1976 Stanley Cup Finals

1976 Stanley Cup Finals
Teams 1 2 3 4 Games Montreal Canadiens  4 2 3 5 4 Philadelphia Flyers  3 1 2 3 0
Location: Montreal (Montreal Forum) (1,2) Philadelphia (Spectrum) (3,4) Format: Best-of-seven 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 9–16 MVP: Reggie Leach (Philadelphia Flyers) Series-winning goal: Guy Lafleur (14:18, third,G4) Networks: CBC (Canada-English), SRC (Canada-French), NHL (United States)
< 1975 Stanley Cup Finals 1977 >

The 1976 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers, making their third-straight final 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.

Paths to the final

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.

The series

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 2015. 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-Sébastien Giguère (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 2003).

Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers

Date	Visitors	Score	Home	Score	Notes
May 9	Philadelphia	3	Montreal	4
May 11	Philadelphia	1	Montreal	2
May 13	Montreal	3	Philadelphia	2
May 16	Montreal	5	Philadelphia	3

Montreal wins the series 4–0.

Reggie Leach won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Montreal Canadiens 1976 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

  Centres

• 8 Doug Risebrough
• 20 Peter Mahovlich
• 21 Doug Jarvis
• 25 Jacques Lemaire

  Wingers

• 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

  Defencemen

• 2 Bill Nyrop
• 3 John Van Boxmeer†
• 5 Guy Lapointe
• 18 Serge Savard
• 19 Larry Robinson
• 24 Don Awrey†
• 26 Pierre Bouchard
• 27 Rick Chartraw

  Goaltenders

• 29 Ken Dryden
• 1 Michel Larocque

† 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 Managers)

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 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 A (alternate captains) were 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

• 1975–76 NHL season

References

Preceded by Philadelphia Flyers 1975

Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup champions 1976

Succeeded by Montreal Canadiens 1977