This Week in Montreal Canadiens History: April 25th – May 1st
By Joshua Rosa
April 26th
Cut and Dryden
On this day, the year of our Lord, 1977, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the New York Islanders 3-0 in the second game of their Semi-Final series. The Islanders kept the game close in the first two periods, despite being heavily outshot, but the floodgates opened in the third.
Jimmy Roberts scored a short-handed goal, Larry Robinson scored an even strength goal, and Pete Mahovlich scored a powerplay goal with just 36 seconds left in the game. No surprise the offense came in special teams, as there were 18 minor penalties in the game.
Nevertheless, Ken Dryden stopped all 19 shots he faced for his 50th postseason win. He was the 4th goalie to reach the 50 win plateau, behind Turk Broda, Terry Sawchuk and Jacques Plante. Dryden passed all of them by the time he retired with 80 playoff wins. That’s good enough for 7th on the all-time playoff wins list.
Home Sweet Home
On this day, the year of our Lord, 1977, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the New York Islanders 3-0 in the second game of their Semi-Final series. The Islanders kept the game close in the first two periods, despite being heavily outshot, but the floodgates opened in the third.
Jimmy Roberts scored a short-handed goal, Larry Robinson scored an even strength goal, and Pete Mahovlich scored a powerplay goal with just 36 seconds left in the game. No surprise the offense came in special teams, as there were 18 minor penalties in the game.
Hey, did anyone get a weird sense of deja-vu?
Nevertheless, the Montreal Canadiens won at home, and it extended the Montreal Canadiens’ home unbeaten streak to 38 games.
The 1976-77 season started appropriately, with a 10-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Canadiens finished the season with a 60-8-12 record. The Canadiens lost one game at home that season, against the Boston Bruins in October. The last 34 home games of the season saw the Montreal Canadiens go 28-0-6.
That dominance extended to the playoffs, where the Canadiens lost just 2 games, both against the New York Islanders. The second loss was an overtime loss at home, which broke the 38 game unbeaten streak.