1976 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1976 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1975–76 season, and the culmination of the 1976 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers, making their third consecutive finals appearance, and the Montreal Canadiens. This was the Canadiens first appearance in the Final since their Cup win in 1973. The Canadiens would win the best-of-seven series, four games to none.
| 1976 Stanley Cup Finals | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) | Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2) Philadelphia: Spectrum (3, 4) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Montreal: Scotty Bowman Philadelphia: Fred Shero | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Montreal: Yvan Cournoyer Philadelphia: Bobby Clarke | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referees | Ron Wicks (1) Dave Newell (2) Wally Harris (3) Lloyd Gilmour (4) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | May 9 – May 16 | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Reggie Leach (Flyers) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Guy Lafleur (14:18, third, G4) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Networks | CBC (Canada-English), SRC (Canada-French), NHL (United States) | ||||||||||||||||||
Paths to the Finals
Montreal defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–0 and the New York Islanders 4–1 to advance to the final.
Philadelphia defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3 and the Boston Bruins 4–1 to make it to the final.
Game summaries
Guy Lafleur scored the first two finals goals in his career, both game-winners.
Reggie Leach scored four goals in the Finals, and nineteen times in total in the playoffs to win the Conn Smythe Trophy even though the Flyers lost the Cup to the Canadiens. He is the only non-goaltender in NHL history to be named MVP of the playoffs in an unsuccessful cause, and the third of only five as of 2019. His accomplishment followed Roger Crozier (Detroit Red Wings, in 1966) and Glenn Hall (St. Louis Blues, 1968) and preceded Ron Hextall (Philadelphia, 1987) and Jean-Sebastien Giguere (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 2003).
| May 9 | Philadelphia Flyers | 3–4 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Reggie Leach (16) - 00:21 Ross Lonsberry (4) - 13:22 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 4:04 - Jimmy Roberts (3) 6:30 - Larry Robinson (3) | ||||||
| Larry Goodenough (3) - pp - 5:17 | Third period | 10:02 - Jacques Lemaire (2) 18:38 - Guy Lapointe (3) | ||||||
| Wayne Stephenson | Goalie stats | Ken Dryden | ||||||
| May 11 | Philadelphia Flyers | 1–2 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 15:19 - sh - Jacques Lemaire (3) | ||||||
| Dave Schultz (2) - 17:35 | Third period | 2:41 - Guy Lafleur (6) | ||||||
| Wayne Stephenson | Goalie stats | Ken Dryden | ||||||
| May 13 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–2 | Philadelphia Flyers | The Spectrum | Recap | |||
| Steve Shutt (5) - pp - 3:17 | First period | 8:40 - pp - Reggie Leach (17) 18:14 - Reggie Leach (18) | ||||||
| Steve Shutt (6) - pp - 1:09 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Pierre Bouchard (1) - 9:16 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Ken Dryden | Goalie stats | Wayne Stephenson | ||||||
| May 16 | Montreal Canadiens | 5–3 | Philadelphia Flyers | The Spectrum | Recap | |||
| Steve Shutt (7) - pp - 5:35 Pierre Bouchard (2) - pp - 11:48 |
First period | 00:40 - Reggie Leach (19) 18:20 - pp - Bill Barber (6) | ||||||
| Yvan Cournoyer (3) - pp - 19:49 | Second period | 13:59 - pp - Andre Dupont (2) | ||||||
| Guy Lafleur (7) - 14:18 Peter Mahovlich (4) - 15:16 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Ken Dryden | Goalie stats | Wayne Stephenson | ||||||
| Montreal won series 4–0 | |
Reggie Leach won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Montreal Canadiens 1976 Stanley Cup champions
Players
- 6 Jim Roberts
- 10 Guy Lafleur
- 11 Yvon Lambert
- 12 Yvan Cournoyer (Captain)
- 14 Mario Tremblay
- 17 Murray Wilson
- 22 Steve Shutt
- 23 Bob Gainey
- 2 Bill Nyrop
- 3 John Van Boxmeer†
- 5 Guy Lapointe
- 18 Serge Savard
- 19 Larry Robinson
- 24 Don Awrey†
- 26 Pierre Bouchard
- 2-27 Rick Chartraw
† left off cup, but qualified to be on it.
Coaching and administrative staff
- Jacques Courtois (President), Jean Beliveau (Vice President – Director of Cooperate Relations)
- Peter Bronfman (Chairman/Owner), Edward Bronfman (Executive Director/Owner)
- Sam Pollock (Vice President/General Manager), William Scotty Bowman (Head Coach)
- Eddy Palchak (Trainer), Pierre Meilleur (Asst Trainer)
- Claude Ruel (Director of Player Development)
- Floyd Curry† (Asst. General Manager), Ron Caron† (Asst. General Manager)
Stanley Cup engraving
- Don Awrey played 72 regular-season games, and John van Boxmeer played 46 games. As neither player played in the playoffs, their names were not included on the Stanley Cup. The official rules says that players must play in the playoffs to be included on the Stanley Cup, but this rule was not followed very well. Players who played in playoffs were often left off, and many players who did not play in the playoffs were still engraved on it. The NHL changed the rules to say that any player who played at least 40 games (half the regular season game total) or more for the winning team, or one game in the Stanley Cup Finals must be included. However, Awrey and Van Boxmeer were not added to the cup for 1976. Awrey's name is on the Cup in 1970, 1972 with Boston. Van Boxmeer's name does not appear on the Stanley Cup.
- Between 1976 and 1985, an "A" (alternate captain) was no longer marked on players' sweaters. Only the captain was marked with a "C."
- American Rick Chartraw was born in Venezuela, and was first South America born player to win the Stanley Cup.
See also
Notes
References
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- Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Stanley Cup. NHL.
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.
| Preceded by Philadelphia Flyers 1975 |
Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup champions 1976 |
Succeeded by Montreal Canadiens 1977 |
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