1954–55 Detroit Red Wings season

1954–55 Detroit Red Wings
Division	1st NHL
1954–55 record	42–17–11
Goals for	204
Goals against	134
Team information
General manager	Jack Adams
Coach	Jimmy Skinner
Captain	Ted Lindsay
Alternate captains	Red Kelly Bob Goldham Marty Pavelich
Arena	Detroit Olympia
Team leaders
Goals	Gordie Howe (29)
Assists	Earl Reibel (41)
Points	Earl Reibel (66)
Penalty minutes	Tony Leswick (137)
Wins	Terry Sawchuk (40)
Goals against average	Glenn Hall (1.00)

The 1954–55 Detroit Red Wings season saw the Red Wings finish first overall in the National Hockey League (NHL) with a record of 42 wins, 17 losses, and 11 ties for 95 points. They swept the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Semi-finals and then won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 3 in the 1954 Stanley Cup Finals. The Red Wings would not win another Stanley Cup until 1997.

Regular Season

Sawchuk, Skov and Lindsay go after a heckler, November 11, 1954.

On November 11, the Detroit Red Wings were playing a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Angry that Metro Prystai had been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks at the bequest of Leafs Conn Smythe in the name of league parity, the Wings were in a foul mood. Ted Lindsay fought with Leafs Jim Thomson and then coach King Clancy. The Leafs won 1-0 and as the Wings were leaving the ice, a hometown fan heckled Glen Skov. Skov, goalie Terry Sawchuk, Sid Abel and Lindsay scaled the wire mesh over the boards to get at the fan, with Lindsay punching the heckler in the eye.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Detroit Red Wings	70	42	17	11	95	204	134
Montreal Canadiens	70	41	18	11	93	228	157
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	24	24	22	70	147	135
Boston Bruins	70	23	26	21	67	169	188
New York Rangers	70	17	35	18	52	150	210
Chicago Black Hawks	70	13	40	17	43	161	235

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 7, 1954	2–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	1–0–0
2	W	October 9, 1954	4–0	New York Rangers (1954–55)	2–0–0
3	W	October 13, 1954	3–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	3–0–0
4	L	October 16, 1954	1–3	Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	3–1–0
5	W	October 17, 1954	5–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	4–1–0
6	W	October 21, 1954	5–3	Boston Bruins (1954–55)	5–1–0
7	L	October 23, 1954	2–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	5–2–0
8	L	October 27, 1954	2–5	@ New York Rangers (1954–55)	5–3–0
9	W	October 30, 1954	4–0	Boston Bruins (1954–55)	6–3–0
10	T	November 3, 1954	1–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	6–3–1
11	W	November 4, 1954	3–2	@ Boston Bruins (1954–55)	7–3–1
12	L	November 6, 1954	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	7–4–1
13	W	November 7, 1954	1–0	New York Rangers (1954–55)	8–4–1
14	L	November 11, 1954	0–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	8–5–1
15	L	November 13, 1954	0–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	8–6–1
16	W	November 14, 1954	4–1	Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	9–6–1
17	W	November 20, 1954	5–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	10–6–1
18	W	November 21, 1954	1–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	11–6–1
19	W	November 25, 1954	2–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	12–6–1
20	L	November 27, 1954	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	12–7–1
21	L	November 28, 1954	2–6	@ Boston Bruins (1954–55)	12–8–1
22	W	December 1, 1954	6–1	@ New York Rangers (1954–55)	13–8–1
23	L	December 2, 1954	1–4	Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	13–9–1
24	L	December 4, 1954	0–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	13–10–1
25	W	December 5, 1954	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	14–10–1
26	W	December 9, 1954	3–2	New York Rangers (1954–55)	15–10–1
27	W	December 11, 1954	4–1	New York Rangers (1954–55)	16–10–1
28	W	December 12, 1954	4–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	17–10–1
29	T	December 15, 1954	3–3	@ New York Rangers (1954–55)	17–10–2
30	W	December 16, 1954	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1954–55)	18–10–2
31	W	December 18, 1954	4–1	Boston Bruins (1954–55)	19–10–2
32	L	December 19, 1954	0–5	Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	19–11–2
33	T	December 22, 1954	2–2	@ New York Rangers (1954–55)	19–11–3
34	W	December 25, 1954	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	20–11–3
35	T	December 26, 1954	1–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	20–11–4
36	W	December 30, 1954	4–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	21–11–4
37	L	January 1, 1955	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	21–12–4
38	W	January 2, 1955	3–2	Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	22–12–4
39	T	January 6, 1955	3–3	Boston Bruins (1954–55)	22–12–5
40	W	January 8, 1955	1–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	23–12–5
41	W	January 9, 1955	6–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	24–12–5
42	W	January 13, 1955	4–0	Boston Bruins (1954–55)	25–12–5
43	W	January 15, 1955	4–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	26–12–5
44	W	January 16, 1955	3–0	New York Rangers (1954–55)	27–12–5
45	L	January 19, 1955	0–2	@ New York Rangers (1954–55)	27–13–5
46	L	January 20, 1955	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1954–55)	27–14–5
47	L	January 22, 1955	1–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	27–15–5
48	W	January 23, 1955	4–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	28–15–5
49	T	January 27, 1955	3–3	New York Rangers (1954–55)	28–15–6
50	T	January 29, 1955	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	28–15–7
51	W	January 30, 1955	7–1	Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	29–15–7
52	T	February 3, 1955	1–1	Boston Bruins (1954–55)	29–15–8
53	L	February 5, 1955	4–8	@ Boston Bruins (1954–55)	29–16–8
54	T	February 6, 1955	2–2	@ Boston Bruins (1954–55)	29–16–9
55	W	February 12, 1955	2–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	30–16–9
56	W	February 13, 1955	5–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	31–16–9
57	W	February 15, 1955	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	32–16–9
58	L	February 17, 1955	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	32–17–9
59	W	February 20, 1955	5–0	@ New York Rangers (1954–55)	33–17–9
60	T	February 21, 1955	2–2	Boston Bruins (1954–55)	33–17–10
61	T	February 26, 1955	1–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	33–17–11
62	W	February 27, 1955	3–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	34–17–11
63	W	March 3, 1955	6–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	35–17–11
64	W	March 5, 1955	6–2	New York Rangers (1954–55)	36–17–11
65	W	March 6, 1955	2–1	@ New York Rangers (1954–55)	37–17–11
66	W	March 12, 1955	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1954–55)	38–17–11
67	W	March 13, 1955	6–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1954–55)	39–17–11
68	W	March 16, 1955	5–4	@ Boston Bruins (1954–55)	40–17–11
69	W	March 17, 1955	4–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	41–17–11
70	W	March 20, 1955	6–0	Montreal Canadiens (1954–55)	42–17–11

