| 1958–59 NHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | National Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 8, 1958 – April 18, 1959 |
| Games | 70 |
| Teams | 6 |
| TV partner(s) | CBC,SRC (Canada) CBS (United States) |
| Regular season | |
| Season champion | Montreal Canadiens |
| SeasonMVP | Andy Bathgate (Rangers) |
| Top scorer | Dickie Moore (Canadiens) |
| Stanley Cup | |
| Champions | Montreal Canadiens |
| Runners-up | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| NHL seasons | |
The1958–59 NHL season was the42ndseason of theNational Hockey League. Six teams played 70 games each. TheMontreal Canadiens were theStanley Cup champions as they beat theToronto Maple Leafs four games to one in the best-of-seven final series. This marked the fourth consecutiveStanley Cup win for the Canadiens as they became the first team to win four in a row.
The NHL and theCanadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) negotiated a new professional-amateur agreement, since the previous deal had expired in 1955, and the groups had operated on a gentleman's agreement.[1] CAHA secretaryGeorge Dudley announced that NHL would payC$40,000 towards developing amateur players, and the agreement set rules for negotiation lists and reserve lists and an earlier deadline to decide which players might be moved from a junior team to a professional team. The CAHA agreed that amateurs aged 17 and older would use same rules as the professionals except forovertime.[2]
TheToronto Maple Leafs, last-place finishers the previous season, brought upJohnny Bower to share goaltending duties withEd Chadwick and bolstered the defence by addingCarl Brewer andAllan Stanley to aidTim Horton andBobby Baun.
Ralph Backstrom andJean Beliveau each had two goals apiece in a 9–1Montreal win at theMontreal Forum on October 23.Rudy Pilous, coach of the Black Hawks, was displeased with his team's performance and fined his team $100 for the poor performance.
Beliveau had a hat trick November 29 as Montreal beat Detroit 6–2 at the Forum.Gordie Howe was injured in a collision withDoug Harvey near the end of the first period and was taken to hospital, returning for the third period. The next night, Montreal defeated theRed Wings 7–0 asJacques Plante got his third shutout of the season.
On January 3, Harvey was back in the Canadiens' lineup and scored two goals in a 5–1 win over theNew York Rangers at the Forum. In the last minute of play, Plante got two penalties, one of them a major that sparked the fight.Jimmy Bartlett had skated into Plante, and Plante retaliated by punching Bartlett, provoking a bench-clearing brawl. Referee Dalton McArthur gave Bartlett a double major, one for charging and one for fighting, and a misconduct penalty.
On February 1, the Rangers downed the Red Wings 5–4 atMadison Square Garden. Lou Fontinato became incensed whenGordie Howe struck Eddie Shack with his stick, and challenged the right wing. Howe broke Fontinato's nose in the fight. On February 5, the Rangers beat the Wings 5–0 on Worsley's shutout. Detroit coachSid Abel, formerly Howe's centerman, fined 14 players $100 each for playing what he described as "the worst game of hockey he had seen in 20 years".
On February 15 atMadison Square Garden, Worsley had Montreal shut out with ten minutes remaining. Then the Canadiens scored 5 goals to win 5–1. CoachPhil Watson ordered every player except Worsley out on the ice for an after-game workout. Watson said Worsley hadn't played so badly. General managerMuzz Patrick said the workout was in lieu of fines.
With five games left in the season, the Rangers had a seven-point lead overToronto. Then the Rangers went into a tailspin, and the Leafs got hot. The key game was played March 19 between Toronto and the Canadiens. Plante could not play due to a severe case of boils, and so the Canadiens usedClaude Pronovost in goal. He let in five goals before coachToe Blake replaced him in the third period withClaude Cyr; it was Cyr's first and last NHL game. Toronto won 6–3. The Canadiens brought upCharlie Hodge from the Montreal Royals and on March 22, he beat the Rangers 4–2. The Rangers still had a chance to make the playoffs if Detroit beat Toronto. The Leafs won 6–4 and ousted the Rangers from the playoffs.
