1996–97 Montreal Canadiens season

1996–97 Montreal Canadiens · NHL
Division	4th Northeast
Conference	8th Eastern
1996–97 record	31–36–15
Home record	17–17–7
Road record	14–19–8
Goals for	249
Goals against	276
General Manager	Rejean Houle
Coach	Mario Tremblay
Captain	Pierre Turgeon (Oct) Vincent Damphousse (Oct-Apr)
Arena	Bell Centre
Team Leaders
Goals	Mark Recchi (34)
Assists	Vincent Damphousse (54)
Points	Vincent Damphousse (81)
Penalties in minutes	Scott Thornton (128)
Wins	Jocelyn Thibault (22)
Goals against average	Jocelyn Thibault (2.90)
← Seasons →

The 1996–97 Montreal Canadiens season was the club's 88th season. The Canadiens qualified for the playoffs despite a sub-.500 season. The Canadiens were eliminated in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals (the first round) by the New Jersey Devils 4 games to 1.

OffseasonEdit

Regular seasonEdit

Final standingsEdit

Northeast Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Buffalo Sabres	82	40	30	12	237	208	92
Pittsburgh Penguins	82	38	36	8	285	280	84
Ottawa Senators	82	31	36	15	226	234	77
Montreal Canadiens	82	31	36	15	249	276	77
Hartford Whalers	82	32	39	11	226	256	75
Boston Bruins	82	26	47	9	234	300	61