Playoffs

Detroit Red Wings 4, Montreal Canadiens 3

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
April 3	Montreal	2	Detroit	4
April 5	Montreal	1	Detroit	7
April 7	Detroit	2	Montreal	6
April 9	Detroit	3	Montreal	5
April 10	Montreal	1	Detroit	5
April 12	Detroit	3	Montreal	6
April 14	Montreal	1	Detroit	3

Player Stats

Forwards

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Earl Reibel	70	25	41	66	15
Gordie Howe	64	29	33	62	68
Alex Delvecchio	69	17	31	48	37
Ted Lindsay	49	19	19	38	85
Marcel Bonin	69	16	20	36	53
Marty Pavelich	70	15	15	30	59
Glen Skov	70	14	16	30	53
Johnny Wilson	70	12	15	27	14
Tony Leswick	70	10	17	27	137
Vic Stasiuk	59	8	11	19	67
Bill Dineen	69	10	9	19	36
Metro Prystai	12	2	3	5	9
Benny Woit	62	2	3	5	22
Lorne Davis	22	0	5	5	2
Don Poile	4	0	0	0	0

Defencemen

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Red Kelly	70	15	30	45	28
Marcel Pronovost	70	9	25	34	90
Bob Goldham	69	1	16	17	14
Jim Hay	21	0	1	1	20
Ed Zeniuk	2	0	0	0	0
Larry Hillman	6	0	0	0	2
Keith Allen	18	0	0	0	6

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Player	GP	W	L	T	SO	GAA
Terry Sawchuk	68	40	17	11	12	1.96
Glenn Hall	2	2	0	0	0	1.00

Detroit Red Wings 1955 Stanley Cup Champions

Roster

  Centers

• 10 Metro Prystai
• 12 Glen Skov
• 14 Earl Reibel
• 17 Alex Delvecchio
• 19 Vic Stasiuk&

  Wingers

• 7 Ted Lindsay (A. Capt.)
• 8 Tony Leswick
• 9 Gordie Howe
• 15 Marty Pavelich
• 16 Johnny Wilson
• 17 Bill Dineen
• 20 Marcel Bonin

  Defensemen

• 2 Bob Goldham (A. Capt.)
• 3 Marcel Pronovost
• 4 Leonard Red Kelly (A. Capt.)
• 5 Benny Woit
• 15 Larry Hillman
• 18 Jim Hay

  Goaltenders

• 1 Terry Sawchuk

  Non-players

• Marguerite Norris (President/Owner), Jack Adams (Manager)
• Bruce Norris (Vice Presidents/Owners), Tommy Ivan (Coach)
• John Mitchell (Chief Scout), Fred Huber Jr. (Publicity Director)
• Carl Mattson (Trainer), Ross Wilson (Ass't Trainer)

Stanley Cup Engraving

• Larry Hillman became the youngest player to be engraved on the Stanley Cup at 18 years, 2 months, 9 days. Gaye Stewart held the previous record in 1942 at 18 years, 9 months, and 21 days.

Awards and Records

• Prince of Wales Trophy: Detroit Red Wings
• Vezina Trophy: Terry Sawchuk
• Red Kelly, Defence, NHL First Team All-Star
• Bob Goldham, Defence, NHL Second Team All-Star
• Terry Sawchuk, Goaltender, NHL Second Team All-Star

Video

A little over a minute worth of highlights of Semi-finals game 4 which the Red Wings won 3-0 to sweep the Maple Leafs. Goals by Vic Stasiuk and an empty netter by Tony Leswick are shown.

TOR DET Rivalry 1955 Semis Wings Sweep Leafs

Over 10 minutes of highlights of the 1955 Stanley Cup Finals featuring all goals.

1955 Stanley cup final highlights Detroit vs Montreal

References

• Red Wings on Hockey Database

Detroit Red Wings
Team	Franchise • Players • Coaches • GMs • Seasons • Draft Picks • Little Caesars Arena
Stanley Cups	1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008
Affiliates	Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL), Toledo Walleye (ECHL)