1958 - 59 NHL season The 1958 - 59 NHL season was the 42nd season of the National Hockey League . Six teams each played 70 games . The Montreal Canadiens were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs four games to one in the best - of - seven final series . This marked the fourth consecutive Stanley Cup win for the Canadiens as they became the first team to win four in a row . Regular season . The Toronto Maple Leafs , last - place finishers the previous season , brought up Johnny Bower to share goaltending duties with Ed Chadwick and bolstered the defence by adding Carl Brewer and Allan Stanley to aid Tim Horton and Bobby Baun . Toronto was on its way up . Ralph Backstrom and Jean Béliveau each had two goals apiece in a 9 - 1 Montreal win at the Montreal Forum on October 23 . Rudy Pilous , coach of the Black Hawks , was far from pleased with his team ' s performance and fined his team $ 100 for the poor performance . Béliveau had the hat trick November 29 as Montreal beat Detroit 6 - 2 at the Forum . Gordie Howe was injured in a collision with Doug Harvey near the end of the first period and was taken to hospital . There was no serious damage and Howe was given an ovation when he returned in the third period . The next night , Montreal sneeringly pasted the Red Wings 7 - 0 as Jacques Plante got his third shutout of the season . On January 3 , Harvey was back in the Canadiens lineup and scored two goals in a 5 - 1 win over the New York Rangers at the Forum . A crowd of 14 , 711 saw a free - for - all at the end of the game . In the last minute of play , Plante got two penalties , one of them a major that sparked the fight . Jimmy Bartlett had skated right into Plante and Plante retaliated by punching Bartlett . In no time at all , every player on the ice was involved except Rangers ' net minder Gump Worsley , who decided to have none of the nonsense . Referee Dalton McArthur gave Bartlett a double major , one for charging and one for fighting , and a misconduct penalty . Harvey and Lou Fontinato also received major penalties . On February 1 , the Rangers downed the Red Wings 5 - 4 at Madison Square Garden . Lou Fontinato became incensed when Gordie Howe whacked Eddie Shack over the ear with his stick , and challenged the right wing . Howe terminated the fight with an uppercut that broke Fontinato ' s nose and left it several degrees off centre . On February 5 , the Rangers beat the Wings 5 - 0 on Worsley ' s shutout . Detroit coach Sid Abel , formerly Howe ' s centreman , was furious at his team and fined 14 players $ 100 each for playing what he described as " the worst game of hockey he had seen in 20 years " . On February 15 at Madison Square Garden , the Gumper had Montreal shut out with ten minutes remaining . Then the Canadiens scored 5 goals to win 5 - 1 . Coach Phil Watson was red - faced and screaming at his Ranger players and ordered every player except Worsley out on the ice for an after - game workout . Watson said Worsley hadn ' t played so bad . General manager Muzz Patrick said the workout was in lieu of fines . With five games left in the season , the Rangers had a seven - point lead over Toronto . Then the Rangers went into a fatal tailspin , and the Leafs got hot . The key game was played March 19 between Toronto and the Canadiens . Plante couldn ' t play due to a severe case of boils , and so the Canadiens used Claude Pronovost in goal . He was bombed for five goals before coach Toe Blake yanked him in the third period . He was replaced by another nobody , Claude Cyr . It was his first and last NHL game . He gave up only one goal the rest of the way , but the damage was done . Toronto won 6 - 3 . The Canadiens brought up the more capable Charlie Hodge from the Montreal Royals and on March 22 , he beat the Rangers 4 - 2 . The Rangers still had a chance to make the playoffs if Detroit beat Toronto . The Red Wings had a 3 - 0 lead that collapsed , and the Leafs won 6 - 4 and ousted the Rangers , making the playoffs themselves . The Montreal Canadiens again won the regular season standings and again their players dominated the trophies as Jacques Plante won his fourth straight Vezina Trophy , Tom Johnson won the James Norris Memorial Trophy , ending teammate Doug Harvey ' s four - year monopoly , and Dickie Moore won the Art Ross Trophy , setting a new record for total points in a season : with a 41 - goal , 55 - assist campaign , " Digger " broke " Mr . Hockey ' s " record by a single point . This season marked the final time until 1967 where we would see an active player that had played for a team not in the Original Six . Former Brooklyn Americans player Ken Mosdell suited up for 2 postseason games for the Canadiens that year , and retired after Montreal won the Cup . Final standings . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pts = Points , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against , PIM = Penalties in minutes " Scoring leaders . " Note : GP = Games played , G = Goals , A = Assists , PTS = Points , PIM = Penalties in minutes " Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1958 - 59 ( listed with their first team , asterisk ( * ) marks debut in playoffs ) : Last games . The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1958 - 59 ( listed with their last team ) :