1918 Stanley Cup Finals The 1918 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the National Hockey League ( NHL ) champion Toronto and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association ( PCHA ) champion Vancouver Millionaires . In a series held entirely in Toronto , the Toronto team won the series by three games to two in the best - of - five game series to win the Stanley Cup . It was the first series contested by the new NHL and subsequently the first Stanley Cup win by the Toronto NHL franchise team . Paths to the Final . Prior to the 1917 – 18 season , the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) had suspended operations as the result of a power play to oust Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone . The remaining clubs then met in November 1918 to form the NHL , using the exact constitution and playing rules of the NHA . The NHL took the NHA ' s place in competing for the Cup in a playoff with the PCHA . The Toronto NHL players were assigned from the Toronto NHA franchise , and played for a ' temporary ' Toronto NHL franchise , operated by the Toronto Arena owners . This is why it is often called the ' Arenas ' although no Arena hockey club existed until after the 1917 – 18 season . The team at the time used no nickname ; and it was often referred to at the time as the " Blueshirts ' , the nickname of the NHA franchise , as it was announced by the NHA that the franchise had been sold , although this had not been agreed to by Eddie Livingstone , who wanted to resume his franchise , or be compensated under his terms . Despite this black cloud over it , Toronto won the second half of the split regular season while the Montreal Canadiens won the first half . Toronto then won the NHL title by defeating the Canadiens in a two - game total - goals series , 10 – 7 . Meanwhile , Vancouver finished the 1917 – 18 PCHA regular season in second place with a 9 – 9 record behind the 11 – 7 Seattle Metropolitans . However , Vancouver beat Seattle in that league ' s two - game total - goals finals , 3 – 1 , with a 1 – 0 game two victory . The series . As with the three previous NHA - PCHA Cup Final series , the series alternated between the NHL champion and the PCHA champion each year , while the differing rules for the leagues alternated each game . This meant that all of the games for the 1918 championship series were played at Toronto ' s Arena Gardens . Two of the major differences between the two leagues ' rules proved to be a major factor in the series . The PCHA did not allow forward passing and played with seven players per side ; the NHL did not adopt forward passing until the following season , and only played with six players . In every game , the winner was the one playing under its league ' s rules . The Torontos won Games 1 and 3 with victories of 5 – 3 and 6 – 3 , and the Millionaires recorded 6 – 4 and 8 – 1 wins in Games 2 and 4 . Because game five was played under NHL rules , it helped Toronto ' s Corbett Denneny to score the series winning goal in a 2 – 1 victory . The Torontos outscored the Millionaires by a combined total of 13 – 7 in the three games played under NHL rules . Conversely , Vancouver recorded a 14 – 5 margin in the games under PCHA rules . Toronto goaltender Hap Holmes recorded a 4 . 20 goals - against average during the series , while Alf Skinner led Toronto with eight goals . Cyclone Taylor scored nine goals for Vancouver . ‡ Played rover position in the Stanley Cup Finals † Missing from team picture . Torontos 1918 Stanley Cup champions . engraving - notes Even though they officially did not win the Cup during this season , the Vancouver club had the words " Vancouver / Defeated Seattle / 1917 – 18 / Score 1 – 0 " engraved on the Cup after winning the PCHA championship over the Metropolitans , who won the previous year ' s Cup finals . This was similar to the practice prior to 1915 when the trophy was officially passed on to the winner of the league championship of the previous Cup champion ' s league . However , the Toronto club never did engrave their name on the Cup to memorialize their series victory over Vancouver . At the time , the NHL club was in a dispute with the owner of the NHA Toronto franchise holder over the Stanley Cup revenues . In 1948 , the NHL engraved " 1918 Toronto Arenas " on the Cup .