1957-58
OFF-SEASON
A large number of prolific new players join the game this season including Stan Mikita in Chicago, Bobby Rousseau and JC Tremblay with Montreal, Dave Keon and Gerry Cheevers in Toronto, Orland Kurtenbach to the Rangers and Boston adds Ed Westfall.
Montreal made a couple of trades this off-season adding 23 year old winger Kenny Wharren from Chicago in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers and veteran Sid Abel from Detroit. Wharren had 14 points in 70 games with the Hawks last year. Abel is 39 and clearly near the end of his career after scoring just 17 points in 63 games last season. The price for him was not steep as Montreal only had to part with minor league goaltender Marv Edwards.
There were no retirements of any significance this off-season.
REGULAR SEASON
Another dominant season for the Montreal Canadiens as the big line of Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore and Bernie Geoffrion again finished 1-2-3 in scoring. A scary late season incident broke up the line for the rest of this season and possible all of next year as Beliveau was clipped in the eye by a high stick in early March and is out indefinately.
Injuries limited Maurice Richard to just 35 games but the 36 year old did pick up 23 points to leave him 1 shy of 1100 for his career. Richard also leads in goals with 564 in his career, including 11 this past season. Detroit's Ted Lindsay passed the retired Toe Blake to move into second all-time in goals with 375.
Code:
GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 70 54 9 7 115
Toronto Maple Leafs 70 42 21 7 91
Detroit Red Wings 70 27 37 6 60
Boston Bruins 70 26 37 7 59
Chicago Black Hawks 70 21 39 10 52
New York Rangers 70 18 45 7 43
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Dickie Moore MON 70 41 46 87
Bernie Geoffrion MON 70 38 45 83
Jean Beliveau MON 61 23 54 77
Ron Stewart TOR 70 34 37 71
Tod Sloan TOR 70 26 35 61
Don McKenney BOS 70 29 31 60
Donnie Marshall MON 63 21 38 59
Henri Richard MON 58 25 33 58
Doug Harvey MON 65 14 42 56
Red Kelly TOR 68 11 45 56
PLAYOFFS
Even without the injured Beliveau Montreal had far too much offense for Toronto and the Canadiens again swept their semi-final series in 4 straight games. It marked the fourth year in a row Montreal had eliminated Toronto 4 straight in the semi-finals.
Detroit and Boston usually provide excitement in their semi-final matchups and this year was no different. The Red Wings overcame a 3 games to one deficit and beat Boston in 7 games to set up the third straight Montreal-Detroit final.
Game One of the finals was a 3-0 Montreal victory as Habs goaltender Jacques Plante made 27 saves for the 10th playoff shutout of his career. Dickie Moore and Claude Provost each had a goal and an assit for Montreal.
Another shutout for Plante in Game Two but he was hardly tested as Detroit managed just 14 shots on goal and lost 6-0 to the Habs. Bernie Geoffrion paced the Montreal offense with a goal and 2 assists. Maurice Richard, Henri Richard, Kenny Mosdell, Andre Pronovost and Ed Litzenberger also scored for the Canadiens.
The Canadiens go up 3 games in the series with a 3-1 victory in Game Three. Red Sullivan of the Wings finally broke Plante's shutout streak after 167:10 as he scored in the third period after Litzenberger, Maurice Richard and Provost had already scored for Montreal.
The Wings stay alive as 21 year old defenseman John Hendrickson gets the only goal of the game in a 1-0 Detroit victory. Red Wings goaltender Gump Worsley and the Habs Plante each faced 24 shots in the contest.
The series returns to Montreal for Game Five and the Red Wings give Montreal a game but the Habs claim their fourth straight Stanley Cup with a 3-2 overtime victory. Bernie Geoffrion scored twice, including the overtime winner, to pace the Montreal offense. Montreal defenseman Tom Johnson had two assists and his 8 points in 9 playoff games earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP for the second straight year.
Alex Delvecchio had one of the Detroit goals in the final game and finished with a playoff leading 11 points, one more than Bernie Geoffrion and Dickie Moore of the Habs as well as Red Wing Eddie Litzenberger.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Don McKenney Boston (70GP 29-31-60)
VEZINA TROPHY: Jacques Plante Montreal (54-9-7, 1.65)
NORRIS TROPHY: Doug Harvey Montreal (65GP 14-42-56)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Dickie Moore Montreal (70GP 41-46-87)
CALDER TROPHY: Eddie Johnston Chicago (20-35-10, 2.68)
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 Glenn Hall New York
D Doug Harvey Montreal Tom Johnson Montreal
D Bill Gadsby Chicago Red Kelly Toronto
C Jean Beliveau Montreal Ron Stewart Toronto
LW Dickie Moore Montreal Don Marshall Montreal
RW Bernie Geoffrion Montreal Alex Delvecchio Detroit