacKay	LW	47	10	13	23	54
Curry, FloydFloyd Curry	RW	70	13	8	21	22
Mazur, EddieEddie Mazur	D/LW	67	7	14	21	95
Johnson, TomTom Johnson	D	70	7	11	18	85
McCormack, JohnJohn McCormack	C	51	5	10	15	12
St. Laurent, DollardDollard St. Laurent	D	53	3	12	15	43
Meger, PaulPaul Meger	LW	44	4	9	13	24
Gamble, DickDick Gamble	LW	32	4	8	12	18
Bouchard, ButchButch Bouchard	D	70	1	10	11	89
Davis, LorneLorne Davis	RW	37	6	4	10	2
Moore, DickieDickie Moore	LW	13	1	4	5	12
MacPherson, BudBud MacPherson	D	41	0	5	5	41
Corriveau, AndreAndre Corriveau	RW	3	0	1	1	0
Burchell, FredFred Burchell	C	2	0	0	0	2
Desaulniers, GerardGerard Desaulniers	C	3	0	0	0	0
Litzenberger, EdEd Litzenberger	C/RW	3	0	0	0	0
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	G	17	0	0	0	0
McNeil, GerryGerry McNeil	G	53	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
McNeil, GerryGerry McNeil	3180	53	28	19	6	114	2.15	6
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	1020	17	7	5	5	27	1.59	5
Team:	4200	70	35	24	11	141	2.01	11

Playoffs[]

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Moore, DickieDickie Moore	LW	11	5	8	13	8
Geoffrion, BernieBernie Geoffrion	RW	11	6	5	11	18
Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau	C	10	2	8	10	4
Curry, FloydFloyd Curry	RW	11	4	0	4	4
Masnick, PaulPaul Masnick	C	10	0	4	4	4
Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard	RW	11	3	0	3	22
Bouchard, ButchButch Bouchard	D	11	2	1	3	4
Johnson, TomTom Johnson	D	11	1	2	3	30
St. Laurent, DollardDollard St. Laurent	D	10	1	2	3	8
Mazur, EddieEddie Mazur	D/LW	11	0	3	3	7
Davis, LorneLorne Davis	RW	11	2	0	2	8
Harvey, DougDoug Harvey	D	10	0	2	2	12
Lach, ElmerElmer Lach	C	4	0	2	2	0
Meger, PaulPaul Meger	LW	6	1	0	1	4
Mosdell, KenKen Mosdell	C	11	1	0	1	4
MacKay, CalumCalum MacKay	LW	3	0	1	1	0
McCormack, JohnJohn McCormack	C	7	0	1	1	0
Olmstead, BertBert Olmstead	LW	11	0	1	1	19
Stewart, GayeGaye Stewart	LW	3	0	0	0	0
MacPherson, BudBud MacPherson	D	3	0	0	0	4
McNeil, GerryGerry McNeil	G	3	0	0	0	0
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	G	8	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	480	8	5	3	15	1.88	2
McNeil, GerryGerry McNeil	190	3	2	1	3	0.95	1
Team:	670	11	7	4	18	1.61	3

^[3]

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes; PPG=Power-play goals; SHG=Short-handed goals; GWG=Game-winning goals

MIN=Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; SO = Shutouts

Awards and Records[]

Ken Mosdell: Center, NHL First Team All-Star
Doug Harvey: Defense, NHL First Team All-Star
Maurice Richard, Right Wing, NHL Second Team All-Star

Transactions[]

Gallery[]

Video[]

Nearly 25 minutes of highlights featuring all goals and many penalties from all seven games of the 1954 Finals.

1954 Stanley Cup Finals

Narrated highlights of all seven games of the 1954 Finals featuring nearly all goals.

1954 NHL STANLEY CUP WINNERS ARE THE DETROIT RED WINGS DEFEATING THE MONTREAL CANADIENS

References[]

↑ 1953–54 Montreal Canadiens Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
↑ Montreal Canadiens 1954-55 Game Log and Scores. Databasehockey.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-08.
↑ 1953-54 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.

[1] 1953–54 Montreal Canadiens Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.

[2] Montreal Canadiens 1954-55 Game Log and Scores. Databasehockey.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-08.

[3] 1953-54 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Montreal Canadiens Seasons
1900s	1909–10
1910s	1910–11 • 1911–12 • 1912–13 • 1913–14 • 1914–15 • 1915–16 • 1916–17 • 1917–18 • 1918–19 • 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 • 1921–22 • 1922–23 • 1923–24 • 1924–25 • 1925–26 • 1926–27 • 1927–28 • 1928–29 • 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 • 1931–32 • 1932–33 • 1933–34 • 1934–35 • 1935–36 • 1936–37 • 1937–38 • 1938–39 • 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 • 1941–42 • 1942–43 • 1943–44 • 1944–45 • 1945–46 • 1946–47 • 1947–48 • 1948–49 • 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 • 1951–52 • 1952–53 • 1953–54 • 1954–55 • 1955–56 • 1956–57 • 1957–58 • 1958–59 • 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 • 1961–62 • 1962–63 • 1963–64 • 1964–65 • 1965–66 • 1966–67 • 1967–68 • 1968–69 • 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 • 1971–72 • 1972–73 • 1973–74 • 1974–75 • 1975–76 • 1976–77 • 1977–78 • 1978–79 • 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 • 1981–82 • 1982–83 • 1983–84 • 1984–85 • 1985–86 • 1986–87 • 1987–88 • 1988–89 • 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 • 1991–92 • 1992–93 • 1993–94 • 1994–95 • 1995–96 • 1996–97 • 1997–98 • 1998–99 • 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 • 2001–02 • 2002–03 • 2003–04 • 2004–05 • 2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007–08 • 2008–09 • 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 • 2011–12 • 2012–13 • 2013–14 • 2014–15 • 2015–16 • 2016–17 • 2017–18 • 2018–19 • 2019–20
Bold indicates Stanley Cup Championship

Montreal Canadiens
Franchise	Franchise • Original Six • Players • Coaches • General Managers • Seasons • Records • Draft Picks • Award Winners
Arenas	Jubilee Arena • Montreal Arena • Mount Royal Arena • Montreal Forum • Bell Centre
Affiliates	Laval Rocket (AHL)

1953–54 NHL season by team
Teams	Boston • Chicago • Detroit • Montreal • New York • Toronto
See also	All-Star Game • 1954 Stanley Cup Finals

1953–54 Montreal Canadiens season

Contents

Regular Season[]

Final Standings[]

Game Log[]

Playoffs[]

Montreal Canadiens 4, Boston Bruins 0[]

Detroit Red Wings 4, Montreal Canadiens 3[]

Player Stats[]

Regular Season[]

Playoffs[]

Awards and Records[]

Transactions[]

Gallery[]

Video[]

See Also[]

References[]