1944–45 Montreal Canadiens season

1944–45 Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy winners
Division	1st NHL
1944–45 record	38–8–4
Goals for	228
Goals against	121
Team information
General manager	Tommy Gorman
Coach	Dick Irvin
Captain	Toe Blake
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Maurice Richard (50)
Assists	Elmer Lach (54)
Points	Elmer Lach (80)
Penalty minutes	Maurice Richard (46)
Wins	Bill Durnan (38)
Goals against average	Bill 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.

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

		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

Game log

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

Player stats

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
Butch 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 Joanette	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
Butch 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

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;

References

• Canadiens on Hockey Database