1968 Stanley Cup Final

Paths to the Finals

This was the first Stanley Cup championship after the 1967 NHL expansion. All of the new teams were placed in the West Division, all the Original Six teams were put in the East Division, and the playoffs were organized so that divisional champions would play off for the Stanley Cup.

Montreal defeated the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks to advance to the finals as the East Division champion.

St. Louis would defeat the Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota North Stars to advance to the finals as the West Division champion.

Game summaries

The Montreal Canadiens finished first in the East Division with 94 points. The St. Louis Blues finished third in the West Division with 70 points. In this year's four-game regular season series, there were three wins for Montreal and one tie.

Coming into the series, most people were expecting the established Canadiens to blow the first-year Blues out of the water; after all, the Canadiens had dominated the East with 42 wins, while the Blues hadn't even finished with a winning record, with just 27 wins. However, what ended up happening would turn heads, as the Blues proceeded to put up a fight, riding the back of their goaltender, Glenn Hall.

|1-1-1 =Henri Richard (3) - 9:42 |1-1-2 =9:19 - Barclay Plager (2) |1-2-1 =Yvan Cournoyer (5) - 18:14 |1-2-2 =8:16 - pp - Dickie Moore (7) |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =No scoring |1-4-1 =Jacques Lemaire (7) - 1:41 |1-4-2 =No scoring |goalie1-1 =Gump Worsley 34 saves / 36 shots |goalie1-2 =Glenn Hall 35 saves / 38 shots

|2-1-1 =No scoring |2-1-2 =No scoring |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =No scoring |2-3-1 =Serge Savard (1) - sh - 2:17 |2-3-2 =No scoring |goalie2-1 =Gump Worsley 19 saves / 19 shots |goalie2-2 =Glenn Hall 35 saves / 36 shots

|3-1-1 =14:24 - pp - Yvan Cournoyer (6) |3-1-2 =Frank St. Marseille (5) - pp - 10:22 |3-2-1 =1:23 - sh - Serge Savard (2) |3-2-2 =Red Berenson (4) - 3:37 |3-3-1 =11:43 - Ralph Backstrom (4) |3-3-2 =Red Berenson (5) - sh - 17:25 |3-4-1 =1:13 - Bobby Rousseau (2) |3-4-2 =No scoring |goalie3-1 =Gump Worsley 12 saves / 15 shots |goalie3-2 =Glenn Hall 42 saves / 46 shots

|4-1-1 =16:47 - Dick Duff (3) |4-1-2 =No scoring |4-2-1 =No scoring |4-2-2 =Craig Cameron (1) - 6:53 Gary Sabourin (4) - pp - 7:50 |4-3-1 =7:24 - Henri Richard (4) 11:40 - J.C. Tremblay (3) |4-3-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Gump Worsley 19 saves / 21 shots) |goalie4-2 =Glenn Hall 28 saves / 31 shots

Game three

Glenn Hall was sensational, especially in game three when the Canadiens outshot the Blues 46–15. Wrote Red Burnett, the dean of hockey writers then: "A number of Hall's saves were seemingly impossible. Experts walked out of the Forum convinced no other goaltender had performed so brilliantly in a losing cause." In the overtime of game three, Hall made a spectacular save on Dick Duff and then, standing on his head, made another save. "It was a heartbreaker to see," said Burnett. "After the saves on Duff, Bobby Rousseau came and batted home the second rebound." Hall's heroics even in defeat earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

Game four

With their backs against the wall, the Blues put everything to the test, rallying from an early one-goal deficit to take the lead into the third period. However, Montreal was not to be denied and won the Stanley Cup in game four as J. C. Tremblay fired home the winning goal. When the game ended, the fans came on the ice to celebrate, and balloons, hats and programs were thrown from the stands. Jean Beliveau, in a cast and crutches from his broken ankle, with Ralph Backstrom accepted the Cup from NHL president Clarence Campbell and the players did a victory lap with the Cup.

Aftermath

Less than twelve minutes after the Canadiens won the Cup, Canadiens coach Toe Blake announced his retirement. He gave the reason that it had been a hard season, but the real reason was that his wife was dying of cancer and he wanted to spend his time with her. The celebration became a mournful event with players paying tribute to Blake, many in tears. He won eight Cups as the Canadiens' coach and three others as a player with the Canadiens and Montreal Maroons, the former being a record that stood for thirty-four years. None other than Bowman, the runner-up team's head coach in this Finals, would be the one to break Blake's record: he won the Cup with the Canadiens in , , , , and , with the Pittsburgh Penguins in , and with the Detroit Red Wings in , , and .

The Blues would return to the Cup Finals the next year, but were once again swept by the Canadiens. They would also reach the Finals in 1970, but were swept by the Boston Bruins. The Blues would have to wait until 2019 to finally win the Cup.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1968 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–2 win over the Blues in game four.

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

1967–68 Montreal Canadiens

• 29 Ernie Wakely*
• 30 Rogatien Vachon
• 3 Jean-Claude J. C. Tremblay
• 10 Ted Harris
• 17 Carol Vadnais
• 18 Serge Savard
• 19 Terry Harper
• 6 Ralph Backstrom
• 16 Henri Richard (A)
• 25 Jacques Lemaire
• 12 Yvan Cournoyer
• 11 Claude Larose
• 14 Claude Provost (A)
• 15 Bobby Rousseau
• 21 Gilles Tremblay
• 22 John Ferguson
• 23 Danny Grant
• 24 Mickey Redmond |player-notes=
• • Did not play or dress in the Final. |non-players=
• Hartland Molson (chairman/owner)
• J. David Molson (president), Sam Pollock (vice president/general manager)
• Toe Blake (head coach), Larry Albut (trainer), Eddy Palchak (asst. trainer) |engraving-notes=
• Ernie Wakely was engraved on the Stanley Cup for dressing for game 5 (of 5) of the Stanley Cup Semi-finals due to Gump Worsley missing the game injured. Wakely's name is on the twice with Montreal in 1965, 1968, but did not play any games for Montreal in both seasons. His first NHL game was in 1963, and his second NHL game was in 1969. He would lead the NHL with the best goals-against average while playing with St. Louis in 1971.
• Danny Grant won Stanley in 1968 with Montreal and in 1969 won the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) with Minnesota. Grant was the 3rd player to accomplish that feat.
• Toe Blake is the only coach to win the Stanley Cup in his first () and last NHL season (1968) as such.}}

Notes

References

before = Toronto Maple Leafs 1967 | after = Montreal Canadiens 1969 | title = Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup champions | years = 1968|