1953–54 Montreal Canadiens season

1953–54 Montreal Canadiens
Division Champions
1953–54 record	35-24-11
Goals for	195
Goals against	141
Team information
General Manager	Frank J. Selke
Coach	Dick Irvin
Captain	Emile Bouchard
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Maurice Richard (37)
Assists	Maurice Richard (30)
Points	Maurice Richard (67)
Penalties in minutes	Maurice Richard (112)
Wins	Gerry McNeil (28)
Goals against average	Jacques Plante (1.59)
<1952–53	1954–55>

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

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Detroit Red Wings	70	37	19	14	88	191	132
Montreal Canadiens	70	35	24	11	81	195	141
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	32	24	14	78	152	131
Boston Bruins	70	32	28	10	74	177	181
New York Rangers	70	29	31	10	68	161	182
Chicago Black Hawks	70	12	51	7	31	133	242

^[1]

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Teams that qualify for the playoffs are indicated in bold.

Game log

Regular season results
No.	R	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
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
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
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
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
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

^[2]

Playoffs

Stanley Cup Finals

^[3]

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard	RW	70	37	30	67	112
Geoffrion, BernieBernie Geoffrion	RW	54	29	25	54	87
Olmstead, BertBert Olmstead	LW	70	15	37	52	85
Mosdell, KenKen Mosdell	C	67	22	24	46	64
Harvey, DougDoug Harvey	D	68	8	29	37	110
Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau	C	44	13	21	34	22
Masnick, PaulPaul Masnick	C	50	5	21	26	57
Lach, ElmerElmer Lach	C	48	5	20	25	28
MacKay, CalumCalum MacKay	LW	47	10	13	23	54
Curry, FloydFloyd Curry	RW	70	13	8	21	22
Mazur, EddieEddie Mazur	D/LW	67	7	14	21	95
Johnson, TomTom Johnson	D	70	7	11	18	85
McCormack, JohnJohn McCormack	C	51	5	10	15	12
St. Laurent, DollardDollard St. Laurent	D	53	3	12	15	43
Meger, PaulPaul Meger	LW	44	4	9	13	24
Gamble, DickDick Gamble	LW	32	4	8	12	18
Bouchard, ButchButch Bouchard	D	70	1	10	11	89
Davis, LorneLorne Davis	RW	37	6	4	10	2
Moore, DickieDickie Moore	LW	13	1	4	5	12
MacPherson, BudBud MacPherson	D	41	0	5	5	41
Corriveau, AndreAndre Corriveau	RW	3	0	1	1	0
Burchell, FredFred Burchell	C	2	0	0	0	2
Desaulniers, GerardGerard Desaulniers	C	3	0	0	0	0
Litzenberger, EdEd Litzenberger	C/RW	3	0	0	0	0
McNeil, GerryGerry McNeil	G	53	0	0	0	0
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	G	17	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
McNeil, GerryGerry McNeil	3180	53	28	19	6	114	2.15	6
Plante, JacquesJacques 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
Moore, DickieDickie Moore	LW	11	5	8	13	8
Geoffrion, BernieBernie Geoffrion	RW	11	6	5	11	18
Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau	C	10	2	8	10	4
Curry, FloydFloyd Curry	RW	11	4	0	4	4
Masnick, PaulPaul Masnick	C	10	0	4	4	4
Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard	RW	11	3	0	3	22
Bouchard, ButchButch Bouchard	D	11	2	1	3	4
Johnson, TomTom Johnson	D	11	1	2	3	30
St. Laurent, DollardDollard St. Laurent	D	10	1	2	3	8
Mazur, EddieEddie Mazur	D/LW	11	0	3	3	7
Davis, LorneLorne Davis	RW	11	2	0	2	8
Harvey, DougDoug Harvey	D	10	0	2	2	12
Lach, ElmerElmer Lach	C	4	0	2	2	0
Meger, PaulPaul Meger	LW	6	1	0	1	4
Mosdell, KenKen Mosdell	C	11	1	0	1	4
MacKay, CalumCalum MacKay	LW	3	0	1	1	0
McCormack, JohnJohn McCormack	C	7	0	1	1	0
Olmstead, BertBert Olmstead	LW	11	0	1	1	19
MacPherson, BudBud MacPherson	D	3	0	0	0	4
McNeil, GerryGerry McNeil	G	3	0	0	0	0
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	G	8	0	0	0	0
Stewart, GayeGaye Stewart	LW	3	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

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

^[4]

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;

Awards and records

Transactions

Roster

See also

• 1953–54 NHL season

References

• Canadiens on Hockey Database
• Canadiens on NHL Reference

Montreal Canadiens seasons 1900s 1900–01 • 1901–02 • 1902–03 • 1903–04 • 1904–05 • 1905–06 • 1906–07 • 1907–08 • 1908–09 • 1909–10 1910s 1910–11 • 1911–12 • 1912–13 • 1913–14 • 1914–15 • 1915–16 • 1916–17 • 1917–18 • 1918–19 • 1919–20 1920s 1920–21 • 1921–22 • 1922–23 • 1923–24 • 1924–25 • 1925–26 • 1926–27 • 1927–28 • 1928–29 • 1929–30 1930s 1930–31 • 1931–32 • 1932–33 • 1933–34 • 1934–35 • 1935–36 • 1936–37 • 1937–38 • 1938–39 • 1939–40 1940s 1940–41 • 1941–42 • 1942–43 • 1943–44 • 1944–45 • 1945–46 • 1946–47 • 1947–48 • 1948–49 • 1949–50 1950s 1950–51 • 1951–52 • 1952–53 • 1953–54 • 1954–55 • 1955–56 • 1956–57 • 1957–58 • 1958–59 • 1959–60 1960s 1960–61 • 1961–62 • 1962–63 • 1963–64 • 1964–65 • 1965–66 • 1966–67 • 1967–68 • 1968–69 • 1969–70 1970s 1970–71 • 1971–72 • 1972–73 • 1973–74 • 1974–75 • 1975–76 • 1976–77 • 1977–78 • 1978–79 • 1979–80 1980s 1980–81 • 1981–82 • 1982–83 • 1983–84 • 1984–85 • 1985–86 • 1986–87 • 1987–88 • 1988–89 • 1989–90 1990s 1990–91 • 1991–92 • 1992–93 • 1993–94 • 1994–95 • 1995–96 • 1996–97 • 1997–98 • 1998–99 • 1999–00 2000s 2000–01 • 2001–02 • 2002–03 • 2003–04 • 2004–05 • 2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007–08 • 2008–09 • 2009–10 2010s 2010–11 • 2011–12 Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

Montreal Canadiens Franchise Franchise • History (Original Six • Centennial) • Players • Coaches • General managers • Seasons • Records • Draft picks • Award winners Culture and lore Youppi • The Punch Line • Richard Riot • 1938 European tour Arenas Jubilee Arena • Montreal Arena • Mount Royal Arena • Montreal Forum • Bell Centre • Bell Sports Complex (practice) Affiliates Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) • Wheeling Nailers (ECHL) Television SRC • RDS Radio English TSN Radio 990 French 98,5 FM Rivalries Boston Bruins • Quebec Nordiques • Toronto Maple Leafs

1953–54 NHL season by team Teams Boston • Chicago • Detroit • Montreal • New York • Toronto See also All-Star Game • 1954 Stanley Cup Finals