1969–70 Montreal Canadiens season
NHL hockey team season
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The 1969–70 Montreal Canadiens season was the club's 61st season of play. The defending Stanley Cup champions finished sixteen games above .500, but it was not enough to return to the playoffs in the powerful East Division. Montreal finished fifth after losing tiebreaker to the New York Rangers on goals scored, and missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1947–48 season, ending their 21-season playoff streak.
| 1969–70 Montreal Canadiens | |
|---|---|
| Division | 5th East |
| 1969–70 record | 38–22–16 |
| Home record | 21–9–8 |
| Road record | 17–13–8 |
| Goals for | 244 |
| Goals against | 201 |
| Team information | |
| General manager | Sam Pollock |
| Coach | Claude Ruel |
| Captain | Jean Beliveau |
| Alternate captains | Henri Richard Unknown |
| Arena | Montreal Forum |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Jacques Lemaire (32) |
| Assists | Yvan Cournoyer (36) |
| Points | Yvan Cournoyer (63) |
| Penalty minutes | John Ferguson (139) |
| Wins | Rogie Vachon (31) |
| Goals against average | Phil Myre (2.27) |
This team was the only Canadiens team between the 1948–49 season and the 1993–94 season that missed the playoffs, a span of 46 years. Montreal would go on to win another Cup the following season, becoming the first (and, as of 2026, only) team to win the Stanley Cup, miss the playoffs, and win the Cup again in successive campaigns, and with their 1968 Stanley Cup victory, they are the only team to win the Stanley Cup in 3 of 4 years, with one missed playoff appearance.
Regular season
On April 5, 1970 the Montreal Canadiens, in a desperate race to qualify for the NHL playoffs, the team played away against the Chicago Black Hawks. With 9:30 left in regulation time, Montreal was down by a score of 5–2. The Canadiens' only hope of qualifying for the playoffs was to score three more goals. Montreal coach Claude Ruel pulled his goaltender, Rogatien Vachon, from the net, sending him back out only for faceoffs. Unfortunately, luck ran out as Chicago scored five empty net goals and won the game by a score of 10–2, while the Rangers racked up a 9–5 win over Detroit. Thus, Montreal missed the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.
Final standings
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago Black Hawks | 76 | 45 | 22 | 9 | 250 | 170 | +80 | 99 |
| 2 | Boston Bruins | 76 | 40 | 17 | 19 | 277 | 216 | +61 | 99 |
| 3 | Detroit Red Wings | 76 | 40 | 21 | 15 | 246 | 199 | +47 | 95 |
| 4 | New York Rangers | 76 | 38 | 22 | 16 | 246 | 189 | +57 | 92 |
| 5 | Montreal Canadiens | 76 | 38 | 22 | 16 | 244 | 201 | +43 | 92 |
| 6 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 76 | 29 | 34 | 13 | 222 | 242 | −20 | 71 |
Record vs. opponents
Vs. East Division
Vs. West Division
| 1969–70 NHL records | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | LAK | MIN | OAK | PHI | PIT | STL | Total | |||||
| Boston | 5–0–1 | 4–1–1 | 5–0–1 | 4–0–2 | 5–0–1 | 3–1–2 | 26–2–8 | |||||
| Chicago | 5–1 | 3–2–1 | 3–3 | 4–0–2 | 6–0 | 4–2 | 25–8–3 | |||||
| Detroit | 6–0 | 1–1–4 | 4–2 | 3–1–2 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 22–8–6 | |||||
| Montreal | 6–0 | 2–2–2 | 3–2–1 | 4–0–2 | 4–2 | 2–2–2 | 21–8–7 | |||||
| New York | 4–1–1 | 3–1–2 | 5–1 | 0–0–6 | 4–1–1 | 4–2 | 20–6–10 | |||||
| Toronto | 3–1–2 | 2–2–2 | 4–1–1 | 3–2–1 | 2–2–2 | 4–2 | 18–10–8 | |||||
Schedule and results
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October
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November
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December
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January
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February
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March
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April
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Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Player statistics
Regular season
Scoring
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yvan Cournoyer | RW | 72 | 27 | 36 | 63 | 23 | 10 | 0 | 4 |
| Jacques Lemaire | C | 69 | 32 | 28 | 60 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 5 |
| Bobby Rousseau | RW | 72 | 24 | 34 | 58 | 30 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| Mickey Redmond | RW | 75 | 27 | 27 | 54 | 61 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Henri Richard | C | 62 | 16 | 36 | 52 | 61 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Jean Beliveau | C | 63 | 19 | 30 | 49 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Ralph Backstrom | C | 72 | 19 | 24 | 43 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Jacques Laperriere | D | 73 | 6 | 31 | 37 | 98 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| John Ferguson | LW | 48 | 19 | 13 | 32 | 139 | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| Serge Savard | D | 64 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 38 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Terry Harper | D | 75 | 4 | 18 | 22 | 109 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Claude Provost | RW | 65 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J.C. Tremblay | D | 58 | 2 | 19 | 21 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ted Harris | D | 74 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 116 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Mahovlich | C | 36 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Christian Bordeleau | C | 48 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Mickey | RW | 21 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Marc Tardif | LW | 18 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Lucien Grenier | RW | 23 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bobby Sheehan | C | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dick Duff | LW | 17 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Pleau | C | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jean Gauthier | D | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rejean Houle | W | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Roberto | RW | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Guy Charron | C | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Curtis | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jude Drouin | C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fran Huck | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Guy Lapointe | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Myre | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rogie Vachon | G | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gump Worsley | G | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rogie Vachon | 3697 | 64 | 31 | 18 | 12 | 162 | 2.63 | 4 |
| Phil Myre | 503 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 2.27 | 0 |
| Gump Worsley | 360 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 2.33 | 0 |
| Team: | 4560 | 76 | 38 | 22 | 16 | 195 | 2.57 | 4 |
- Pos = Position;GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
- Pos = Position;GP = Games played; 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;
Awards and records
- Jacques Laperriere, Defence, NHL Second Team All-Star
Draft picks
| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Réjean Houle | Montreal Junior Canadiens (OHA) | |
| 1 | 2 | Marc Tardif | Montreal Junior Canadiens (OHA) | |
| 3 | 32 | Bobby Sheehan | St. Catharines Black Hawks (OHA) | |
| 4 | 44 | Murray Anderson | Flin Flon Bombers (WCHL) | |
| 5 | 56 | Gary Doyle | Ottawa 67's (OHA) | |
| 6 | 63 | Guy Delparte | London Knights (OHA) | |
| 6 | 68 | Lynn Powis | Denver Pioneers (NCAA) | |
| 7 | 74 | Ian Wilkie | Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL) | |
| 7 | 75 | Dale Power | Peterborough Petes (OHA) | |
| 8 | 79 | Frank Hamill | Toronto Marlboros (OHA) | |
| 9 | 83 | Gilles Drolet | Quebec Remparts (QMJHL) | |
| 10 | 84 | Darrel Knibbs | Lethbridge Sugar Kings (AJHL) |