Game logEdit

#	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	T	Oct 5, 1996	3–3 OT	Ottawa Senators	0–0–1
2	T	Oct 7, 1996	6–6 OT	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	0–0–2
3	W	Oct 9, 1996	6–3	Los Angeles Kings	1–0–2
4	W	Oct 12, 1996	5–2	New York Rangers	2–0–2
5	L	Oct 15, 1996	2–3	@ New Jersey Devils	2–1–2
6	W	Oct 16, 1996	4–2	Calgary Flames	3–1–2
7	L	Oct 19, 1996	3–6	@ Ottawa Senators	3–2–2
8	L	Oct 24, 1996	3–6	@ Buffalo Sabres	3–3–2
9	W	Oct 26, 1996	6–5	Philadelphia Flyers	4–3–2
10	L	Oct 28, 1996	4–5 OT	Phoenix Coyotes	4–4–2
11	L	Oct 30, 1996	3–5	@ Detroit Red Wings	4–5–2
12	L	Nov 2, 1996	3–4 OT	@ San Jose Sharks	4–6–2
13	T	Nov 3, 1996	4–4 OT	@ Phoenix Coyotes	4–6–3
14	W	Nov 6, 1996	6–5	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	5–6–3
15	L	Nov 7, 1996	1–4	@ Los Angeles Kings	5–7–3
16	L	Nov 9, 1996	2–5	@ Colorado Avalanche	5–8–3
17	W	Nov 11, 1996	3–2 OT	Edmonton Oilers	6–8–3
18	L	Nov 13, 1996	3–5	Florida Panthers	6–9–3
19	L	Nov 15, 1996	1–3	@ Washington Capitals	6–10–3
20	W	Nov 16, 1996	6–1	Vancouver Canucks	7–10–3
21	L	Nov 20, 1996	1–3	@ Hartford Whalers	7–11–3
22	W	Nov 21, 1996	6–2	@ Boston Bruins	8–11–3
23	W	Nov 23, 1996	4–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	9–11–3
24	W	Nov 25, 1996	4–2	Tampa Bay Lightning	10–11–3
25	T	Nov 27, 1996	2–2 OT	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	10–11–4
26	L	Nov 30, 1996	0–2	Washington Capitals	10–12–4
27	L	Dec 1, 1996	2–6	@ New York Rangers	10–13–4
28	L	Dec 4, 1996	3–4	Boston Bruins	10–14–4
29	W	Dec 6, 1996	3–1	@ Chicago Blackhawks	11–14–4
30	W	Dec 7, 1996	3–2	Chicago Blackhawks	12–14–4
31	L	Dec 11, 1996	2–3 OT	Buffalo Sabres	12–15–4
32	T	Dec 14, 1996	3–3 OT	@ New Jersey Devils	12–15–5
33	L	Dec 16, 1996	2–4	Tampa Bay Lightning	12–16–5
34	L	Dec 21, 1996	2–3 OT	New York Rangers	12–17–5
35	L	Dec 23, 1996	0–6	Ottawa Senators	12–18–5
36	T	Dec 26, 1996	3–3 OT	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	12–18–6
37	T	Dec 28, 1996	4–4 OT	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	12–18–7
38	W	Dec 29, 1996	2–1	@ Florida Panthers	13–18–7
39	W	Jan 1, 1997	6–4	@ Dallas Stars	14–18–7
40	T	Jan 2, 1997	2–2 OT	@ St. Louis Blues	14–18–8
41	W	Jan 4, 1997	3–1	New York Islanders	15–18–8
42	W	Jan 6, 1997	5–4	Hartford Whalers	16–18–8
43	L	Jan 9, 1997	4–5	@ Boston Bruins	16–19–8
44	W	Jan 11, 1997	6–3	Boston Bruins	17–19–8
45	L	Jan 13, 1997	1–2	Dallas Stars	17–20–8
46	L	Jan 14, 1997	2–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers	17–21–8
47	W	Jan 20, 1997	4–1	Detroit Red Wings	18–21–8
48	L	Jan 22, 1997	1–6	@ Buffalo Sabres	18–22–8
49	L	Jan 25, 1997	1–8	St. Louis Blues	18–23–8
50	L	Jan 26, 1997	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	18–24–8
51	L	Jan 28, 1997	1–5	@ Florida Panthers	18–25–8
52	W	Jan 30, 1997	4–1	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	19–25–8
53	T	Feb 1, 1997	4–4 OT	New Jersey Devils	19–25–9
54	T	Feb 3, 1997	2–2 OT	Florida Panthers	19–25–10
55	L	Feb 5, 1997	3–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	19–26–10
56	L	Feb 6, 1997	5–9	@ Philadelphia Flyers	19–27–10
57	W	Feb 8, 1997	3–2 OT	Hartford Whalers	20–27–10
58	W	Feb 10, 1997	4–2	San Jose Sharks	21–27–10
59	T	Feb 12, 1997	2–2 OT	@ Buffalo Sabres	21–27–11
60	L	Feb 15, 1997	1–4	New Jersey Devils	21–28–11
61	W	Feb 17, 1997	4–1	@ New York Islanders	22–28–11
62	L	Feb 22, 1997	1–5	Toronto Maple Leafs	22–29–11
63	W	Feb 25, 1997	4–2	@ Vancouver Canucks	23–29–11
64	L	Feb 28, 1997	2–3	@ Calgary Flames	23–30–11
65	W	Mar 1, 1997	5–4	@ Edmonton Oilers	24–30–11
66	L	Mar 5, 1997	3–7	Colorado Avalanche	24–31–11
67	L	Mar 7, 1997	0–2	@ Hartford Whalers	24–32–11
68	T	Mar 8, 1997	3–3 OT	Buffalo Sabres	24–32–12
69	T	Mar 10, 1997	2–2 OT	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	24–32–13
70	W	Mar 13, 1997	3–0	@ Boston Bruins	25–32–13
71	T	Mar 15, 1997	2–2 OT	Ottawa Senators	25–32–14
72	W	Mar 19, 1997	5–4	@ New York Rangers	26–32–14
73	L	Mar 22, 1997	1–3	Washington Capitals	26–33–14
74	W	Mar 24, 1997	3–1	Boston Bruins	27–33–14
75	W	Mar 26, 1997	8–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	28–33–14
76	L	Mar 29, 1997	2–5	@ Ottawa Senators	28–34–14
77	W	Apr 2, 1997	4–1	@ Hartford Whalers	29–34–14
78	L	Apr 5, 1997	1–4	Hartford Whalers	29–35–14
79	W	Apr 7, 1997	2–1	New York Islanders	30–35–14
80	W	Apr 9, 1997	3–1	@ New York Islanders	31–35–14
81	L	Apr 10, 1997	2–3	@ Washington Capitals	31–36–14
82	T	Apr 12, 1997	3–3 OT	Philadelphia Flyers	31–36–15

