| 1956 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) | Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2, 5) Detroit: Olympia Stadium (3, 4) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Montreal: Toe Blake Detroit: Jimmy Skinner | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Montreal: Emile Bouchard Detroit: Ted Lindsay | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | March 31 – April 10, 1956 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Maurice Richard (15:08, second) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Canadiens: Jean Beliveau (1972) Emile Bouchard (1966) Bernie Geoffrion (1972) Doug Harvey (1973) Tom Johnson (1970) Dickie Moore (1974) Bert Olmstead (1985) Jacques Plante (1978) Henri Richard (1979) Maurice Richard (1961) Red Wings: Johnny Bucyk (1981) Murray Costello (2005, builder) Alex Delvecchio (1977) Glenn Hall (1975) Gordie Howe (1972) Red Kelly (1969) Ted Lindsay (1966) Marcel Pronovost (1978) Norm Ullman (1982) Coaches: Toe Blake (1966, player) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1956 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1955–56 season, and the culmination of the 1956 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Montreal Canadiens and the two-time defending champion Detroit Red Wings in the fourth Detroit-Montreal series in the 1950s, the two teams having met in the previous two years as well as in 1952; Detroit won all three. The Canadiens were appearing in their sixth consecutive Finals, the Red Wings their third. The Canadiens won the series, four games to one.
Montreal defeated the New York Rangers 4–1 to reach the final. Detroit defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 to reach the final.
The Canadiens, down 4–2 after two periods, scored four unanswered goals, in a 5:29 span, in the third period to win game one 6–4 at the Forum.[1] Jacques Plante held the Red Wings to just 9 goals in the five games. This was the first Final for Henri Richard and former Habs player Toe Blake's first Final as coach.
| March 31 | Detroit Red Wings | 4–6 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Alex Delvecchio (5) - pp - 8:17 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Bill Dineen (1) - 3:45 Ted Lindsay (5) - 8:11 Alex Delvecchio (6) - pp - 11:20 |
Second period | 3:00 - pp - Jean Beliveau (6) 6:40 - Henri Richard (3) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 5:20 - Jack LeClair (1) 6:20 - Bernie Geoffrion (3) 7:31 - Jean Beliveau (7) 10:49 - Claude Provost (3) | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 3 | Detroit Red Wings | 1–5 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 7:23 - pp - Donnie Marshall (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 11:37 - Henri Richard (4) 14:38 - Bernie Geoffrion (4) | ||||||
| Norm Ullman (1) - 00:31 | Third period | 2:48 - Jean Beliveau (8) 19:21 - Maurice Richard (4) | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 5 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–3 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Jean Beliveau (9) - 19:20 | First period | 14:27 - pp - Red Kelly (2) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 11:36 - Ted Lindsay (6) 18:12 - Gordie Howe (3) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Glenn Hall | ||||||
| April 8 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–0 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Jean Beliveau (10) - 15:52 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jean Beliveau (11) - 11:39 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Floyd Curry (1) - 11:34 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Glenn Hall | ||||||
| April 10 | Detroit Red Wings | 1–3 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 14:16 - pp - Jean Beliveau (12) 15:08 - pp - Maurice Richard (5) | ||||||
| Alex Delvecchio (7) - 00:35 | Third period | 00:13 - Bernie Geoffrion (5) | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| Montreal won series 4–1 | |
The 1956 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Emile Bouchard by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–1 win over the Red Wings in game five.
The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
1955–56 Montreal Canadiens
