The1968 Stanley Cup Final was thechampionship series of theNational Hockey League's (NHL)1967–68 season, and the culmination of the1968 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between theMontreal Canadiens and theSt. Louis Blues. The Canadiens swept the Blues to win their 15th Stanley Cup championship.

This was the first Stanley Cup Final after theNHL expansion to twelve teams. Although the series was a sweep, it was a much more intense and close-fought series than anyone had expected, as all four games were decided by one goal, two went to overtime, and the other two saw the winning goal scored in the third period. The Blues were the only first-year franchise to play for theStanley Cup in the post-expansion era, until theVegas Golden Knights participated in the Stanley Cup Finala half-century later.

This was the first Stanley Cup championship after the1967 NHL expansion. All of the new teams were placed in theWest Division, all theOriginal Six teams were put in theEast Division, and the playoffs were organized so that divisional champions would play off for the Stanley Cup.

Montreal defeated theBoston Bruins andChicago Black Hawks to advance to the finals as the East Division champion.

St. Louis would defeat thePhiladelphia Flyers andMinnesota North Stars to advance to the finals as the West Division champion.

The Montreal Canadiens finished first in the East Division with 94 points. The St. Louis Blues finished third in the West Division with 70 points. In this year's four-game regular season series, there were three wins for Montreal and one tie.

Coming into the series, most people were expecting the established Canadiens to blow the first-year Blues out of the water; after all, the Canadiens had dominated the East with 42 wins, while the Blues hadn't even finished with a winning record, with just 27 wins. However, what ended up happening would turn heads, as the Blues proceeded to put up a fight, riding the back of their goaltender,Glenn Hall.

Glenn Hall was sensational, especially in game three when the Canadiens outshot the Blues 46–15. WroteRed Burnett, the dean of hockey writers then: "A number of Hall's saves were seemingly impossible. Experts walked out of the Forum convinced no other goaltender had performed so brilliantly in a losing cause." In the overtime of game three, Hall made a spectacular save onDick Duff and then, standing on his head, made another save. "It was a heartbreaker to see," said Burnett. "After the saves on Duff,Bobby Rousseau came and batted home the second rebound." Hall's heroics even in defeat earned him theConn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

With their backs against the wall, the Blues put everything to the test, rallying from an early one-goal deficit to take the lead into the third period. However, Montreal was not to be denied and won the Stanley Cup in game four asJ. C. Tremblay fired home the winning goal. When the game ended, the fans came on the ice to celebrate, and balloons, hats and programs were thrown from the stands.Jean Beliveau, in a cast and crutches from his broken ankle, withRalph Backstrom accepted the Cup from NHL presidentClarence Campbell and the players did a victory lap with the Cup.

Less than twelve minutes after the Canadiens won the Cup, Canadiens coachToe Blake announced his retirement. He gave the reason that it had been a hard season, but the real reason was that his wife was dying of cancer and he wanted to spend his time with her. The celebration became a mournful event with players paying tribute to Blake, many in tears. He won eight Cups as the Canadiens' coach and three others as a player with the Canadiens andMontreal Maroons, the former being a record that stood for thirty-four years. None other than Bowman, the runner-up team's head coach in this Finals, would be the one to break Blake's record: he won the Cup with the Canadiens in1973,1976,1977,1978, and1979, with thePittsburgh Penguins in1992, and with theDetroit Red Wings in1997,1998, and2002.

The Blues would return to the Cup Finalsthe next year, but were once again swept by the Canadiens. They would also reach the Finals in1970, but were swept by theBoston Bruins. The Blues would have to wait until2019 to finally win the Cup.

The 1968 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau byNHL PresidentClarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–2 win over the Blues in game four.

The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1967–68 Montreal Canadiens

• * Did not play or dress in the Final.^[A]

• ^{^A} Ernie Wakely was engraved on the Stanley Cup for dressing for game 5 (of 5) of the Stanley Cup Semi-finals due to Gump Worsley missing the game injured. Wakely's name is on the twice with Montreal in 1965, 1968, but did not play any games for Montreal in both seasons. His first NHL game was in 1963, and his second NHL game was in 1969. He would lead the NHL with the best goals-against average while playing with St. Louis in 1971.
• Danny Grant won Stanley in 1968 with Montreal and in 1969 won the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) with Minnesota. Grant was the 3rd player to accomplish that feat.
• Toe Blake is the only coach to win the Stanley Cup in his first (1956) and last NHL season (1968) as such.

• 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.

• 1968 Stanley Cup
• 1967–68 NHL season
• Montreal Canadiens games
• St. Louis Blues games
• Stanley Cup Finals
• Ice hockey competitions in Montreal
• Ice hockey competitions in St. Louis
• May 1968 sports events in the United States
• 1960s in St. Louis
• 1968 in Montreal
• 1968 in sports in Missouri
• May 1968 sports events in Canada

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2023