TheMontreal Canadiens again won the regular season standings; their players dominated the All-Star nominations (with six of a possible twelve, the same number as in1956) and trophies asJacques Plante won his fourth straightVezina Trophy,Tom Johnson won theJames Norris Memorial Trophy, ending teammateDoug Harvey's four-year monopoly, andDickie Moore won theArt Ross Trophy, setting a new record for total points in a season: with a 41-goal, 55-assist campaign, Moore broke Howe's league record by a single point.
This season marked the final time until1967 with an active player who had played for a team not in theOriginal Six. FormerBrooklyn Americans playerKen Mosdell suited up for two postseason games for the Canadiens that year, and retired after Montreal won the Cup.
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 70 | 39 | 18 | 13 | 258 | 158 | +100 | 91 |
| 2 | Boston Bruins | 70 | 32 | 29 | 9 | 205 | 215 | −10 | 73 |
| 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 70 | 28 | 29 | 13 | 197 | 208 | −11 | 69 |
| 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 27 | 32 | 11 | 189 | 201 | −12 | 65 |
| 5 | New York Rangers | 70 | 26 | 32 | 12 | 201 | 217 | −16 | 64 |
| 6 | Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 25 | 37 | 8 | 167 | 218 | −51 | 58 |
The top four teams in the league qualified for the playoffs. In the semifinals, the first-place team played the third-place team, while the second-place team faced the fourth-place team, with the winners advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. In both rounds, teams competed in abest-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series).
| Semifinals | Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||
| 1 | Montreal | 4 | |||||||
| 3 | Chicago | 2 | |||||||
| 1 | Montreal | 4 | |||||||
| 4 | Toronto | 1 | |||||||
| 2 | Boston | 3 | |||||||
| 4 | Toronto | 4 | |||||||
Following game six,Ottawa Journal sports editorBill Westwick quoted league presidentClarence Campbell as accusing the refereeRed Storey of "freezing" in the final minutes of the near-riotous game.[4] Storey subsequently resigned as a referee. Campbell stated that Westwick took the words out of context, accused him of "breaking confidence" in the article.[4][5] Westwick's fellow newsmen defended his article and did not question its veracity.[6]
| March 24 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–4 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Tod Sloan (1) –pp – 16:34 | First period | 10:46 –Claude Provost (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 04:05 –Henri Richard (1) 19:23 –pp –Marcel Bonin (1) | ||||||
| Tod Sloan (2) – 03:26 | Third period | 02:04 – Marcel Bonin (2) | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| March 26 | Chicago Black Hawks | 1–5 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Eric Nesterenko (1) –sh – 14:35 | First period | 05:56 –Marcel Bonin (3) 12:01 –pp –Bernie Geoffrion (1) 12:48 –Dickie Moore (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 08:29 –pp –Jean Beliveau (1) 17:06 –pp – Marcel Bonin (4) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| March 28 | Montreal Canadiens | 2–4 | Chicago Black Hawks | Chicago Stadium | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 11:17 –Al Arbour (1) 13:15 –Lorne Ferguson (1) | ||||||
| Marcel Bonin (5) – 06:30 | Second period | 16:44 –Ed Litzenberger (1) | ||||||
| Henri Richard (2) – 08:48 | Third period | 19:54 –en –Glen Skov (1) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Glenn Hall | ||||||
| March 31 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–3 | Chicago Black Hawks | Chicago Stadium | Recap | |||
| Marcel Bonin (6) –pp – 04:33 | First period | 18:08 –Bobby Hull (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 13:26 –Lorne Ferguson (2) 19:49 –en –Glen Skov (2) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Glenn Hall | ||||||
| April 2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–4 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 01:34 –Andre Pronovost (1) 10:48 –pp –Marcel Bonin (7) 14:35 –Claude Provost (2) 16:38 –pp –Bernie Geoffrion (2) | ||||||
