1944-45 NHL: RICHARD MAKES HISTORY, BUT TORONTO TAKES THE CUP

The 1944-45 National Hockey League season produced one of the most celebrated individual accomplishments in hockey history. Maurice “Rocket” Richard became the first player to score 50 goals in a season, reaching the milestone in Montreal’s 50th and final regular-season game.

Richard’s historic performance highlighted a dominant season by Montreal. The Canadiens finished 38-8-4 with 80 points and featured the NHL’s three leading scorers. Center Elmer Lach led the league with 80 points on 26 goals and 54 assists. Richard followed with 73 points, while Toe Blake added 29 goals and 67 points.

Together, Lach, Richard and Blake formed the famed Punch Line, one of the most productive combinations the game had ever seen. Lach was named the NHL’s Most Valuable Player, while Montreal goaltender Bill Durnan won 38 games and captured the Vezina Trophy with a 2.42 goals-against average.

Despite Montreal’s regular season dominance, the Stanley Cup belonged to the third-place Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto finished 24-22-4 behind teenage center Ted Kennedy, who led the team with 29 goals and 54 points. The Maple Leafs opened the playoffs by upsetting Montreal in six games, surviving a 10-3 loss in Game Five before eliminating the defending champions with a 3-2 victory in Toronto.

Rookie goaltender Frank McCool was the star of the postseason. McCool, who won the Calder Trophy during the regular season, opened the Stanley Cup Final against Detroit with three consecutive shutouts. He remains the only goaltender in NHL history to record three straight shutouts in the Final.

Toronto appeared ready to complete a sweep, but Detroit responded by winning three consecutive games. Red Wings goaltender Harry Lumley shut out the Maple Leafs in Games Five and Six, setting up a decisive seventh game in Detroit.

The Maple Leafs avoided completing the wrong side of a historic comeback when Babe Pratt scored the winning goal in a 2-1 Game Seven victory. Kennedy, still only 19 years old, led all players with seven playoff goals.

The six-team league was filled with stars. Boston’s Bill Cowley recorded 65 points, Chicago’s Bill Mosienko won the Lady Byng Trophy after finishing with 28 goals, 54 points and no penalty minutes, and Detroit finished second behind the goaltending of Lumley and a lineup that included Syd Howe, Flash Hollett and a young Ted Lindsay.

From Richard’s 50 goals to McCool’s postseason heroics, the 1944-45 season gives Strat-O-Matic coaches the opportunity to replay one of hockey’s most memorable campaigns.

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