1989 Montreal Canadiens: A Return To The Finals

The 1989 Montreal Canadiens were three years removed from winning the Stanley Cup. Over those ensuing seasons, they had gone out in the second round of the playoffs each time. Pat Burns took over as head coach for ’89, and Montreal made a run all the way to the Finals.

Tough defense—the stingiest in the NHL, was the reason, and anchoring that defense was the great goaltender, Patrick Roy. A future Hall of Famer and one of the best of all-time, Roy was still only 23-years-old, but he was already a proven winner, having started during that run to the ’86 Cup. In this 1989 season, he won the first of his three Vezina Trophies as the league’s best goalie.

Another Hall of Fame talent, Chris Chelios, was at defenseman, and Chelios finished with 58 assists. The third future Hall of Famer in this lineup was Guy Charbonneau. The center finished with 26 goals/30 assists.

Mats Nuland Bobby Smith led the scoring, each clearing the 30-goal threshold. Stephane Richer lit the lamp 25 times. A young Claude Lemieux, only 22-years-old with a long career ahead of him, scored 29 times. Shayne Corson added 26 goals. Montreal was the fifth-best offense in the league not because of any one star, but because of exceptional balance—something that would manifest itself during their playoff run.

The Canadiens started strong and were 27-10-6 by the time the New Year rolled around. More important, that record included a 4-0-1 mark against the Boston Bruins. Not only were the Bruins their hated rival, but they had gone to the Finals out of the Prince of Wales Conference (the old name for the East) in 1988.

Montreal beat Boston two more times in January and extended their record to 35-14-6. The Canadiens continued to play steady, consistent hockey all the way to the end. They finished with a record of 53-18-9. They won the Adams Division (basically the Northeast), had the top record in the Wales, and were the second-best team in the league overall. It was time for the postseason to begin.

The NHL playoffs were strictly division-based in this era, even more so than today. The top four teams in each of the four divisions played each other—what’s more, they were only 21 teams in the league overall, so some pretty shaky teams ended up in postseason play.

An example would be the Hartford Whales (today’s Carolina Hurricanes). Hartford was sub-.500, at 37-38-5, and they were Montreal’s opponent in the first round. The Whalers did have some offensive talent though, with 40-goal scorers in Kevin Dineen and Ray Ferraro, and a future Hall of Famer at center in Ron Francis.

Montreal put their offensive balance on display immediately. Their 6-2 win in Game 1 was marked by six different players scoring. Game 2 was a little tighter and was tied 2-2 with six minutes to play. Paul MacDermid got the game-winner for the Canadiens, and they took control of the series.

Back in Hartford, Montreal trailed 2-0 in the second period of a Game 3 that Roy didn’t start. Charbonneau began moving the puck and had a couple of assists. In a wild third period, the Canadiens tied the game 4-4, and then won it in overtime.

Roy was back in goal for Game 4, and they needed him. The Whalers, facing elimination, attacked relentlessly, and fired 46 shots. Roy stopped 43 of them. Another game went OT, but the Canadiens won 4-3 and closed the sweep.

It was time for a battle with Boston in the Adams Division Finals. The Bruins were a pedestrian offensive team, only ranking 14^th. But they still had 30-plus goal scorers in the great Cam Neely, along with Randy Burridge. And Ray Borque, one of the great defenseman of all-time, spearheaded the league’s fourth-best D.

Montreal was outshot 28-15 in the opener, but Roy did the job, and the Canadiens made the most of their opportunities. Smith passed for two assists in the 3-2 win. The shots disparity turned around in Game 2, with Montreal holding a 41-29 edge. It still got to the same result—a 3-2 win, this time in OT, with Smith as the hero. He scored the game-winner in the extra period.

The Canadiens again went on the road with a 2-0 series lead in hand. They went into the old Boston Garden and jumped all over the Bruins, taking a 3-0 lead. But in spite of playing good defense, limiting Boston to 26 shots, Roy had an uncharacteristic off-night. The Canadiens coughed up the lead and it was tied 4-4 after regulation. Russ Courtnall bailed out Montreal with an OT goal that put a stranglehold on the series.

Roy took the night off in Game 4, and so did the rest of the offense, mustering only 16 shots in a 3-2 loss. Game 5 ultimately illustrated the difference in this series. Boston’s Bob Joyce scored a goal early and scored a goal late, concluding a series where he was unstoppable. But Montreal countered with a group effort. Three different players scored in between Joyce’s goals. The Canadiens won 3-2. They had won their second straight series with no single player ever scoring twice in the same game.

Philadelphia was a mediocre team—the Flyers went 36-36-8 during the regular season and finished fourth in the old Patrick Division. But they had talent. Rich Tocchet was a 40-goal scorer and Brian Propp lit the lamp over 30 times. Philly was only two years removed from reaching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Their goalie, Ron Hextall, had won the Conn Smythe Award as the postseason’s most valuable player that year, even in defeat. That Philadelphia had turned it on the playoffs in 1989 couldn’t be seen as a major shock. They were the last hurdle for Montreal before the Finals.

The Canadiens couldn’t crack Hextall in Game 1, trailing 1-0 after two periods and ultimately losing 3-1. They responded to their first real adversity of the playoffs by coming  back and dominating Game 2. Montreal outshot Philly 39-24 and Roy delivered a 3-0 shutout that tied the series.

Another brilliantly balanced offensive game moved the series in the Canadiens’ favor. Five different players scored in Game 3’s 5-1 win. The defense continued to dominate in Game 4, limiting Philadelphia to 17 shots. Richer passed for two assists in a second period where all the scoring took place. Montreal got another 3-0 win.

Playing at home with a chance to get to the Finals, the Canadien offense didn’t get untracked. Roy kept them in it, and it was a 1-0 game late in the third period. A Smith goal forced overtime, but Philly ultimately got the last word and kept the series alive.

Montreal went on the road and turned up the defensive heat one more time, again holding the Flyers to just 17 shots. Naslund had two assists. The 4-2 win wrapped up the Wales Conference—and it was still supreme offensive balance, with no player ever scoring more than once per game.

It was new era in the West, then called the Smythe Conference. Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers had won four of the previous five Cups, save for Montreal’s brief interruption in ’86. But Gretzky had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings prior to the season. The Kings and the Oilers were both good, but another team from that division—the Calgary Flames—was even better.

Calgary finished with the best regular season record and won the President’s Trophy. They had Joe Mullen and Joe Nieuwendyk scoring 50-plus goals each. The Flames had the Vezina runner-up in net, with Mike Vernon. They ranked second in goals scored and second in goals allowed.

In a showdown between the league’s two best teams—and as of this writing over 35 years later, the last time two Canadian teams played in the Finals—Montreal couldn’t generate enough offense. Over six games, they were outshot 186-158. They continued to have their balance, with nobody getting more than a goal a night. But now there just wasn’t enough juice left. After taking a 2-1 series lead, the Canadien offense couldn’t produce, they lost the next three, and Calgary brought home the Cup.

It was still a great year for Montreal and a great start to Burns’ coaching tenure. The Canadiens responded to this Finals run the same way they had to their championship year in 1986—they continued to be good and to have some playoff success. But they lost the second round three straight years. That triggered a coaching change. And the coaching change triggered another big run—Montreal won the Stanley Cup again in 1993.