| Tod Sloan (3) –pp – 03:00 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Eric Nesterenko (2) – 05:11 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 4 | Montreal Canadiens | 5–4 | Chicago Black Hawks | Chicago Stadium | Recap | |||
| Doug Harvey (1) – 02:20 | First period | 13:05 –pp –Ted Lindsay (2) | ||||||
| Dickie Moore (2) –pp – 09:09 Claude Provost (3) –sh – 10:22 | Second period | 05:52 –Ed Litzenberger (2) | ||||||
| Dickie Moore (3) – 13:18 Claude Provost (4) – 18:32 | Third period | 03:24 –pp – Ed Litzenberger (3) 14:32 – Ted Lindsay (2) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Glenn Hall | ||||||
| Montreal won series 4–2 | |
| March 24 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1–5 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 07:50 –Jerry Toppazzini (1) | ||||||
| Gerry Ehman (1) – 06:07 | Second period | 10:53 –Leo Labine (1) 11:53 –Vic Stasiuk (1) 18:45 –sh –Larry Leach (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 06:18 –Don McKenney (1) | ||||||
| Johnny Bower | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| March 26 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 2–4 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
| Dick Duff (1) – 15:45 | First period | 10:00 –Fleming MacKell (1) 12:14 –pp – Fleming MacKell (2) | ||||||
| Ron Stewart (1) – 08:09 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 15:59 –Jean-Guy Gendron (1) 19:15 –en –Leo Labine (2) | ||||||
| Johnny Bower | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| March 28 | Boston Bruins | 2–3 | OT | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | ||
| Vic Stasiuk (2) –pp – 02:43 | First period | 16:21 –Bob Pulford (1) | ||||||
| Vic Stasiuk (3) – 17:34 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 17:08 –Gerry Ehman (2) | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 05:02 – Gerry Ehman (3) | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Johnny Bower | ||||||
| March 31 | Boston Bruins | 2–3 | OT | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | ||
| No scoring | First period | 06:58 –pp –Gerry Ehman (4) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jerry Toppazzini (2) – 02:02 Bronco Horvath (1) – 07:20 | Third period | 02:46 –Brian Cullen (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 11:21 –pp –Frank Mahovlich (1) | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Johnny Bower | ||||||
| April 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 4–1 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
| Bert Olmstead (1) –pp – 09:26 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Dick Duff (2) – 06:37 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Frank Mahovlich (2) – 00:19 Bob Pulford (2) –sh – 09:02 | Third period | 11:25 –Jerry Toppazzini (3) | ||||||
| Johnny Bower | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| April 4 | Boston Bruins | 5–4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | |||
| Jerry Toppazzini (4) –pp – 07:28 Don McKenney (2) – 09:34 | First period | 15:13 –pp –Bert Olmstead (2) | ||||||
| Johnny Bucyk (1) – 09:57 Johnny Bucyk (2) – 17:19 | Second period | 03:50 –Frank Mahovlich (3) | ||||||
| Bronco Horvath (2) – 12:56 | Third period | 02:55 –Gerry Ehman (5) 07:37 –sh – Frank Mahovlich (4) | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Johnny Bower | ||||||
| April 7 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 3–2 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
| Larry Regan (1) –pp – 05:33 | First period | 01:11 –pp –Vic Stasiuk (4) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 14:33 –Leo Boivin (1) | ||||||
| Bob Pulford (3) – 08:36 Gerry Ehman (6) – 17:27 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Johnny Bower | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| Toronto won series 4–3 | |
As of 2025, this is the last time the Maple Leafs defeated the Bruins in a playoff series.
