1944–45 Montreal Canadiens season

1944–45 Montreal Canadiens
Division1st NHL
1944–45 record38–8–4
Goals for228
Goals against121
Team information
General managerTommy Gorman
CoachDick Irvin
CaptainToe Blake
ArenaMontreal Forum
Team leaders
GoalsMaurice Richard (50)
AssistsElmer Lach (54)
PointsElmer Lach (80)
Penalty minutesMaurice Richard (46)
WinsBill Durnan (38)
Goals against averageBill Durnan (2.42)

The 1944–45 Montreal Canadiens season was the Canadiens' 36th season. The Canadiens placed first in the regular season, but lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the semi-finals.

Offseason

Regular season

Maurice Richard's 50 goals in 50 games

In 1945, Maurice Richard made NHL history by becoming the first player to score 50 goals in one season, reaching the mark on the final night of the season — 50 goals in 50 games.

Final standings

National Hockey League[1]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 Montreal Canadiens 50 38 8 4 228 121 +107 80
2 Detroit Red Wings 50 31 14 5 218 161 +57 67
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 50 24 22 4 183 161 +22 52
4 Boston Bruins 50 16 30 4 179 219 −40 36
5 Chicago Black Hawks 50 13 30 7 141 194 −53 33
6 New York Rangers 50 11 29 10 154 247 −93 32

Record vs. opponents

1944–45 NHL Records [2]
Team BOS CHI DET MTL NYR TOR
Boston — 7–3 0–9–1 0–10 4–3–3 5–5
Chicago 5–5 — 5–5 0–8–2 7–1–2 5–4–1
Detroit 9–0–1 7–3 — 1–8–1 6–2–2 8–1–1
Montreal 10–0 7–1–2 8–1–1 — 9–1 4–5–1
New York 3–4–3 3–3–4 2–6–2 1–9 — 2–7–1
Toronto 5–5 6–3–1 1–8–1 5–4–1 7–2–1 —


Schedule and results

Regular season results
No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1 W October 28, 1944 3–2 Boston Bruins (1944–45) 1–0–0
2 L November 2, 1944 1–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 1–1–0
3 W November 4, 1944 3–2 Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 2–1–0
4 W November 5, 1944 3–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 3–1–0
5 W November 9, 1944 9–2 Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 4–1–0
6 L November 11, 1944 1–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 4–2–0
7 W November 12, 1944 4–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 5–2–0
8 W November 18, 1944 6–3 Boston Bruins (1944–45) 6–2–0
9 W November 19, 1944 6–2 @ New York Rangers (1944–45) 7–2–0
10 W November 21, 1944 4–1 @ Boston Bruins (1944–45) 8–2–0
11 T November 23, 1944 3–3 @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 8–2–1
12 L November 25, 1944 0–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 8–3–1
13 W November 26, 1944 4–1 Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 9–3–1
14 L November 30, 1944 5–7 New York Rangers (1944–45) 9–4–1
15 W December 3, 1944 2–1 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 10–4–1
16 W December 5, 1944 4–1 @ Boston Bruins (1944–45) 11–4–1
17 T December 14, 1944 2–2 Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 11–4–2
18 W December 16, 1944 8–5 Boston Bruins (1944–45) 12–4–2
19 W December 17, 1944 4–1 @ New York Rangers (1944–45) 13–4–2
20 W December 23, 1944 2–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 14–4–2
21 W December 28, 1944 9–1 Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 15–4–2
22 W December 30, 1944 4–1 New York Rangers (1944–45) 16–4–2
23 W January 2, 1945 6–3 @ Boston Bruins (1944–45) 17–4–2
24 L January 4, 1945 2–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 17–5–2
25 W January 6, 1945 10–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 18–5–2
26 W January 11, 1945 7–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 19–5–2
27 W January 13, 1945 8–3 Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 20–5–2
28 W January 14, 1945 6–2 @ New York Rangers (1944–45) 21–5–2
29 W January 17, 1945 4–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 22–5–2
30 W January 20, 1945 5–2 New York Rangers (1944–45) 23–5–2
31 W January 21, 1945 6–3 @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 24–5–2
32 W January 27, 1945 11–3 Boston Bruins (1944–45) 25–5–2
33 W January 28, 1945 4–1 @ Boston Bruins (1944–45) 26–5–2
34 T February 1, 1945 1–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 26–5–3
35 W February 3, 1945 5–2 Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 27–5–3
36 W February 4, 1945 3–1 @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 28–5–3
37 W February 8, 1945 9–4 New York Rangers (1944–45) 29–5–3
38 W February 10, 1945 5–2 Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 30–5–3
39 W February 11, 1945 4–3 @ New York Rangers (1944–45) 31–5–3
40 W February 17, 1945 4–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 32–5–3
41 T February 18, 1945 0–0 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 32–5–4
42 W February 25, 1945 5–2 Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 33–5–4
43 L March 3, 1945 2–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) 33–6–4
44 L March 4, 1945 4–6 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 33–7–4
45 W March 8, 1945 3–2 Boston Bruins (1944–45) 34–7–4
46 W March 10, 1945 7–3 New York Rangers (1944–45) 35–7–4
47 W March 11, 1945 11–5 @ New York Rangers (1944–45) 36–7–4
48 L March 15, 1945 1–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) 36–8–4
49 W March 17, 1945 4–3 Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) 37–8–4
50 W March 18, 1945 4–2 @ Boston Bruins (1944–45) 38–8–4

