This Week in Canadiens History: March 28th – April 3rd
By Joshua Rosa
March 29th
Canadiens Make History in the Win Column
On this day, the year of our Lord 1969, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 5-3 at the Forum. Montreal’s goals were scored by Jacques Laperriere, Jean Beliveau, J.C. Tremblay and Bobby Rousseau and Henri Richard added 2 assists. Goalie Gump Worsley (who won his 300th career win exactly one year later as a member of the Minnesota North Stars) stopped 16 shots in the win.
The win was Montreal’s 46th win of the season, which was a new record. The team would finish the season with a 46-19-11 record, and won the Stanley Cup against the St. Louis Blues. It was the second straight year that the Canadiens swept the newly formed Blues in the final.
It is interesting to note that the St. Louis Blues, who were formed in the 1967-68 season made the Stanley Cup Final in their first two seasons, but this was largely due to St. Louis playing in a conference with just expansion teams. They were the best of the worst and were destroyed by Montreal when they reached the Final.
The win broke the previous record of 45 wins by the 1955-56 Montreal Canadiens, who also won the Stanley Cup. Today the record is 62 wins, shared by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning. Both teams lost in the playoffs. The rest of the top five are filled with Montreal Canadiens teams from the 1970s, who all won the Stanley Cup.
Home Sweet Home
On March 29th, 1975, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Kansas City Scouts 4-1 in Montreal. The goals came from Mario Tremblay, Frank Mahovlich, Steve Shutt and Guy Lafleur, and Larry Robinson had 3 assists. Ken Dryden got the win with 28 saves, the only player to put it past him was Guy Charron.
It was the Montreal Canadiens 1,000th win at The Forum, making it the most home wins in a building in NHL history. It was one of the toughest buildings to play in, especially in the playoffs. The Stanley Cup was won 22 times by the Montreal teams that called the building home, the Maroons and Canadiens, and only 2 visiting teams have won the Cup at The Forum: the New York Rangers against the Maroons, and the Calgary Flames against the Canadiens.
Lafleur Scores 50 for the First Time
During that same game in The Forum, the goal that Guy Lafleur scored was his 50th of the season. It was the third time that a Montreal Canadiens player had scored 50 goals in a season. The first was Maurice Richard and the second was Bernie Geoffrion. Both only managed 50 in those seasons.
It was the first time the young Guy Lafleur scored 50 goals in a season, and it kick started a run of 6 straight NHL seasons with at least 50 goals and 100 points. What is interesting was that the goal was scored on goalie Denis Herron. Lafleur liked to score on Herron apparently, because Lafleur scored his 50th of the season three times on Herron: in 1975, 1976 and 1979.