PlayoffsEdit

In the first game of the series against New Jersey, on April 17, 1997, with the Devils up by two goals late in the game, Martin Brodeur fired the puck the length of the ice and into the Canadiens' empty net to ensure a 2-0 victory. It was only the second time in NHL history that a goaltender had scored in the playoffs, and the fifth time overall.^[1]

Eastern Conference Quarter-finals vs. New Jersey DevilsEdit

Montreal vs. New Jersey
Date	Away	Home	Scores	OT
April 17	Montreal	New Jersey	5 – 2
April 19	Montreal	New Jersey	4 – 1
April 22	New Jersey	Montreal	6 – 4
April 24	New Jersey	Montreal	4 – 3	3OT
April 26	Montreal	New Jersey	4 – 0
New Jersey wins series 4–1

Player statsEdit

Regular seasonEdit

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Damphousse, VincentVincent Damphousse	C	82	27	54	81	82	-6	7	2	3
Recchi, MarkMark Recchi	RW	82	34	46	80	58	-1	7	2	3
Savage, BrianBrian Savage	LW	81	23	37	60	39	-14	5	0	2
Koivu, SakuSaku Koivu	C	50	17	39	56	38	7	5	0	3
Rucinsky, MartinMartin Rucinsky	LW	70	28	27	55	62	1	6	3	3
Richer, StephaneStephane Richer	RW	63	22	24	46	32	0	2	0	2
Bure, ValeriValeri Bure	RW	64	14	21	35	6	4	4	0	2
Malakhov, VladimirVladimir Malakhov	D	65	10	20	30	43	3	5	0	1
Brunet, BenoitBenoit Brunet	LW	39	10	13	23	14	6	2	0	2
Quintal, StephaneStephane Quintal	D	71	7	15	22	100	1	1	0	0
Stevenson, TurnerTurner Stevenson	RW	65	8	13	21	97	-14	1	0	0
Corson, ShayneShayne Corson	LW	47	6	15	21	80	-5	2	0	2
Thornton, ScottScott Thornton	LW	73	10	10	20	128	-19	1	1	1
Tucker, DarcyDarcy Tucker	RW	73	7	13	20	110	-5	1	0	3
Bureau, MarcMarc Bureau	C	43	6	9	15	16	4	1	1	2
Wilkie, DavidDavid Wilkie	D	61	6	9	15	63	-9	3	0	0
Brisebois, PatricePatrice Brisebois	D	49	2	13	15	24	-7	0	0	1
Popovic, PeterPeter Popovic	D	78	1	13	14	32	9	0	0	0
Bordeleau, SebastienSebastien Bordeleau	C	28	2	9	11	2	-3	0	0	0
Turgeon, PierrePierre Turgeon	C	9	1	10	11	2	4	0	0	0
Cullimore, JassenJassen Cullimore	D	49	2	6	8	42	4	0	1	1
Murray, ChrisChris Murray	RW	56	4	2	6	114	-8	0	0	0
Baron, MurrayMurray Baron	D	60	1	5	6	107	-16	0	0	0
Rivet, CraigCraig Rivet	D	35	0	4	4	54	7	0	0	0
Manson, DaveDave Manson	D	9	1	1	2	23	-1	0	0	0
Houde, EricEric Houde	C	13	0	2	2	2	1	0	0	0
Fitzpatrick, RoryRory Fitzpatrick	D	6	0	1	1	6	-2	0	0	0
Brashear, DonaldDonald Brashear	LW	10	0	0	0	38	-2	0	0	0
Brown, BradBrad Brown	D	8	0	0	0	22	-1	0	0	0
Groleau, FrancoisFrancois Groleau	D	5	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0
Jablonski, PatPat Jablonski	G	17	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ling, DavidDavid Ling	RW	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan, TerryTerry Ryan	LW	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sevigny, PierrePierre Sevigny	LW	13	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0
Theodore, JoseJose Theodore	G	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault	G	61	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Vokoun, TomasTomas Vokoun	G	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault	3397	61	22	24	11	164	2.90	1	1815	1651	.910
Theodore, JoseJose Theodore	821	16	5	6	2	53	3.87	0	508	455	.896
Jablonski, PatPat Jablonski	754	17	4	6	2	50	3.98	0	438	388	.886
Vokoun, TomasTomas Vokoun	20	1	0	0	0	4	12.00	0	14	10	.714
Team:	4992	82	31	36	15	271	3.26	1	2775	2504	.902