[3]

Playoffs

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Elmer Lach C 50 26 54 80 37
Maurice Richard RW 50 50 23 73 46
Toe Blake LW 49 29 38 67 25
Buddy O'Connor C 50 21 23 44 2
Dutch Hiller LW 48 20 16 36 20
Emile Bouchard D 50 11 23 34 34
Fern Gauthier RW 50 18 13 31 23
Leo Lamoureux C/D 49 2 22 24 58
Ray Getliffe C/LW 41 16 7 23 34
Ken Mosdell C 31 12 6 18 16
Bob Fillion LW 31 6 8 14 12
Murph Chamberlain LW 32 2 12 14 38
Frank Eddolls D 43 5 8 13 20
Glen Harmon D 42 5 8 13 41
Fern Majeau C/LW 12 2 6 8 4
Roly Rossignol RW 5 2 2 4 2
Wilf Field D 9 1 0 1 10
Rosario Joannette C 2 0 1 1 4
Nils Tremblay C 1 0 1 1 0
Bill Durnan G 50 0 0 0 0

Goaltending

Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Bill Durnan 3000 50 38 8 4 121 2.42 1
Team: 3000 50 38 8 4 121 2.42 1

Playoffs

Scoring

Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Maurice Richard RW 6 6 2 8 10
Elmer Lach C 6 4 4 8 2
Emile Bouchard D 6 3 4 7 4
Bob Fillion LW 1 3 0 3 0
Murph Chamberlain LW 6 1 1 2 10
Dutch Hiller LW 6 1 1 2 4
Leo Lamoureux C/D 6 1 1 2 2
Toe Blake LW 6 0 2 2 5
Eddie Emberg C 2 1 0 1 0
Glen Harmon D 6 1 0 1 2
Ray Getliffe C/LW 6 0 1 1 0
John Mahaffy C 1 0 1 1 0
Butch Stahan D 3 0 1 1 2
Bill Durnan G 6 0 0 0 0
Frank Eddolls D 3 0 0 0 0
Fern Gauthier RW 4 0 0 0 0
Buddy O'Connor C 2 0 0 0 0
Roly Rossignol RW 1 0 0 0 2
Nils Tremblay C 2 0 0 0 0

Goaltending

Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO
Bill Durnan 373 6 2 4 15 2.41 0
Team: 373 6 2 4 15 2.41 0

[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

References

  1. ^ "1944–1945 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
  2. ^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "1944–45 Montreal Canadiens Games". Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 4, 2009.
  4. ^ "1944-45 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved May 28, 2009.