1971 Stanley Cup Finals

1971 Stanley Cup Finals
Teams1*234567Games
Montreal Canadiens 13450434
Chicago Black Hawks  2 5 22 2 3 2 3

* indicates periods of overtime

Location:Chicago, IL (Chicago Stadium) (1,2,5,7)
Montreal, PQ (Montreal Forum) (3,4,6)
Format:Best-of-seven
Coaches:Montreal: Al MacNeil
Chicago: Bill Reay
Captains:Montreal: Jean Beliveau
Chicago: Vacant
Dates:May 4 to May 18, 1971
MVP:Ken Dryden
Series-winning
goal:
Henri Richard (2:34, third, G7)
 < 1970Stanley Cup Finals1972 > 

The 1971 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Chicago Black Hawks and the Montreal Canadiens. The Black Hawks made their first appearance in the final series since 1965, the Canadiens had last played and won the series in 1969. The Canadiens would win the series 4–3.

Paths to the final

The playoff system changed this year to allow cross-over between the divisions during the playoffs.

Chicago defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4–0 and the New York Rangers 4–3 to advance to the final.

Montreal defeated the defending champion Boston Bruins 4–3 and the Minnesota North Stars 4–2. This set up the first "Original Six" finals since the 1967 final.

The series

Brothers Frank and Peter Mahovlich starred for the Canadiens, scoring nine goals in the seven game final series. Ken Dryden debuted for the Canadiens, while this was Jean Beliveau's last finals appearance. He ended his career with ten championships. This would be only the second time that the road team would win a game 7 in finals history. The only previous time it happened was when the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2–1 in game 7 in the 1945 Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit. Montreal also won the series despite losing the first two games on the road; neither of these feats would happen again until 2009, when the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Red Wings in game 7 by the same 2–1 score after losing the first to games to the Red Wings. The next 7-game Stanley Cup Finals would not occur until the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals with the Edmonton Oilers and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Date Visitors Score Home Score Notes
May 4 Montreal 1 Chicago 2 OT
May 6 Montreal 3 Chicago 5
May 9 Chicago 2 Montreal 4
May 11 Chicago 2 Montreal 5
May 13 Montreal 0 Chicago 2
May 16 Chicago 3 Montreal 4
May 18 Montreal 3 Chicago 2

Montreal wins the series 4–3.

Game 1

May 4 Montreal Canadiens 1 – 2 OT
(0 – 0, 1 – 0, 0 – 0, 0 – 1)
Chicago Black Hawks Chicago Stadium
Attendance: 16,666

Game 2

May 6 Montreal Canadiens 3 – 5
(2 – 1, 0 – 2, 1 – 2)
Chicago Black Hawks Chicago Stadium
Attendance: 16,666

Game 3

May 9 Chicago Black Hawks 2 – 4
(2 – 0, 0 – 2, 0 – 2)
Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum
Attendance: 17,441

Game 4

May 11 Chicago Black Hawks 2 – 5
(1 – 3, 1 – 2, 0 – 0)
Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum
Attendance: 17,678

Game 5

May 13 Montreal Canadiens 0 – 2
(0 – 1, 0 – 1, 0 – 0)
Chicago Black Hawks Chicago Stadium
Attendance: 16,666

Game 6

May 16 Chicago Black Hawks 3 – 4
(1 – 1, 2 – 1, 0 – 2)
Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum
Attendance: 17,817

Game 7

May 18 Montreal Canadiens 3 – 2
(0 – 1, 2 – 1, 1 – 0)
Chicago Black Hawks Chicago Stadium
Attendance: 21,000

Coaching controversies

Both clubs would suffer public controversies regarding coaching performances, specifically accusations of mishandling star players during the series.

Chicago head coach Billy Reay would be attacked in the media by Hawks star forward Bobby Hull for his excessive employment of two little used offensemen, Lou Angotti and Eric Nesterenko, as well as the injured defenseman Keith Magnuson in game seven. With a 2–0 Blackhawks lead, both Hull and Hawks star center Stan Mikita were left on the bench for extended periods in favor of Angotti and Nesterenko, including two four-on-four situations. The wide open matchup should have favored the frustrated Hull, who had been successfully shadowed in the series by Canadiens rookie Rejean Houle. The first two Canadien goals were tallied with the two backliners on the ice and the hobbled Magnuson was beaten one on one by speedy Montreal center Henri Richard for the ultimate game winner.

The Canadiens suffered their own coaching controversy earlier in the series when head coach Al MacNeil benched alternate captain Henri Richard in game five. Following the 0–2 loss, Richard ripped MacNeil in the media calling him incompetent and "the worst coach I ever played for." Accusation of favoring English-speaking players plagued MacNeil and turned the public against him. Following death threats, MacNeil and his family were assigned body guards for the final home game in Montreal. Even the eventual series victory wouldn't be enough to save MacNeil's job. He was replaced as head coach by Scotty Bowman soon after the finals.

Montreal Canadiens 1971 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

  Centres
  Wingers
  Defencemen
  Goaltenders



  Coaching and administrative staff
  • J. David Molson (President/Owner), William Molson (Vice President/Owner)
  • Peter Molson (Vice Presidents/Owners), Sam Pollock (Vice President/General Manager)
  • Ron Caron (Asst. General Manager), Al MacNeil (Head Coach)
  • Yvon Belanger (Trainer)
  • Phil Langlois (Asst. Trainer), Eddy Palchak (Asst Trainer)

Stanley Cup engraving

See also

Notes

    References

    Preceded by
    Boston Bruins
    1970
    Montreal Canadiens
    Stanley Cup champions

    1971
    Succeeded by
    Boston Bruins
    1972
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