1971 Stanley Cup Finals (original) (raw)

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1971 ice hockey championship series

1971 Stanley Cup Finals
1234567 Total Montreal Canadiens 1*34 504 3 4 Chicago Black Hawks 2* 522232 3
* indicates periods of overtime
Location(s) Chicago: Chicago Stadium (1, 2, 5, 7)Montreal: Montreal Forum (3, 4, 6)
Coaches Montreal: Al MacNeilChicago: Bill Reay
Captains Montreal: Jean BeliveauChicago: Vacant
Dates May 4–18, 1971
MVP Ken Dryden (Canadiens)
Series-winning goal Henri Richard (2:34, third, G7)
Hall of Famers Canadiens:Jean Beliveau (1972)Yvan Cournoyer (1982)Ken Dryden (1983)Jacques Laperriere (1987)Guy Lapointe (1993)Jacques Lemaire (1984)Frank Mahovlich (1981)Henri Richard (1979)Serge Savard (1986; did not play)Rogie Vachon (2016)Black Hawks:Tony Esposito (1988)Bobby Hull (1983)Stan Mikita (1983)
Networks CBC (Canada)SRC (Canada, French)CBS (United States) (Games 3, 6, and 7)
Announcers (CBC): Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin Jr. (SRC): Rene Lecavalier and Gilles Tremblay(CBS): Dan Kelly, Jim Gordon, and Phil Esposito
1970 Stanley Cup Finals 1972

The 1971 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1970–71 season, and the culmination of the 1971 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Montreal Canadiens. The Black Hawks made their first appearance in the finals since 1965, while the Canadiens had last played in and won the final in 1969. The Canadiens won the series, four games to three.

Paths to the Finals

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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 Stanley Cup Finals.

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 was only the second time that the road team won a game seven in Finals history. The only previous time it happened was when the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2–1 in game seven in the 1945 Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit. Montreal also won the series despite losing the first two games on the road; none happened again until 2009, when the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Red Wings in game seven by the same 2–1 score after losing the first two games to the Red Wings. The next seven-game Stanley Cup Finals did 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.

May 4 Montreal Canadiens 1–2 OT(0–0, 1–0, 0–1, 0–1) Chicago Black Hawks Chicago StadiumAttendance: 16,666
Game reference
Ken Dryden Goalies Tony Esposito
Lemaire (Tremblay, P. Mahovlich) (PP) – 12:291–01–17:54 – B. Hull (Pappin, Stapleton) (PP)1–21:11 – Pappin (Mikita, White)
37 Shots 58
May 6 Montreal Canadiens 3–5(2–1, 0–2, 1–2) Chicago Black Hawks Chicago StadiumAttendance: 16,666
Game reference
Ken Dryden Goalies Tony Esposito
0–14:39 – B. Hull (Angotti, Maki) (PP)Jacques Lemaire (Tremblay) (PP) – 9:061–1P. Mahovlich (Tremblay, Laperriere) – 17:582–12–211:58 – Maki (Angotti, B. Hull)2–313:50 – Pappin (O'Shea, Foley)2–47:27 – AngottiF. Mahovlich – 8:563–43–516:47 – Angotti
27 Shots 35
May 9 Chicago Black Hawks 2–4(2–0, 0–2, 0–2) Montreal Canadiens Montreal ForumAttendance: 17,441
Game reference
Tony Esposito Goalies Ken Dryden
Koroll (B. Hull, Mikita) (PP) – 4:261–0B. Hull (Pappin, Martin) – 13:082–02–15:56 – P. Mahovlich2–217:34 – F. Mahovlich (Beliveau, Cournoyer) (PP)2–36:23 – Cournoyer (Harper)2–412:13 – F. Mahovlich (Lapointe) (PP)
18 Shots 40
May 11 Chicago Black Hawks 2–5(1–3, 1–2, 0–0) Montreal Canadiens Montreal ForumAttendance: 17,678
Game reference
Tony Esposito Goalies Ken Dryden
0 – 11:00 – P. Mahovlich (Harper, Laperriere)Mikita (Koroll, Stapleton) (PP) – 3:091 – 11 – 26:54 – Believau (Cournoyer, F. Mahovlich) (PP)1 – 316:33 – Lapointe (Houle, Richard)1 – 49:07 – CournoyerD. Hull (Mikita) – 12:302 – 42 – 515:53 – Cournoyer (F. Mahovlich, P. Mahovlich) (PP)
32 Shots 32
May 13 Montreal Canadiens 0–2(0–1, 0–1, 0–0) Chicago Black Hawks Chicago StadiumAttendance: 16,666
Game reference
Ken Dryden Goalies Tony Esposito
0–110:57 – D. Hull (Koroll, B. Hull) (PP)0–211:26 – Koroll (D. Hull, Mikita) (SH)
31 Shots 22
May 16 Chicago Black Hawks 3–4(1–1, 2–1, 0–2) Montreal Canadiens Montreal ForumAttendance: 17,817
Game reference
Tony Esposito Goalies Ken Dryden
Pappin – 11:201–01–112:33 – Cournoyer (Beliveau, F. Mahovlich)1–25:04 – P. Mahovlich (Houle, Ferguson)Maki (White, B. Hull) – 17:402–2Pappin (Jarrett, B. Hull) – 18:483–23–35:10 – F. Mahovlich (Beliveau)3–48:55 – P. Mahovlich (F. Mahovlich) (SH)
30 Shots 16
May 18 Montreal Canadiens 3–2(0–1, 2–1, 1–0) Chicago Black Hawks Chicago StadiumAttendance: 21,000
Game reference
Ken Dryden Goalies Tony Esposito
0–119:12 – D. Hull (B. Hull, Koroll) (PP)0–27:33 – O'Shea (Martin)Lemaire (Laperriere) – 14:181–2Richard (Lemaire) – 18:202–2Richard (Houle, Lapointe) – 2:343–2
25 Shots 33

Coaching controversies

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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 forwards, Lou Angotti and Eric Nesterenko, as well as the injured defenceman Keith Magnuson in game seven. With a 2–0 Black Hawks lead, both Hull and Hawks star centre 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 favoured 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 centre 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 2-0 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.

Stanley Cup engraving

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The 1971 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–2 win over the Black Hawks in game seven.

The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1970–71 Montreal Canadiens

Players

Centres

Wingers

Defencemen

Coaching and administrative staff

Stanley Cup engraving