# 1918–19 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1918–19 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's tenth season and second as a member of the new National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens would win the NHL title and go to Seattle to face off for the Stanley Cup. However, a Spanish flu epidemic broke out in Seattle and both teams would abandon the series after several Canadiens fell ill. Montreal defenceman Joe Hall would die from the flu.

## Team business

Prior to the season, another attempt was made by Eddie Livingstone to revive the National Hockey Association. Livingstone did not wish to sell his team for less than $20,000, more than the Arena Company was willing to pay. On September 20, 1918, the NHA owners, including the Canadiens, voted to permanently suspend the NHA. Livingstone forced another meeting on December 11, 1918, hoping to get Canadiens' minority shareholder Brunswick to vote with him, but at the meeting, Brunswick officials affirmed their loyalty to the Canadiens and the meeting ended with the Canadiens, Brunswick, Ottawa and Wanderers simply leaving the meeting.

## Regular season

Georges Vezina came second in the league in goals against average of 4.3 per game. Odie Cleghorn returned to professional play and he had an outstanding 24 goals in 17 games to lead the league in goals for the Canadiens.
The Toronto Arenas folded on March 20, 1919, leaving only Montreal and Ottawa in the league. The teams proceeded to play off for the league title.

### Finals

First half :
| | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
| Montreal Canadiens | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 57 | 50 |
| Ottawa Senators | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 39 | 39 |
| Toronto Arenas | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 42 | 49 |
Second half :
| | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
| Ottawa Senators | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 32 | 14 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 31 | 28 |
| Toronto Arenas | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 22 | 43 |
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

### Record vs. opponents

1918–19 NHL Records :
| Team | MTL | OTT | TOR |
| Montreal | — | 4–5 | 6–3 |
| Ottawa | 5–4 | — | 7–2 |
| Toronto | 3–6 | 2–7 | — |

## Schedule and results

Regular season results :
| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | L | December 21, 1918 | 2–5 | Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 0–1–0 |
| 2 | W | December 23, 1918 | 4–3 | @ Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 1–1–0 |
| 3 | W | December 28, 1918 | 6–3 | Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 2–1–0 |
| 4 | L | January 2, 1919 | 2–7 | @ Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 2–2–0 |
| 5 | W | January 4, 1919 | 5–2 | Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 3–2–0 |
| 6 | W | January 7, 1919 | 7–6 | @ Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 4–2–0 |
| 7 | W | January 11, 1919 | 13–4 | Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 5–2–0 |
| 8 | W | January 16, 1919 | 10–6 | @ Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 6–2–0 |
| 9 | W | January 18, 1919 | 5–3 | Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 7–2–0 |
| 10 | L | January 21, 1919 | 3–11 | @ Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 7–3–0 |
| Second half ||||||
| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 11 | L | January 25, 1919 | 0–1 | Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 0–1–0 |
| 12 | L | January 30, 1919 | 2–3 OT | @ Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 0–2–0 |
| 13 | W | February 1, 1919 | 10–0 | Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 1–2–0 |
| 14 | L | February 4, 1919 | 3–6 | @ Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 1–3–0 |
| 15 | W | February 8, 1919 | 4–3 | Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 2–3–0 |
| 16 | L | February 11, 1919 | 4–6 | @ Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 2–4–0 |
| 17 | L | February 13, 1919 | 0–7 | @ Ottawa Senators (1918–19) | 2–5–0 |
| 18 | W | February 15, 1919 | 8–2 | Toronto Arenas (1918–19) | 3–5–0 |

## Playoffs

They went against Ottawa for the championship and won it 13 goals to 7, or 13–7.

### Finals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Seattle Metropolitans
| Date | Away | Score | Home | Score | Notes |
| March 19 | Montreal Canadiens | 0 | Seattle Metropolitans | 7 | |
| March 22 | Seattle Metropolitans | 2 | Montreal Canadiens | 4 | |
| March 24 | Montreal Canadiens | 2 | Seattle Metropolitans | 7 | |
| March 26 | Seattle Metropolitans | 0 | Montreal Canadiens | 0 | 20:00 OT |
| March 30 | Montreal Canadiens | 4 | Seattle Metropolitans | 3 | 15:57 OT |
Series ended 2–2–1 and no winner awarded – playoffs were curtailed due to the influenza epidemic

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| | | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs |
| Player | # | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Newsy Lalonde | 4 | 17 | 23 | 10 | 33 | 42 | 10 | 17 | 1 | 18 | 18 |
| Odie Cleghorn | 6 | 18 | 21 | 6 | 27 | 33 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 9 |
| Didier Pitre | 5 | 17 | 14 | 4 | 18 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| Jack McDonald | 10 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Joe Malone | 7 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| Joe Hall | 3 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 135 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| Louis Berlinguette | 8 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| Bert Corbeau | 2 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 54 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
| Billy Coutu | 9 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Amos Arbour | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Billy Bell | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Fred Doherty | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average
| | | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs |
| Player | # | GP | TOI | W | L | T | GA | SO | GAA | GP | TOI | W | L | T | GA | SO | GAA |
| Georges Vezina | 1 | 18 | 1117 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 78 | 1 | 4.19 | 10 | 636 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 1 | 3.49 |

## Awards and records

* NHL champions (O'Brien Cup not awarded)

## Transactions

* traded Tommy Smith to Ottawa for cash, November 28, 1918
* signed Odie Cleghorn as a free agent, December 9, 1918
* signed Fred Doherty as a free agent, December 13, 1918
* signed Amos Arbour as a free agent, January 23, 1919