1968 Stanley Cup Finals

	1	2	3	4	Total
St. Louis Blues	2	0	2	1	0
Montreal Canadiens	3	1	3	2	4

* indicates periods of overtime.

Location(s)

St. Louis, MO (St. Louis Arena) (1,2)
Montreal, QC (Montreal Forum) (3,4)

Coaches

St. Louis: Scotty Bowman
Montreal: Toe Blake

Captains

St. Louis: Al Arbour
Montreal: Jean Béliveau

Dates

May 5–11, 1968

MVP

Glenn Hall

Series-winning goal

J. C. Tremblay (11:40, third, G4)

The 1968 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues. The Canadiens would sweep the series in four straight games, in the first Stanley Cup series after the NHL expansion to twelve teams. Each game was decided by one goal.

This was the first Stanley Cup championship after the 1967 NHL expansion. All of the new teams were placed in the West Division, all the Original Six teams were put in the East Division, and the playoffs were organized so that divisional champions would play off for the Stanley Cup.

Montreal defeated the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks to advance to the finals as the East Division champion.

St. Louis would defeat the Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota North Stars to advance to the finals as the West Division champion.

Glenn Hall was sensational, especially in game three when the Canadiens outshot the Blues 46 to 15. Wrote Red 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 on Dick 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 the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

However, Montreal was not to be denied and won the Stanley Cup in game four as J. 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, with Ralph Backstrom accepted the Cup from NHL president Clarence Campbell and the players did a victory lap with the Cup.

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Wikipedia