On this week’s edition of Canadiens history: Goaltending galore, brotherly love, riots and musical chairs!
Monday, March 14th
George Hainsworth’s Magnum Opus
On this day, the year of our Lord 1929, George Hainsworth and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 on the strength of a Howie Morenz goal. It was Hainsworth’s 22nd shutout of the season and 22nd win of the season. Teams never scored more than 4 goals a game against Hainsworth, and would more often than not fail to score at all.
George Hainsworth finished the season with a 0.92 goals against average. Over a full season, minimum of 25 games played, Hainsworth is the only goalie to average less than a goal per game. The second best goals against average over a whole season is also owned by Hainsworth, 1.05 in 1927-28. The third best goals against average is 1.12 by Alec Connell of the Ottawa Senators in 1925-26.
Unfortunately, Hainsworth and the Montreal Canadiens would run into the Boston Bruins and would be swept out of the playoffs in 3 games. The Bruins would go on to win the Stanley Cup against the New York Rangers in the first Stanley Cup Final between two American teams. But Hainsworth and the Canadiens would win the next two Stanley Cups, before he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Lorne Chabot.
Plante’s Rookie Shutouts
In 1954, Jacques Plante shutout the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on March 13th, and then he shutout the Chicago Blackhawks 6-0 on March 14th. Between a goal by Toronto’s Tod Sloan at 19:30 of the third period on March 11th, and goal by Eric Nesterenko at 17:37 of the first period on March 17th, the rookie Plante didn’t allow a goal.
Plante would retire after playing 837 games and recording 82 shutouts, good enough for 5th most shutouts all time, behind Glenn Hall, George Hainsworth, Terry Sawchuk and Martin Brodeur. However, Plante played less games than all above him, except Hainsworth, who registered an incredible 94 shutouts in 465 games. That is an astonishing 20% of all games Hainsworth playing being shutouts. Comparatively, Plante runs at a 9.79%, and the leader Brodeur has a 9.87%.
During that 6-0 game on March 14th, the offence was run by Bernie Geoffrion, with 2 goals and 2 assists, and a young rookie by the name of Jean Beliveau also scored 2 goals and 2 assists. Speaking of which…
Beliveau Scores #350
Exactly 11 years after scoring his 12th and 13th goals of his career, Beliveau would score his 350th goal in a 6-4 win against the New York Rangers in 1965. He was the third Montreal Canadien to score 350 goals, behind Maurice Richard and Bernie Geoffrion.
Beliveau broke the 500 goal barrier in his final year, 1970-71 and retired with 507 total goals. He is below just Guy Lafleur (518) and Maurice Richard (544). Beliveau has 1,219 career points, behind just Lafleur in Montreal. He is currently 43rd in all time points, and was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame with Bernie Geoffrion with 1972.
Dryden’s Big Day
In 1971, Ken Dryden traveled to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins in his NHL debut. Dryden would stop 35 shots as the Canadiens beat the Pens 5-1. The lone Pittsburgh goal was scored by John Stewart, one of his only 58 career NHL goals. That year, Dryden would win the Calder Trophy and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Canadiens won the 1971 Stanley Cup.
Exactly 6 years later, Dryden beat the L.A. Kings 3-0 for his 34th career shutout. It was the Canadiens’ 11th straight home win, and 30th straight unbeaten streak. Dryden would retire in 1979, after just playing 7 full seasons. Despite that, Dryden was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.
Lafleur The Youngest To 400
In 1980, Guy Lafleur, at the age of 29, became the youngest player to score his 400th career goal in a game against the original Winnipeg Jets. He became the fourth member of the Montreal Canadiens 400 goal club, along with Maurice Richard, Bernie Geoffrion and Jean Beliveau.
It may have seemed like Guy Lafleur was destined to be in a Montreal Canadiens uniform, but it was almost not the case. 1971 was a good year for Quebec prospects, with Lafleur and Marcel Dionne being the top draft picks. The problem was that the Montreal Canadiens were not bad, especially with the emergence of rookie Ken Dryden and the winning of the Stanley Cup.
So Sam Pollock, Canadiens General Manager at the time, made a trade with the expansion Oakland Seals of Montreal’s first round pick in 1970 and Ernie Hicke for Oakland’s first round pick in 1971 and Francois Lacombe. Oakland’s pick became Chris Oddleifson, who never played an NHL game with the team.