| April 9 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 3–5 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Dick Duff (3) –sh – 04:53 Billy Harris (1) – 06:24 | First period | 00:36 –Henri Richard (3) 15:41 –Ralph Backstrom (1) | ||||||
| Ron Stewart (2) – 18:26 | Second period | 16:28 –Andre Pronovost (2) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 11:59 –Marcel Bonin (8) 15:02 –pp –Dickie Moore (4) | ||||||
| Johnny Bower | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 11 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1–3 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 05:12 –pp –Tom Johnson (1) | ||||||
| Ron Stewart (3) – 11:41 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 05:02 –Claude Provost (5) 18:33 – Claude Provost (6) | ||||||
| Johnny Bower | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 14 | Montreal Canadiens | 2–3 | OT | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | ||
| Marcel Bonin (9) –pp – 17:31 | First period | 16:29 –Billy Harris (2) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 17:11 –Bert Olmstead (3) | ||||||
| Dickie Moore (5) – 01:30 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 10:06 –Dick Duff (4) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Johnny Bower | ||||||
| April 16 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Ab McDonald (1) – 09:54 Ralph Backstrom (2) – 13:01 Bernie Geoffrion (3) – 15:56 | Third period | 03:45 –Billy Harris (3) 18:36 –Frank Mahovlich (5) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Johnny Bower | ||||||
| April 18 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 3–5 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 04:13 –pp –Ralph Backstrom (3) 13:42 –Bernie Geoffrion (4) 16:26 –Tom Johnson (2) | ||||||
| Bob Pulford (4) –pp – 04:27 | Second period | 09:55 –Marcel Bonin (10) 19:25 –pp – Bernie Geoffrion (5) | ||||||
| Frank Mahovlich (6) – 12:07 Bert Olmstead (4) – 16:19 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Johnny Bower | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| Montreal won series 4–1 | |
| 1958–59 NHL awards | |
|---|---|
| Prince of Wales Trophy: (Regular season champion) | Montreal Canadiens |
| Art Ross Trophy: (Top scorer) | Dickie Moore,Montreal Canadiens |
| Calder Memorial Trophy: (Best first-year player) | Ralph Backstrom,Montreal Canadiens |
| Hart Trophy: (Most valuable player) | Andy Bathgate,New York Rangers |
| James Norris Memorial Trophy: (Best defenceman) | Tom Johnson,Montreal Canadiens |
| Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: (Excellence and sportsmanship) | Alex Delvecchio,Detroit Red Wings |
| Vezina Trophy: (Goaltender of team with the best goals-against average) | Jacques Plante,Montreal Canadiens |
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dickie Moore | Montreal Canadiens | 70 | 41 | 55 | 96 | 61 |
| Jean Beliveau | Montreal Canadiens | 64 | 45 | 46 | 91 | 67 |
| Andy Bathgate | New York Rangers | 70 | 40 | 48 | 88 | 48 |
| Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 70 | 32 | 46 | 78 | 57 |
| Ed Litzenberger | Chicago Black Hawks | 70 | 33 | 44 | 77 | 37 |
| Bernie Geoffrion | Montreal Canadiens | 59 | 22 | 44 | 66 | 30 |
| George "Red" Sullivan | New York Rangers | 70 | 21 | 42 | 63 | 56 |
| Andy Hebenton | New York Rangers | 70 | 33 | 29 | 62 | 8 |
| Don McKenney | Boston Bruins | 70 | 32 | 30 | 62 | 20 |
| Tod Sloan | Chicago Black Hawks | 59 | 27 | 35 | 62 | 79 |
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA =Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts
| Player | Team | GP | MIN | GA | GAA | W | L | T | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacques Plante | Montreal Canadiens | 67 | 4000 | 144 | 2.15 | 38 | 16 | 13 | 9 |
| Johnny Bower | Toronto Maple Leafs | 39 | 2340 | 107 | 2.74 | 15 | 17 | 7 | 3 |
| Glenn Hall | Chicago Black Hawks | 70 | 4200 | 208 | 2.97 | 28 | 29 | 13 | 1 |
| Lorne Worsley | New York Rangers | 67 | 4001 | 199 | 2.97 | 26 | 30 | 11 | 2 |
| Ed Chadwick | Toronto Maple Leafs | 31 | 1860 | 92 | 2.97 | 12 | 15 | 4 | 3 |
| Terry Sawchuk | Detroit Red Wings | 67 | 4020 | 202 | 3.01 | 23 | 36 | 8 | 5 |
| Don Simmons | Boston Bruins | 58 | 3480 | 183 | 3.16 | 24 | 26 | 8 | 3 |
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1958–59 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1958–59 (listed with their last team):
Hockey Night in Canada onCBC Television televised Saturday night regular season games and selected Stanley Cup playoff games. Games were not broadcast in their entirety until the1968–69 season, and were typically joined in progress, while the radio version ofHNIC aired games in their entirety.
In the U.S., this was the third season of a four-year deal withCBS to televise Saturday afternoon regular season games. This season, CBS aired games from October to March.
