This Week In Canadiens History: March 14th – March 20th
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.
Tuesday, March 15th
Musical Chairs
On this day, the year of our Lord 1941, the Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Americans 6-0 in the first ever shared shutout in NHL history.
As the season was winding down, the Canadiens were in a playoff spot but head coach Dick Irwin didn’t know which goalie to go with into the postseason, Bert Gardiner or Paul Bibeault.
So, during that game, Irwin switched the two goalies every seven minutes or so. It was the first shared shutout in NHL history. The latest shared shutout came on December 3rd, 2021, where Igor Shesterkin was injured and replaced with Alexandar Georgiev.
For the record, Irwin went with Gardiner in the playoffs, but the Habs lost against the Chicago Blackhawks in a best-of-three series. Did Irwin make the wrong decision, or was Montreal doomed to lose? We shall never know.
Roy’s Record
In 1989, Patrick Roy tied an over 40 year record with the goaltending legend Bill Durnan when he and the Canadiens beat the L.A. Kings 5-2 in Montreal.
That win constituted Roy’s 25th straight unbeaten game in Montreal with a record of 23-0-2, matching Durnan’s 22-0-3 in the 1943-44 season. As mentioned last week, this record will likely stand the test of time, since there are no ties in hockey anymore. A goalie would have to win 25 straight home games as a Montreal Canadien to match these men.
A Pair of Birthdays
March 15th is the birthday of defensive defenseman Craig Ludwig. Taken in the 6th round of the 1980 draft, Ludwig had a solid rookie season in 1982-83, playing 80 games and garnering 25 assists. Ludwig never got better than 7 goals in a season (his sophomore one to be exact), but his solid defensive play allowed him to play over 1,200 career games in the NHL.
And the Montreal Canadiens legend, definitely not known for playing in any other Canadian hockey team, Darcy Tucker was born. Tucker was also a 6th round pick of the Canadiens in 1993. Tucker played just 115 games as a Hab before being traded to Tampa Bay, who didn’t hold onto him for long before shipping him off to Toronto where he became a fan favourite.
Thursday March 17th
St.Patrick’s Day Riot
On this day, the year of our Lord 1955, the Montreal Canadiens face the Detroit Red Wings, the winner of which will be first place in the league. The Canadiens are playing without superstar Maurice Richard, suspended for the rest of the season and postseason because of an incident involving an opposing player and officials. The decision for the length of the suspension came down to Clarence Campbell.
Somehow, Campbell convinced himself that it would be a good idea to come to this game, the first game in Montreal since the suspension, and with his secretary and fiancé on top of that.
It wasn’t a good idea.
The whole area surrounding Campbell was pelted with anything that could be thrown at him, including a smoke bomb, which was the last straw. Campbell called off the game and gave the win to Detroit. The riot spilled out to the streets, leading to countless arrests, injuries and property damage.
Detroit would go on to win the league and the Stanley Cup in seven games against the Richard-less Montreal Canadiens. With the goal scorer in the lineup, who knows what could’ve happened.
Happy Birthday Ryan White
Former Canadien Ryan White was born on March 17th, 1988 in Brandon, Manitoba. White was picked by Montreal 66th overall in 2008.
In just his second NHL game, as a call up from the Hamilton Bulldogs, White was only allowed to play part of the game. That was because the Canadiens failed to notify the league that they had in fact called up White, and he was not technically on the team, so he had to sit out most of the game.
Friday March 18th
We Are Not Hainsworth-y
On this day, the year of our Lord 1930, George Hainsworth became the first NHL goaltender to register 75 career shutouts.
The record came against another goaltending legend, Tiny Thompson, who also had a shutout as the Bruins and Canadiens tied 0-0.
50 Goals in 50 Games
Today was the day that Maurice Richard scored 50 goals in a single 50 game season. He did it in a 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins, with just over 2 minutes to spare. While many have tried to cut down the record, saying that it was against weaker opponents due to the war, the record would stand until 1960-61, where Bernie Geoffrion scored 50 goals, but it took him 70 games to do it. The second player to score 50 goals in 50 games was Mike Bossy in 1980-81.
Richard was almost not the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals. In the very first NHL season, Joe Malone scored 44 goals in just 20 games. It isn’t a stretch to imagine that Malone would have been able to score 6 more goals over 30 games, especially considering that Malone scored at least one goal in the first 13 NHL games that the Montreal Canadiens ever played in 1917-18.
Happy Birthday to a Former Captain
On March 18th, 1960, in Sept-Îles, Quebec, Guy Carbonneau was born. Carbonneau was drafted 44th overall in the 1979 NHL entry draft, and won the Selke Trophy three times in 1987-88, 1988-89 and 1991-92. Carbonneau would finish his career with three Stanley Cup wins, two in Montreal, and one in Dallas.
Guy Carbonneau was named the Montreal Canadiens captain in the 1989-90 season and remained captain until he was traded to the St. Louis Blues in 1994. Carbonneau was a part of the last game to be played in The Forum, however as a member of the visitors. The Canadiens played the Stars on March 11th, 1996. Carbonneau participated in a ceremony after the game, where a torch was passed down from many past Montreal Canadiens’ captains, finally to him who passed it onto the current captain, Pierre Turgeon.
