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The 1954 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens, in their fourth straight Finals. It was the second Detroit–Montreal Finals series of the 1950s. Despite blowing a 3–1 series lead, the Red Wings defeated the Canadiens in seven games to win their second Stanley Cup in four years and sixth overall.
| 1954 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| * indicates periods of overtime. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | Detroit: Olympia Stadium (1, 2, 5, 7) Montreal: Montreal Forum (3, 4, 6) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Detroit: Tommy Ivan Montreal: Dick Irvin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Detroit: Ted Lindsay Montreal: Emile Bouchard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | April 4–16, 1954 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Tony Leswick (4:29, OT) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Red Wings: Keith Allen (1992, builder) Al Arbour (1996, builder; did not play) Alex Delvecchio (1977) Gordie Howe (1972) Red Kelly (1969) Ted Lindsay (1966) Marcel Pronovost (1978) Terry Sawchuk (1971) Canadiens: Jean Beliveau (1972) Emile Bouchard (1966) Bernie Geoffrion (1972) Doug Harvey (1973) Tom Johnson (1970) Elmer Lach (1966) Dickie Moore (1974) Bert Olmstead (1985) Jacques Plante (1978) Maurice Richard (1961) Coaches: Dick Irvin (1958, player) Tommy Ivan (1974) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As of 2024, this remains the last Stanley Cup Final where Game 7 was decided in overtime.
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Montreal defeated the Boston Bruins 4–0 to reach the Finals. Detroit defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 to reach the Finals.
Tony Leswick scored the series-winning goal at 4:29 of overtime in Game 7. In fact, Leswick's goal was one of the strangest Stanley Cup-winning goals in history, as Leswick's shot was deflected off the glove of Montreal's Doug Harvey and into the net.[1] The Canadiens immediately skated off the ice without shaking hands with the Red Wings.[2] This was the second time in NHL history that Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals was decided in overtime; the previous time it happened, in 1950, Detroit beat the New York Rangers in the Finals. As of 2024, this is the last Stanley Cup Final to have an overtime Game 7.
| April 4 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–3 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 13:44 - pp - Ted Lindsay (3) | ||||||
| Bernie Geoffrion (5) - pp - 12:16 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 1:52 - pp - Dutch Reibel (1) 7:13 - sh - Red Kelly (3) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Terry Sawchuck | ||||||
| April 6 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–1 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Dickie Moore (5) - pp - 15:03 Maurice Richard (1) - pp - 15:28 Maurice Richard (2) - pp - 15:59 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 6:37 - pp - Alex Delvecchio (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Terry Sawchuck | ||||||
| April 8 | Detroit Red Wings | 5–2 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Alex Delvecchio (2) - 00:42 Ted Lindsay (4) - 17:06 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Johnny Wilson (2) - 4:57 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Metro Prystai (1) - pp - 7:59 Gordie Howe (4) - 11:32 |
Third period | 7:19 - sh - Tom Johnson (1) 15:02 - Dollard St. Laurent (1) | ||||||
| Terry Sawchuck | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 10 | Detroit Red Wings | 2–0 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Johnny Wilson (3) - 2:09 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Red Kelly (4) - 19:53 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Terry Sawchuck | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 11 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–0 | OT | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | ||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Ken Mosdell (1) - 5:45 | First overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
| Gerry McNeil | Goalie stats | Terry Sawchuck | ||||||
| April 13 | Detroit Red Wings | 1–4 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 12:07 - Bernie Geoffrion (6) 13:07 - Floyd Curry (2) 14:25 - Floyd Curry (3) | ||||||
| Metro Prystai (2) - 5:11 | Third period | 10:06 - Maurice Richard (3) | ||||||
| Terry Sawchuck | Goalie stats | Gerry McNeil | ||||||
| April 16 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–2 | OT | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | ||
| Floyd Curry (4) - 9:17 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 1:17 - pp - Red Kelly (5) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 4:29 - Tony Leswick (3) | ||||||
| Gerry McNeil | Goalie stats | Terry Sawchuck | ||||||
| Detroit won series 4–3 | |
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CBC's coverage of games 3–5 were joined in progress at 9:30 p.m. (approximately one hour after start time). Meanwhile, CBC joined game six in at 10 p.m. (again, one hour after start time). Game seven was carried nationwide from the opening face-off at 9 p.m. Since game seven was played on Good Friday night, there were no commercials (Imperial Oil was the sponsor).
The 1954 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Ted Lindsay by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Red Wings 2–1 overtime win over the Canadiens in game seven.
The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
1953–54 Detroit Red Wings
Players
- 10 Metro Prystai
- 12 Glen Skov
- 14 Earl Reibel
- 15 Alex Delvecchio
- 19 Vic Stasiuk
- 7 Ted Lindsay (Captain)
- 8 Tony Leswick
- 9 Gordie Howe
- 11 Marty Pavelich
- 16 John Wilson
- 17 Bill Dineen
- 20 Jimmy Peters
- 26-25 Gilles Dube
- 21 Earl Johnson†
- 2 Bob Goldham (A)
- 3 Marcel Pronovost
- 4 Leonard Red Kelly (A)
- 5 Benny Woit
- 18 Al Arbour
- 19 Keith Allen
- 1 Terry Sawchuk
- 1 David Gatherum (Sub)^
- 30 Ross Wilson (Playing-Asst. Trainer)†
Coaching and administrative staff
- Marguerite Norris (President/Owner), Bruce Norris (Vice President/Owner)
- Jack Adams (Manager), Tommy Ivan (Coach)
- John Mitchell (Chief Scout), Carl Mattson (Trainer)
- Fred Huber Jr. (Publicity Director), Wally Crossman (Asst. Trainer/Stick Boy)
Stanley Cup engraving
- Earl Johnson name was engraved on the Stanley Cup, even though he only played 1 regular season game. Johnson spent the rest of hockey career in the minors†
- Dave Gatherum played Oct 11, 16, 17 for injured Terry Sawchuk. He recorded 1 win, 1 tie and 1 loss. Gatherum went on to set an NHL for the longest shutout sequence by a goaltender to start a career 100.21 min Oct 11-16, 1953. The record stood until 2011. Gatherum was recalled for the playoffs as a spare goalie. Gatherum never played in the NHL again after losing his first NHL game. Detroit still honour him by including Dave Gatherum name on the Stanley Cup in 1954.
- #19 Vic Stasiuk& played 43 games, but was sent to minors. His name was left off the cup, because he played in the minors, during the playoffs.
- #21 Jim Hay& had played 12 games for Detroit, but did not play in the playoffs. He was included on team picture. Gilles Dube was listed as Ed Dube by mistake on the team picture.
- Marguerite Norris was first woman to be engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1954.
- Tommy Ivan was misspelled as THOMAS NIVAN COACH instead of Thomas N. Ivan when cup was redone in 1957–58. His name was spelled THOMAS IVAN COACH on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
- Alex Delvecchio was misspelled ALEX BELVECCHIO with a "B" instead of a "D". Mistake was corrected on the Replica Cup.
- Tony Leswick was misspelled TONY LESWICH with a "H" instead of a "K". Mistake was corrected on the Replica Cup.
- When cup was redone in 1957–58, the names of Earl Johnson†, and Ross Wilson† were removed from the new version of 1954 Detroit. Ross Wilson also played goal on October 10, 1953, for 16 minutes when Terry Sawchuk got injured.
&-Name was left off the Stanley Cup.
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