1955–56 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1955–56 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 47th season of play. The Canadiens placed first in the regular season standings (with their 45 wins setting an NHL record) and won the Stanley Cup for the eighth time in the club's history.

1955–56 Montreal Canadiens
Stanley Cup champions
Prince of Wales Trophy winners
League	1st NHL
1955–56 record	45–15–10
Home record	29–5–1
Road record	16–10–9
Goals for	222
Goals against	131
Team information
General manager	Frank J. Selke
Coach	Toe Blake
Captain	Emile Bouchard
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Jean Beliveau, 47
Assists	Bert Olmstead, 56
Points	Jean Beliveau, 88
Penalty minutes	Jean Beliveau, 143
Wins	Jacques Plante (42)
Goals against average	Jacques Plante (1.86)
← 1954–55 1956–57 →

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League^[1]

• v
• t
• e

		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Montreal Canadiens	70	45	15	10	222	131	+91	100
2	Detroit Red Wings	70	30	24	16	183	148	+35	76
3	New York Rangers	70	32	28	10	204	203	+1	74
4	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	24	33	13	153	181	−28	61
5	Boston Bruins	70	23	34	13	147	185	−38	59
6	Chicago Black Hawks	70	19	39	12	155	216	−61	50

Record vs. opponents

1955–56 NHL Records [2]
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MTL	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	3–8–3	3–8–3	5–8–1	7–5–2	5–5–4
Chicago	8–3–3	—	2–8–4	1–12–1	3–10–1	5–6–3
Detroit	8–3–3	8–2–4	—	4–8–2	5–6–3	5–5–4
Montreal	8–5–1	12–1–1	8–4–2	—	8–2–4	9–3–2
New York	5–7–2	10–3–1	6–5–3	2–8–4	—	9–5
Toronto	5–5–4	6–5–3	5–5–4	3–9–2	5–9	—

Schedule and results

1955–56 regular season[3]
October Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 1 W October 6, 1955 2–0 Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 1–0–0 2 W October 8, 1955 2–0 Boston Bruins (1955–56) 2–0–0 3 W October 9, 1955 5–2 @ Boston Bruins (1955–56) 3–0–0 4 W October 15, 1955 4–1 New York Rangers (1955–56) 4–0–0 5 T October 16, 1955 2–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 4–0–1 6 L October 20, 1955 2–3 Boston Bruins (1955–56) 4–1–1 7 W October 22, 1955 6–0 Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 5–1–1 8 L October 26, 1955 1–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 5–2–1 9 L October 27, 1955 1–4 Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 5–3–1 10 W October 29, 1955 2–1 Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 6–3–1 11 T October 30, 1955 2–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 6–3–2
November Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 12 T November 3, 1955 3–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 6–3–3 13 W November 5, 1955 4–2 Boston Bruins (1955–56) 7–3–3 14 T November 6, 1955 3–3 @ Boston Bruins (1955–56) 7–3–4 15 T November 9, 1955 1–1 @ New York Rangers (1955–56) 7–3–5 16 W November 12, 1955 3–0 Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 8–3–5 17 W November 13, 1955 2–0 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 9–3–5 18 W November 16, 1955 3–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 10–3–5 19 W November 19, 1955 6–1 New York Rangers (1955–56) 11–3–5 20 T November 20, 1955 1–1 @ New York Rangers (1955–56) 11–3–6 21 L November 24, 1955 2–3 @ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 11–4–6 22 W November 26, 1955 3–1 Boston Bruins (1955–56) 12–4–6 23 T November 27, 1955 3–3 @ New York Rangers (1955–56) 12–4–7
December Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 24 W December 1, 1955 2–1 @ Boston Bruins (1955–56) 13–4–7 25 W December 3, 1955 3–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 14–4–7 26 W December 4, 1955 5–1 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 15–4–7 27 W December 8, 1955 3–1 Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 16–4–7 28 W December 10, 1955 4–2 Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 17–4–7 29 W December 11, 1955 4–2 @ Boston Bruins (1955–56) 18–4–7 30 W December 15, 1955 2–0 New York Rangers (1955–56) 19–4–7 31 W December 17, 1955 5–0 Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 20–4–7 32 L December 18, 1955 0–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 20–5–7 33 W December 20, 1955 7–1 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 21–5–7 34 W December 24, 1955 4–2 Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 22–5–7 35 L December 25, 1955 1–5 @ New York Rangers (1955–56) 22–6–7 36 L December 28, 1955 0–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 22–7–7 37 W December 29, 1955 5–2 Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 23–7–7 38 W December 31, 1955 7–3 Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 24–7–7
January Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 39 L January 5, 1956 2–5 Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 24–8–7 40 W January 7, 1956 3–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 25–8–7 41 L January 11, 1956 1–6 @ New York Rangers (1955–56) 25–9–7 42 L January 14, 1956 0–2 Boston Bruins (1955–56) 25–10–7 43 L January 15, 1956 0–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 25–11–7 44 W January 18, 1956 3–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 26–11–7 45 W January 19, 1956 3–1 Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 27–11–7 46 W January 21, 1956 3–1 New York Rangers (1955–56) 28–11–7 47 W January 22, 1956 6–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 29–11–7 48 L January 26, 1956 1–5 @ Boston Bruins (1955–56) 29–12–7 49 W January 28, 1956 6–1 Boston Bruins (1955–56) 30–12–7 50 T January 29, 1956 1–1 @ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 30–12–8
February Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 51 W February 2, 1956 2–0 @ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 31–12–8 52 W February 4, 1956 2–1 Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 32–12–8 53 T February 5, 1956 3–3 @ New York Rangers (1955–56) 32–12–9 54 T February 8, 1956 1–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 32–12–10 55 W February 10, 1956 3–1 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 33–12–10 56 W February 12, 1956 7–1 @ Boston Bruins (1955–56) 34–12–10 57 W February 16, 1956 8–1 Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 35–12–10 58 W February 18, 1956 9–4 New York Rangers (1955–56) 36–12–10 59 W February 23, 1956 5–2 New York Rangers (1955–56) 37–12–10 60 W February 25, 1956 5–1 Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 38–12–10 61 L February 29, 1956 1–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 38–13–10
March Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 62 W March 2, 1956 3–1 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 39–13–10 63 W March 3, 1956 3–1 Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 40–13–10 64 W March 4, 1956 6–4 @ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56) 41–13–10 65 W March 8, 1956 4–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56) 42–13–10 66 L March 10, 1956 0–4 Boston Bruins (1955–56) 42–14–10 67 L March 11, 1956 1–3 @ Boston Bruins (1955–56) 42–15–10 68 W March 15, 1956 5–2 Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56) 43–15–10 69 W March 17, 1956 7–2 New York Rangers (1955–56) 44–15–10 70 W March 18, 1956 3–1 @ New York Rangers (1955–56) 45–15–10
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Playoffs

