The 1950s were the defining decade for the NHL’s most historically successful franchise. After falling in the 1950 semifinals, the Montreal Canadiens started a streak of 10 consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances.
By the time the ’50s transitioned to the ’60s, the Habs had won five of those first nine championship series. One could argue they would have won another had Maurice Richard not incurred a playoffs-long suspension in 1955.
But even without Richard, and sometimes in the absence of any CH crests, the NHL’s annals mustered a variety of memorable series. Three of the top five in this ranking featured a Montreal-free matchup.
In addition, the 1950s still claim a record four Stanley Cup titles clinched on an overtime goal. Only one of those shots came off a Canadien’s stick, and ended a comparatively uneventful final. Conversely, before regaining its dominance, Montreal was on the wrong end of multiple season-ending sudden-death strikes.
This decade was far from the picture of parity for the NHL. With that said, it left something to cherish for at least three of the Original Six fan bases.
10. 1955 Stanley Cup Final
Home ice held sway throughout this Detroit-Montreal card, which the Red Wings won in Game 7. They built up a 3-0 lead by the third minute of the third period, then let the Canadiens strike once.
On the one hand, this series went the distance with the title on the line. On the other hand, for all of the shifts in momentum, there were not many head-turning twists.
Only two games saw a lead change. Detroit overcame 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to take the opener, 4-2, and later routed the Habs in Game 5, 5-1, after initially falling behind. Other lopsided results of 7-1 (Game 2) and 6-3 (Game 6) also reduce this series from great to good.
9. 1959: Montreal vs. Chicago
Minus Montreal’s 5-1 triumph in Game 2, all contests in this semifinal finished in a one- or two-goal margin. When the Blackhawks pulled even with back-to-back home wins, they only doubled their advantage within the last minute of regulation.
With the series reduced to a virtual best-of-three, the Habs cashed copious sustenance to start Game 5. They would build a 4-0 lead in the opening frame, then subsist en route to a 4-2 victory.
Falling behind early again in Game 6, the Blackhawks continued to flex their bounce-back tendencies. Looking to keep the home-ice pattern going, they seized a 2-1 lead in the second period. When that flip-flopped to a 3-2 deficit, they retorted again at 3:24 of the third.
That would set off an entertaining exchange of momentum. The Habs raised yet another upper hand, only to have Ted Lindsay draw another knot with his second goal of the night. Finally, with 1:28 left in regulation, Claude Provost gave the visitors a permanent 5-4 lead on the night and 4-2 victory in the series. From there, Montreal proceeded to win its fourth of five consecutive Stanley Cups.
8. 1951: Montreal vs. Detroit
As with the 1959 Canadiens-Blackhawks card, this semifinal fell short of reaching a Game 7. But this time, it was only because a home team finally pleased its audience.
The upset-minded Habs stole a quadruple-overtime affair after trailing the top-seeded Red Wings, 1-0 and 2-1, in the opener. A scoreless Game 2 required three bonus periods to decide, which Richard took care of.
Detroit’s own otherworldly striker, Gordie Howe, snapped his club’s funk late in the middle frame of Game 3. With an eventual 2-0 triumph and 4-1 follow-up at the Forum, the Wings pulled even heading back home.
The momentum ostensibly rolled along, as Detroit sculpted a 2-0 lead in the first period of Game 5. But Montreal thawed out of its own cold spell in the second, eventually taking a 5-2 decision. The Habs subsequently took a closer 3-2 upshot at the Forum, dislodging the defending champions.
7. 1953: Montreal vs. Chicago
The team surrendering the first goal recovered to win each of this semifinal’s first four games. Perhaps most notably, the Canadiens surmounted a 3-1 deficit for a 4-3 win in Game 2.
Back in Chicago, the Blackhawks turned 1-0 deficits into a 2-1 overtime and 3-1 victory. The latter was an honorary one-goal squeaker, as Jim McFadden added the insurance with four seconds left in regulation.
The Habs had a harder time climbing out of 3-0 and 4-1 ditches in Game 5. But after the eventual 4-2 loss, they translated their resilience to a 3-0 steal from Chicago Stadium.
None other than Richard went on to put away a close Game 7, burying the first of two third-period insurance tallies en route to a 4-1 home win.
6. 1954 Stanley Cup Final
When Detroit’s Red Kelly drove home a dagger in the dying seconds of Game 4’s third period, the defending champion Canadiens faced a startling 3-1 deficit. They had just lost back-to-back home games and faced elimination back at Detroit’s Olympia.
When a scoreless draw held up through regulation in Game 5, the Habs’ carry-over offensive drought stretched to 124:58. It would last another 5:45 before Ken Mosdell averted a Red Wings clincher in overtime.