PlayoffsEdit

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
Recchi, MarkMark Recchi	RW	5	4	2	6	2	0	0	0
Brunet, BenoitBenoit Brunet	LW	4	1	3	4	4	0	1	0
Koivu, SakuSaku Koivu	C	5	1	3	4	10	0	0	0
Brisebois, PatricePatrice Brisebois	D	3	1	1	2	24	0	0	1
Savage, BrianBrian Savage	LW	5	1	1	2	0	0	0	0
Stevenson, TurnerTurner Stevenson	RW	5	1	1	2	2	0	0	0
Corson, ShayneShayne Corson	LW	5	1	0	1	4	0	1	0
Thornton, ScottScott Thornton	LW	5	1	0	1	2	0	0	0
Bure, ValeriValeri Bure	RW	5	0	1	1	2	0	0	0
Quintal, StephaneStephane Quintal	D	5	0	1	1	6	0	0	0
Rivet, CraigCraig Rivet	D	5	0	1	1	14	0	0	0
Cullimore, JassenJassen Cullimore	D	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Damphousse, VincentVincent Damphousse	C	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Malakhov, VladimirVladimir Malakhov	D	5	0	0	0	6	0	0	0
Manson, DaveDave Manson	D	5	0	0	0	17	0	0	0
Popovic, PeterPeter Popovic	D	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Richer, StephaneStephane Richer	RW	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rucinsky, MartinMartin Rucinsky	LW	5	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Theodore, JoseJose Theodore	G	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault	G	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tucker, DarcyDarcy Tucker	RW	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wilkie, DavidDavid Wilkie	D	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Theodore, JoseJose Theodore	168	2	1	1	7	2.50	0	108	101	.935
Thibault, JocelynJocelyn Thibault	179	3	0	3	13	4.36	0	101	88	.871
Team:	347	5	1	4	20	3.46	0	209	189	.904

^[2]

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; SA=Shots Against; SV=Shots saved; SV% = Save Percentage;

Awards and recordsEdit

TransactionsEdit

RosterEdit

Draft picksEdit

See also: 1996 NHL Entry Draft

Farm teamsEdit

See alsoEdit

• 1996–97 NHL season

ReferencesEdit

• Canadiens on Hockey Database
• Canadiens on NHL Reference

1. ↑ Martin Brodeur - Facts. MartinBrodeur.net. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
2. ↑ 1996-97 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.

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Montreal Canadiens seasons (100)
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
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)

1996–97 NHL season by team
Northeast Division	Boston • Buffalo • Hartford • Montreal • Ottawa • Pittsburgh
Atlantic Division	Florida • New Jersey • NY Islanders • NY Rangers • Philadelphia • Tampa Bay • Washington
Central Division	Chicago • Dallas • Detroit • Phoenix • St. Louis • Toronto
Pacific Division	Anaheim • Calgary • Colorado • Edmonton • L.A. • San Jose • Vancouver
See also	1996 NHL Entry Draft • Stanley Cup Playoffs • Stanley Cup Finals

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