Stanley Cup Finals

Further information: 1956 Stanley Cup Finals

This was the first Finals for Henri Richard and Toe Blake's first Finals as coach. The Canadiens faced the Detroit Red Wings for the fourth time in five years, having lost in 1952, 1954, and 1955. This year, they won in five games.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 31	Detroit	4	Montreal	6
April 3	Detroit	1	Montreal	5
April 5	Montreal	1	Detroit	3
April 8	Montreal	3	Detroit	0
April 10	Detroit	1	Montreal	3

Montreal won the best-of-seven series 4 games to 1.

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Jean Beliveau	C	70	47	41	88	143
Maurice Richard	RW	70	38	33	71	89
Bert Olmstead	LW	70	14	56	70	94
Bernie Geoffrion	RW	59	29	33	62	66
Dickie Moore	LW	70	11	39	50	55
Doug Harvey	D	62	5	39	44	60
Henri Richard	C	64	19	21	40	46
Floyd Curry	RW	70	14	18	32	10
Ken Mosdell	C	67	13	17	30	48
Claude Provost	RW	60	13	16	29	30
Jack LeClair	C	54	6	8	14	30
Jean-Guy Talbot	D	66	1	13	14	80
Dollard St. Laurent	D	46	4	9	13	58
Tom Johnson	D	64	3	10	13	75
Donnie Marshall	LW	66	4	1	5	10
Bob Turner	D	33	1	4	5	35
Dick Gamble	LW	12	0	3	3	8
Emile Bouchard	D	36	0	0	0	22
Connie Broden	C	3	0	0	0	2
Wally Clune	D	5	0	0	0	6
Jacques Deslauriers	D	2	0	0	0	0
Bob Perreault	G	6	0	0	0	0
Jacques Plante	G	64	0	0	0	10

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Jacques Plante	3840	64	42	12	10	119	1.86	7
Bob Perreault	360	6	3	3	0	12	2.00	1
Team:	4200	70	45	15	10	131	1.87	8

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Jean Beliveau	C	10	12	7	19	22
Bernie Geoffrion	RW	10	5	9	14	6
Maurice Richard	RW	10	5	9	14	24
Bert Olmstead	LW	10	4	10	14	8
Dickie Moore	LW	10	3	6	9	12
Henri Richard	C	10	4	4	8	21
Doug Harvey	D	10	2	5	7	10
Claude Provost	RW	10	3	3	6	12
Floyd Curry	RW	10	1	5	6	12
Jack LeClair	C	8	1	1	2	4
Ken Mosdell	C	9	1	1	2	2
Tom Johnson	D	10	0	2	2	8
Jean-Guy Talbot	D	9	0	2	2	4
Donnie Marshall	LW	10	1	0	1	0
Bob Turner	D	10	0	1	1	10
Emile Bouchard	D	1	0	0	0	0
Jacques Plante	G	10	0	0	0	2
Dollard St. Laurent	D	4	0	0	0	2

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Jacques Plante	600	10	8	2	18	1.80	2
Team:	600	10	8	2	18	1.80	2

^[4]

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;

Awards and records

• Prince of Wales Trophy: Montreal Canadiens
• Art Ross Trophy: Jean Beliveau
• Hart Memorial Trophy: Jean Beliveau
• James Norris Memorial Trophy: Doug Harvey
• Vezina Trophy: Jacques Plante, Montreal Canadiens
• Jean Beliveau, Centre, NHL First Team All-Star
• Doug Harvey, Defenceman, NHL First Team All-Star
• Tom Johnson, Defenceman, NHL Second Team All-Star
• Bert Olmstead, Left Wing, NHL Second Team All-Star
• Jacques Plante, Goaltender, NHL First Team All-Star
• Maurice Richard, Right Wing, NHL First Team All-Star

Transactions

See also

• 1955–56 NHL season