1955 Stanley Cup Finals

1955 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Detroit Red Wings 4 7 2 3 5 3 3 4 Montreal Canadiens 2 1 4 5 1 6 1 3
Location(s)	Detroit: Olympia Stadium (1, 2, 5, 7) Montreal: Montreal Forum (3, 4, 6)
Coaches	Detroit: Jimmy Skinner Montreal: Dick Irvin
Captains	Detroit: Ted Lindsay Montreal: Emile Bouchard
Dates	April 3 – April 14
Series-winning goal	Gordie Howe (19:49, second)
← 1954 Stanley Cup Finals 1956 →

The 1955 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1954–55 season, and the culmination of the 1955 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Montreal Canadiens, appearing in their fifth of ten straight Finals, and the defending champion Detroit Red Wings, in the third Detroit-Montreal Finals series of the 1950s and the second consecutively. The Wings won the series, four games to three, for their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship, fourth in six seasons, and seventh overall. Detroit did not win the Stanley Cup again until 1997.

Paths to the Finals[]

Montreal defeated the Boston Bruins in five games to reach the Finals. Detroit defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in four games to reach the Finals.

Game summaries[]

Prior to the playoffs, Montreal's Maurice Richard was suspended and would be missed by the Canadiens.^[1]

In the second game, Ted Lindsay scored four goals to set a NHL record for most goals in one game in a Finals series. The win was also the Wings' fifteenth consecutive, another NHL record.^{[citation needed]}

Gordie Howe set two NHL records, amassing 12 points in this round, and surpassing former Canadiens player (and soon-to-be-coach) Toe Blake's point mark for the playoffs with 20 points in 11 games.^{[citation needed]}

This was also the first Finals in which the home team won all seven games of the series, a feat that would be repeated only twice in the next 50 years, in 1965 (Montreal defeated the Chicago Black Hawks) and 2003 (the New Jersey Devils beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim).^{[citation needed]}

April 3	Montreal Canadiens		2–4		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap	show
No scoring		First period			No scoring
Floyd Curry (4) - 5:09		Second period			14:00 - pp - Alex Delvecchio (2)
Floyd Curry (5) - 8:57		Third period			13:05 - Vic Stasiuk (3) 17:07 - sh - Marty Pavelich (1) 19:42 - Ted Lindsay (3)
Jacques Plante		Goalie stats			Terry Sawchuck

April 5	Montreal Canadiens		1–7		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap	show
No scoring		First period			2:15 - sh - Marcel Pronovost (1) 9:57 - Ted Lindsay (4) 16:00 - Alex Delvecchio (3) 17:11 - Gordie Howe (5)
No scoring		Second period			8:10 - Ted Lindsay (5) 15:48 - pp - Ted Lindsay (6) 19:37 - Ted Lindsay (7)
Ken Mosdell (2) - 12:32		Third period			No scoring
Jacques Plante, Charlie Hodge		Goalie stats			Terry Sawchuck

April 7	Detroit Red Wings		2–4		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap	show
Red Kelly (1) - pp - 18:13		First period			8:30 - pp - Bernie Geoffrion (3) 8:42 - pp - Bernie Geoffrion (4)
Vic Stasiuk (4) - 16:16		Second period			14:23 - Bernie Geoffrion (5)
No scoring		Third period			7:50 - Jack LeClair (4)
Terry Sawchuck		Goalie stats			Jacques Plante

April 9	Detroit Red Wings		3–5		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap	show
Dutch Reibel (4) - 12:38		First period			00:40 - Calum MacKay (2)
No scoring		Second period			3:41 - Bernie Geoffrion (6) 8:25 - Jean Beliveau (4) 9:07 - Tom Johnson (2)
Dutch Reibel (5) - 3:40 Jim Hay (1) - 12:000		Third period			2:33 - Floyd Curry (6)
Terry Sawchuck		Goalie stats			Jacques Plante

April 10	Montreal Canadiens		1–5		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap	show
Jean Beliveau (5) - pp - 8:01		First period			12:59 - Glen Skov (2) 18:59 - Gordie Howe (6)
No scoring		Second period			12:29 - pp - Gordie Howe (7) 16:20 - pp - Gordie Howe (8)
No scoring		Third period			2:09 - Vic Stasiuk (5)
Jacques Plante		Goalie stats			Terry Sawchuck

April 12	Detroit Red Wings		3–6		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap	show
Alex Delvecchio (4) - 13:36		First period			7:30 - Jean Beliveau (6)
Alex Delvecchio (5) - pp - 15:54		Second period			3:45 - pp - Jack LeClair (5) 5:21 - pp - Bernie Geoffrion (7) 18:18 - Bernie Geoffrion (8)
Red Kelly (2) - 16:23		Third period			00:19 - Floyd Curry (7) 18:55 - Calum MacKay (3)
Terry Sawchuck		Goalie stats			Jacques Plante

April 14	Montreal Canadiens		1–3		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap	show
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			7:12 - Alex Delvecchio (6) 19:49 - Gordie Howe (9)
Floyd Curry (8) - pp - 14:35		Third period			2:59 - Alex Delvecchio (7)
Jacques Plante		Goalie stats			Terry Sawchuck

Detroit won series 4–3

Stanley Cup engraving[]

The 1955 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Ted Lindsay by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Red Wings 3–1 win over the Canadiens in game seven.

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

1954–55 Detroit Red Wings

Players

Stanley Cup engraving

• Larry Hillman became the youngest player to be engraved on the Stanley Cup at 18 years, 2 months, 9 days. Gaye Stewart held the previous record in 1942 at 18 years, 9 months, and 21 days.
• Wally Crossman (Asst. Trainer/Stick Boy) was left off the Stanley Cup, and team picture.
• Marguerite Norris was first women to win back to back Stanley Cups in 1953–54, 1954–55.
• Jimmy Skinner was the 8th NHL rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup.

Members of Detroit Red Wings Dynasty 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955[]

Gordie Howe, Red Kelly, Ted Lindsay, Marty Pavelich, Marcel Pronovost, John Wilson (6 Players), Jack Adams, Carl Mattson, Fred Hubert Jr. (3 Non-players).

See also[]

• 1954–55 NHL season

Notes[]

References[]

• Diamond, Dan (2000). Total Stanley Cup. Toronto: Total Sports Canada. ISBN 978-1-892129-07-9.
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7
• "All-Time NHL Results".

Preceded by Detroit Red Wings 1954

Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Champions 1955

Succeeded by Montreal Canadiens 1956