Carbonneau was well noted for being a defensive forward, and even has his own trophy named after him in the QMJHL. It is the equivalent of the NHL’s Selke Trophy, and is awarded to the QMJHL forward that has the best defensive performance in the season.
Saturday March 19th
Morenz Becomes NHL Scoring Leader
On this day, the year of our Lord 1932, Howie Morenz and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Montreal Maroons 6-4 in overtime. That’s right. Before 1942, the two teams would play a full 10 minute overtime, meaning no golden goal, and a situation like this where one team can win by more than one goal in overtime. Since there were restrictions due to World War 2, the overtime period was done away with completely, and remained this way until 1983.
Morenz scored a goal and three assists in the win, to give him 333 career points in his 9th year in the NHL, at the time, the most career points ever. Morenz would finish his career with 271 goals and 472 points in 550 games played, with 257 of his goals and 417 of his points as a member of the Canadiens. Morenz did play two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and one with the New York Rangers, before returning to the Canadiens in the 1936-37 season.
Morenz was traded to Chicago in the 1934 offseason, due to a lack of production in his last two years. However, the Montreal Canadiens were struggling to find success, and looking for answers, the owners re-hired head coach Cecil Hart, who would only take on the job if Morenz was re-acquired by the team, which he was. It was against Morenz’ former team, the Blackhawks, where his life ending injury would eventually take place.
Bill Durnan Ties Tiny Thompson
In the 1943-44 season, Bill Durnan won the final game of his rookie campaign, 6-1 versus the New York Rangers. It was Durnan’s 38th win, which tied him with Tiny Thompson for most wins by a goaltender in his rookie year. Durnan finished with a record of 38-5-7, as the Montreal Canadiens took the league by storm, finishing 25 points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings, who finished second.
Durnan was unique as a goaltender as he was ambidextrous. Not only was he as good at catching the puck with his right and left hand, but he also had unique goalie mitts, which allowed him to catch the puck with either hand, and switch his stick between the two.
Bill Durnan played just 7 seasons in the NHL, and won 6 Vezina Trophies in those years, his only loss coming in 1948, losing to Turk Broda of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Only Jacques Plante has won more Vezina Trophies with 7, and Durnan is tied with Dominik Hasek.
Big Bird Plays 1,000th Game
The Montreal Canadiens lost to the Winnipeg Jets 6-4 on March 19th 1986, but it was Larry Robinson’s 1,000th career game. The big defender was just the fourth Montreal Canadien to reach that milestone behind Jean Beliveau, Claude Provost and Henri Richard. Since then, only one player has played 1,000 games in a Canadiens uniform, Bob Gainey. Robinson played 1,202 games as a member of the Canadiens, behind just Henri Richard.
Since then a few players have gotten close to playing their 1,000th game in Montreal, but have not been able to accomplish it. Between 2000 and 2017, Andrei Markov played 980 games with the team before famously not being able to work out a deal with then General Manager Marc Bergevin. Tomas Plekanec played 1,001 NHL games, but played 17 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs after being traded in 2017-18, meaning he played 984 games as a Montreal Canadien.
Sunday March 20th
A Pair of Brothers
On this day, the year of our Lord 1971, the Montreal Canadiens faced the Buffalo Sabres with the Canadiens’ backup being Ken Dryden, and the Sabres’ backup being Ken’s brother, Dave Dryden. After Canadiens starter Rogie Vachon is injured, the rookie Ken Dryden is put into the game, and opposing coach Punch Imlach decided to change goalies at the same time, so that the pair of brothers could face off against each other.
Ken Dryden and the Montreal Canadiens won the game 5-2, and Ken would go on to backstop the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup as a rookie, winning the Calder and Conn Smythe Trophies.
To his credit, Dave Dryden did not have a terrible career, playing 203 NHL games and 242 WHA games as a member of the Sabres, Oilers, Rangers and Blackhawks. A young Wayne Gretzky scored his first ever professional goal against Dryden.
Dave Dryden also revolutionized the goalie mask into what it is seen today. Before, the mask was just a fiberglass mask, but Dryden designed and had made a mask that incorporated a cage in front of the face for improved visibility. The mask was made, and it resides in the Hockey Hall of Fame today.
The youngest of the last two brothers to play together for the Canadiens, Sergei Kostitsyn was born on March 20th, 1987 in Novopolotsk, Belarus. He played 3 years with the Montreal Canadiens before being traded to the Nashville Predators in 2010. Two years later, his brother Andrei would follow him from Montreal to Nashville.
The Rocket’s Hat Trick
In 1948, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-4 in Montreal, off the strength of three goals by Maurice Richard. It is hard enough to score three goals, but Richard did it in three different ways: one even strength goal, one power play goal, and one short-handed goal. It was Richard’s 14th career hattrick.
The Montreal Canadiens had a really good day on the special teams in a penalty filled affair, ending with the teams combining for 37 penalty minutes. Richard and Bob Fillion scored power-play goals, and Richard, Butch Bouchard and Doug Harvey scored shorthanded goals. It was a new record of most shorthanded goals scored in one game. Currently, the record for most shorthanded goals in a game belongs to the original Winnipeg Jets, who beat the Vancouver Canucks 7-4 on April 7th, 1995, while scoring 4 shorthanded goals.
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