1959-60
OFF-SEASON
Newcomers joining the league this season include goaltenders Ed Giacomin with the Rangers and Roger Crozier with Chicago.
The only retirement of note was that of 37 year old Bob Goldham. The much travelled defenseman played for 4 different teams in his 18 year career that lasted 1020 games. He is one of just 2 players (Ken Mosdell 1024) to appear in over 1000 regular season games. Goldham broke in with Toronto in 1941 at the age of 19 and played nearly 8 seasons with the Leafs before being moved to Chicago. After two years with the Black Hawks he joined Detroit for 7 seasons before ending his career with 42 games for Boston last year. He won a Stanley Cup with Toronto in 1946-47 and while he was never named a first team all-star he was one of the best defensemen in the league for most of his career.
REGULAR SEASON
A couple of exciting races starting for first place where the Toronto Maple Leafs won their last 5 games including a 5-4 win over Montreal but were unable to overtake the Habs for first place. The two clubs finished tied with 97 points but Montreal claimed the top spot for the 6th straight season on the basis of more victories. Detroit, led by another big season from Alex Delvecchio and Gordie Howe's league best 44 goals, was also in the mix and finished a close third.
There was a huge gap to fourth place but the final playoff spot battle went down to the final night of the regular season when Boston beat the Black Hawks in Chicago 2-1 to claim fourth by a single point. The Rangers seemed in control of fourth and set to make their first playoff appearance in a decade but they collapsed, losing their last 8 games of the season and finished 3 points behind the fourth place Bruins.
Some individual accomplishments:
Leafs winger Tod Sloan had a 5 goal game in a 9-3 win over Detroit in December.
Toronto's Bob Pulford set a record with 6 assists in an 8-1 Leaf win over Detroit in March.
Montreal's Maurice Richard and Detroit's Ted Lindsay each played their 1000th career game. Richard ended the season with an all-time record of 1062 career games played. Lindsay is 4th with 1001.
Lindsay also surpassed the 400 goal mark early in the season, finishing with 419 which is second most all-time behind Maurice Richard's 595 and counting.
Code:
GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 70 45 18 7 97
Toronto Maple Leafs 70 42 15 13 97
Detroit Red Wings 70 43 21 6 92
Boston Bruins 70 21 45 4 46
Chicago Black Hawks 70 18 43 9 45
New York Rangers 70 19 46 5 43
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Alex Delvecchio DET 70 33 65 98
Gordie Howe DET 70 44 45 89
Dickie Moore MON 70 36 59 85
Jean Beliveau MON 70 26 59 85
Ted Lindsay DET 70 21 60 81
Andy Bathgate NYR 70 36 37 73
Norm Ullman NYR 70 23 49 72
Ron Stewart TOR 70 29 40 69
Bernie Geoffrion MON 70 27 34 61
Dick Duff TOR 70 26 35 61
Henri Richard MON 70 25 36 61
PLAYOFFS
Boston shocked the defending Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in the semi-finals as the Bruins won the series in 6 games despite finishing the regular season with half as many points as Detroit.
Like their regular season battle for first place the series between Toronto and Montreal was a tightly contested affair. Montreal took 3 of the first four games but the Leafs rallied to win games five and six. The seventh game was a defensive struggle as Maurice Richard's first period goal looked to be all the scoring that would occur. Toronto pressed and had several good chances in the final minutes but the Leafs were turned away by Montreal goaltender Jacques Plante. Doug Harvey ended the tension with an empty net goal to make it 2-0 Montreal with 17 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Canadiens dominated Game One of the finals as Tom Johnson had 3 assists in a 5-1 win over Boston in the series opener. Montreal outshot the Bruins 44-13 in the game.
Game Two was more of the same as Plante stopped all 19 shots he faced and the Canadiens won 3-0. Johnson, who already has 2 Conn Smythe's to his credit, appears to be well on his way to a third after the Montreal rearguard had a goal and an assist in this contest, giving him 10 points in 9 playoff games trailing only teammate Jean Beliveau who had 14 points.
Game Three was closer as the Habs needed a Jean Beliveau overtime goal to beat Boston 2-1 and take a 3 games to none lead in the series. Beliveau also assisted on Henri Richard's goal while Johnson earned a helper on each goal.
Montreal completes the sweep with a 3-0 victory in Game Four as Jacques Plante earns his third shutout this playoff year. Bernie Geoffrion led the offense with 2 goals and an assist as the Canadiens claim their fifth Stanley Cup in the past six years and 10th of the sim.
With a playoff leading 17 points Montreal centre Jean Beliveau is named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second time in his career. Beliveau had 5 goals and a playoff high 12 assists. Defenseman Tom Johnson was second in scoring with 12 points including 11 assists while Montreal's Henri Richard was the playoff goal leader with 7.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Jean Beliveau Montreal (70GP 26-59-85)
VEZINA TROPHY: Jacques Plante Montreal (44-18-5, 2.04)
NORRIS TROPHY: Tom Johnson Montreal (70GP 10-37-47)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Alex Delvecchio Detroit (70GP 33-65-98)
CALDER TROPHY: John Hanna Boston (64GP 6-11-17)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Jacques Plante Montreal Gump Worsley Detroit
D Doug Harvey Montreal Tom Johnson Montreal
D Red Kelly Toronto Pierre Pilote Chicago
C Gordie Howe Detroit Jean Beliveau Montreal
LW Dickie Moore Montreal Ted Lindsay Detroit
RW Alex Delvecchio Detroit Andy Bathgate New York