1953–54 Montreal Canadiens season

1953–54 Montreal Canadiens
League2nd NHL
1953–54 record35–24–11
Home record27–5–3
Road record8–19–8
Goals for195
Goals against141
Team information
General managerFrank J. Selke
CoachDick Irvin
CaptainEmile Bouchard
ArenaMontreal Forum
Team leaders
GoalsMaurice Richard (37)
AssistsMaurice Richard (30)
PointsMaurice Richard (67)
Penalty minutesMaurice Richard (112)
WinsGerry McNeil (28)
Goals against averageJacques Plante (1.59)

The 1953–54 Montreal Canadiens season was the 45th season in franchise history. The team placed second in the regular season to qualify for the playoffs. The Canadiens lost in Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 3.

Pre-season

"Punch Line" center Elmer Lach retired.

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League[1]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 Detroit Red Wings 70 37 19 14 191 132 +59 88
2 70 35 24 11 195 141 +54 81
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 70 32 24 14 152 131 +21 78
4 Boston Bruins 70 32 28 10 177 181 −4 74
5 New York Rangers 70 29 31 10 161 182 −21 68
6 Chicago Black Hawks 70 12 51 7 133 242 −109 31

Record vs. opponents

1953–54 NHL Records [2]
Team BOS CHI DET MTL NYR TOR
Boston — 11–1–2 3–8–3 4–6–4 7–7 7–6–1
Chicago 1–11–2 — 2–11–1 3–9–2 3–9–2 3–11
Detroit 8–3–3 11–2–1 — 6–6–2 6–5–3 6–3–5
6–4–4 9–3–2 6–6–2 — 9–5 5–6–3
New York 7–7 9–3–2 5–6–3 5–9 — 3–6–5
Toronto 6–7–1 11–3 3–6–5 6–5–3 6–3–5 —


Schedule and results

1953–54 regular season[3]
October
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
1 W October 8, 1953 3–0 Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 1–0–0
2 W October 10, 1953 4–1 Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 2–0–0
3 L October 11, 1953 1–4 @ Boston Bruins (1953–54) 2–1–0
4 W October 15, 1953 6–1 New York Rangers (1953–54) 3–1–0
5 W October 17, 1953 5–2 Boston Bruins (1953–54) 4–1–0
6 L October 18, 1953 0–4 @ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 4–2–0
7 W October 22, 1953 3–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 5–2–0
8 W October 24, 1953 1–0 Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 6–2–0
9 W October 25, 1953 2–1 @ New York Rangers (1953–54) 7–2–0
10 W October 29, 1953 3–1 Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 8–2–0
11 L October 31, 1953 0–1 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 8–3–0
November
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
12 L November 1, 1953 1–5 @ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 8–4–0
13 W November 5, 1953 4–3 New York Rangers (1953–54) 9–4–0
14 W November 7, 1953 5–2 Boston Bruins (1953–54) 10–4–0
15 L November 8, 1953 0–2 @ Boston Bruins (1953–54) 10–5–0
16 L November 11, 1953 1–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 10–6–0
17 W November 12, 1953 4–2 Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 11–6–0
18 L November 14, 1953 2–3 Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 11–7–0
19 T November 15, 1953 2–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 11–7–1
20 W November 19, 1953 1–0 Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 12–7–1
21 W November 21, 1953 1–0 Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 13–7–1
22 T November 22, 1953 2–2 @ Boston Bruins (1953–54) 13–7–2
23 W November 26, 1953 6–3 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 14–7–2
24 L November 28, 1953 1–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 14–8–2
25 L November 29, 1953 1–2 @ New York Rangers (1953–54) 14–9–2
December
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
26 W December 3, 1953 5–1 Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 15–9–2
27 W December 5, 1953 4–2 Boston Bruins (1953–54) 16–9–2
28 W December 6, 1953 7–2 @ Boston Bruins (1953–54) 17–9–2
29 L December 9, 1953 0–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 17–10–2
30 W December 10, 1953 5–3 Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 18–10–2
31 W December 12, 1953 7–2 New York Rangers (1953–54) 19–10–2
32 L December 13, 1953 3–4 @ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 19–11–2
33 W December 19, 1953 7–3 Boston Bruins (1953–54) 20–11–2
34 L December 20, 1953 1–3 @ New York Rangers (1953–54) 20–12–2
35 W December 26, 1953 2–0 New York Rangers (1953–54) 21–12–2
36 T December 30, 1953 2–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 21–12–3
37 T December 31, 1953 2–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 21–12–4
January
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
38 T January 2, 1954 1–1 Boston Bruins (1953–54) 21–12–5
39 L January 3, 1954 3–4 @ New York Rangers (1953–54) 21–13–5
40 W January 7, 1954 7–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 22–13–5
41 W January 9, 1954 12–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 23–13–5
42 L January 10, 1954 1–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 23–14–5
43 W January 16, 1954 2–1 Boston Bruins (1953–54) 24–14–5
44 L January 17, 1954 2–3 @ Boston Bruins (1953–54) 24–15–5
45 L January 21, 1954 0–1 Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 24–16–5
46 W January 23, 1954 5–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 25–16–5
47 L January 24, 1954 3–8 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 25–17–5
48 W January 27, 1954 2–0 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 26–17–5
49 L January 30, 1954 1–2 New York Rangers (1953–54) 26–18–5
February
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
50 L February 4, 1954 2–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 26–19–5
51 W February 6, 1954 4–3 New York Rangers (1953–54) 27–19–5
52 W February 7, 1954 4–1 @ New York Rangers (1953–54) 28–19–5
53 T February 11, 1954 2–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 28–19–6
54 T February 13, 1954 2–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 28–19–7
55 L February 14, 1954 1–4 @ Boston Bruins (1953–54) 28–20–7
56 W February 18, 1954 4–2 Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 29–20–7
57 W February 20, 1954 2–0 Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 30–20–7
58 L February 22, 1954 0–3 @ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 30–21–7
59 T February 25, 1954 0–0 Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 30–21–8
60 W February 27, 1954 5–0 New York Rangers (1953–54) 31–21–8
61 L February 28, 1954 0–2 @ New York Rangers (1953–54) 31–22–8
March
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
62 T March 4, 1954 1–1 @ Boston Bruins (1953–54) 31–22–9
63 T March 6, 1954 3–3 Boston Bruins (1953–54) 31–22–10
64 T March 7, 1954 2–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 31–22–11
65 L March 11, 1954 0–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 31–23–11
66 W March 13, 1954 4–0 Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 32–23–11
67 W March 14, 1954 6–0 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 33–23–11
68 L March 17, 1954 1–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 33–24–11
69 W March 20, 1954 6–1 Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 34–24–11
70 W March 21, 1954 3–1 @ New York Rangers (1953–54) 35–24–11

Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Playoffs

Stanley Cup Finals

Further information: 1954 Stanley Cup Finals

[4]

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Maurice Richard RW 70 37 30 67 112
Bernie Geoffrion RW 54 29 25 54 87
Bert Olmstead LW 70 15 37 52 85
Ken Mosdell C 67 22 24 46 64
Doug Harvey D 68 8 29 37 110
Jean Beliveau C 44 13 21 34 22
Paul Masnick C 50 5 21 26 57
Elmer Lach C 48 5 20 25 28
Calum MacKay LW 47 10 13 23 54
Floyd Curry RW 70 13 8 21 22
Eddie Mazur D/LW 67 7 14 21 95
Tom Johnson D 70 7 11 18 85
John McCormack C 51 5 10 15 12
Dollard St. Laurent D 53 3 12 15 43
Paul Meger LW 44 4 9 13 24
Dick Gamble LW 32 4 8 12 18
Emile Bouchard D 70 1 10 11 89
Lorne Davis RW 37 6 4 10 2
Dickie Moore LW 13 1 4 5 12
Bud MacPherson D 41 0 5 5 41
Andre Corriveau RW 3 0 1 1 0
Fred Burchell C 2 0 0 0 2
Gerry Desaulniers C 3 0 0 0 0
Ed Litzenberger C/RW 3 0 0 0 0
Gerry McNeil G 53 0 0 0 0
Jacques Plante G 17 0 0 0 0

Goaltending

Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Gerry McNeil 3180 53 28 19 6 114 2.15 6
Jacques Plante 1020 17 7 5 5 27 1.59 5
Team: 4200 70 35 24 11 141 2.01 11

Playoffs

Scoring

Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Dickie Moore LW 11 5 8 13 8
Bernie Geoffrion RW 11 6 5 11 18
Jean Beliveau C 10 2 8 10 4
Floyd Curry RW 11 4 0 4 4
Paul Masnick C 10 0 4 4 4
Maurice Richard RW 11 3 0 3 22
Emile Bouchard D 11 2 1 3 4
Tom Johnson D 11 1 2 3 30
Dollard St. Laurent D 10 1 2 3 8
Eddie Mazur D/LW 11 0 3 3 7
Lorne Davis RW 11 2 0 2 8
Doug Harvey D 10 0 2 2 12
Elmer Lach C 4 0 2 2 0
Paul Meger LW 6 1 0 1 4
Ken Mosdell C 11 1 0 1 4
Calum MacKay LW 3 0 1 1 0
John McCormack C 7 0 1 1 0
Bert Olmstead LW 11 0 1 1 19
Bud MacPherson D 3 0 0 0 4
Gerry McNeil G 3 0 0 0 0
Jacques Plante G 8 0 0 0 0
Gaye Stewart LW 3 0 0 0 0

Goaltending

Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO
Jacques Plante 480 8 5 3 15 1.88 2
Gerry McNeil 190 3 2 1 3 0.95 1
Team: 670 11 7 4 18 1.61 3

[5]

Note:
Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

See also

Citations

  1. ^ "1953–1954 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
  2. ^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "1953-54 Montreal Canadiens Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  4. ^ "Montreal Canadiens 1954–55 Game Log and Scores". Databasehockey.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  5. ^ "1953-54 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved May 28, 2009.

References

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