Back home, the Canadiens’ carbonation unloaded for a rush of three goals in a span of 2:18. That effectively spelled the difference in a 4-1 victory, forcing a rubber match back in Detroit. There the Habs struck first for the lone first-period goal, but Kelly snapped the Wings out of their own hex in the middle frame.
After the 1-1 deadlock stuck for the balance of regulation, Tony Leswick clinched the Cup for Detroit at 4:29 of overtime.
5. 1950: Detroit vs. Toronto
Toronto’s 5-0 steamroll through Game 1 and Detroit’s 4-0 triumph to survive in Game 6 were fairly lopsided. Other than that, this was a classic back-and-forth series with only one other instance of a three-goal difference.
The Leafs reopened their edge in this semifinal with a pair of 2-0 whitewashes. In between, the Red Wings drew a 2-2 knot with a 2-1 double-overtime victory.
After enduring a third blanking, Detroit’s offense surged on the road to avert elimination on the road. Meanwhile, it turned the tables on Toronto, stretching the opposing scoreless skid to two games and change.
Officially, that stretch lasted 140 minutes and two seconds. It only ended that that point because the Wings’ Leo Reise clinched the series 8:39 into Game 7’s overtime.
4. 1959: Toronto vs. Boston
The Leafs dug a 2-0 hole upon letting the Bruins score twice unanswered within the last five minutes of Game 2. They then came within three minutes of a must-win situation, trailing Game 3 late in regulation.
Then Gerry Ehman got hot. The Toronto winger scored the equalizer with 2:52 left in the third, then ended the ensuing overtime. He continued his tear to open the scoring in Game 4, which the Leafs won in an identical 3-2 overtime decision.
After dropping Game 5 at home, the Bruins recovered for a 5-4 victory at Maple Leaf Gardens. But the Buds flexed their own resilience by filling a 4-2 pothole in Game 6’s third period. They reprised that resilience in the deciding contest, tallying two unanswered third-period goals for a come-from-behind 3-2 triumph.
3. 1952: Montreal vs. Boston
After winning the first two games handily at home, the Habs let Boston win three straight. The Bruins subsequently raised a 2-0 upper hand with a chance to knock out their nemesis at the Garden.
Then Eddie Mazur got the visitors on the board in the middle frame, after which Richard forced overtime. Montreal eventually prevailed in a second sudden-death stanza, forcing a deciding game back home.
There Richard broke a long-standing 1-1 tie with 3:41 remaining in regulation. After Billy Reay’s last-minute dose of insurance cemented a 3-1 Habs victory, Richard and Boston goaltender Jim Henry shook hands in one of the most recognizable snapshots in league history.
2. 1951 Stanley Cup Final
Ordinarily, a best-of-seven series lasting five games has no business on a list of this criteria. The obvious extenuating circumstance is if all games require overtime.
It helps all the more when it’s the Stanley Cup Final. Even more so when no one opens a lead larger than two goals and multiple games feature a lead change.
In Game 2, the Habs held the only two-goal lead for either team in their only win of the series. When the series shifted to Montreal, the Leafs regained the illusion of home-ice advantage by turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory. They then survived two equalizers to raise a commanding 3-1 upper hand going back home.
The Canadiens led twice in the face of elimination at Maple Leaf Gardens. But Tod Sloan pulled the hosts even each time, forcing the series’ fifth OT in the last minute of regulation. Defenseman Bill Barilko followed up by putting the Cup away at 2:54 of the bonus round.
1. 1950 Stanley Cup Final
As was common in their formative decades, the Rangers were postseason nomads while Madison Square Garden hosted the circus. This time they borrowed Maple Leaf Gardens for Games 2 and 3, but otherwise faced the Wings in hostile territory.
Despite this disadvantage, the Blueshirts pushed Detroit to double-overtime in Game 7. That would be the third game of the final to require sudden death and the fourth straight to end in a one-goal margin.
As it happened, the Rangers raised a 3-2 upper hand in the series with back-to-back sudden-death road wins. They surmounted a 3-1 deficit in a pivotal Game 4, then nabbed a 2-1 nailbiter in Game 5.
Detroit retied the series by erasing 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 deficits en route to a 5-4 squeaker in Game 6. Then for the set’s third multi-goal rally, the Red Wings drew a 2-2 knot in Game 7’s second period. After the Rangers regained the lead, Detroit bounced back for a 3-3 deadlock that held up from the second intermission to the second overtime.
Pete Babando, who had started the rally early in the middle regulation frame, clinched the Cup for Detroit at 8:31 of the fifth period.
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