1925 - 26 NHL season The 1925 - 26 NHL season was the ninth season of the National Hockey League . Seven teams each played 36 games . The Stanley Cup winners were the Montreal Maroons who defeated the Victoria Cougars of the newly renamed Western Hockey League 3 games to 1 in a best of 5 series . League Business . The league added two new expansion franchises , in Pittsburgh and New York , the second and third United States based teams in the NHL . The Pirates were formed because former Toronto NHA owner Eddie Livingstone had been again threatening to form a rival league and mentioned Pittsburgh as one of the possible franchise locations . Frank Calder and the governors quickly agreed to grant the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets organization an NHL franchise , known as the the Pittsburgh Pirates , like the baseball club . The New York franchise was known as the New York Americans , a franchise having been granted to " Big Bill " Dwyer , an infamous bootlegger from New York City , to play in New York ' s Madison Square Garden . He purchased the suspended Hamilton Tigers players for his new New York Americans club . Tommy Gorman and Ted Dey sold their interests in the Ottawa Senators to T . Franklin Ahearn . Ahearn then hired a successful junior executive , Dave Gill , to be secretary - treasurer ( general manager ) of the team and Gill hired Alex Curry , a former Senators player in the old NHA , to coach the team . Regular season . The Hamilton Tigers had spent their first five seasons in the NHL in last place until last season where they went from worst to first . The success enjoyed by the Tigers players was not carried over to New York , though , as the Americans finished fifth overall with a record of 12 - 20 - 4 . Eddie Gerard improved the Montreal Maroons by signing Nels Stewart and Babe Siebert and signing former olympian Dunc Munro for defense . The Maroons were on their way to glory . Nels Stewart not only set a record for goals by a rookie , but became the first rookie to win the scoring title . From the start of the NHL , Georges Vezina had been the Montreal Canadiens goaltender , and had led them to the Cup in 1924 . In the first game of this season , he collapsed on the ice as the second period got underway . It was found he had tuberculosis , and he died in March of 1926 . Ottawa ' s coach Curry was quite successful , as he took a team that had gone from fourth overall to first with an impressive record of 24 - 8 - 4 , and the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates , with a strong cast of ex - amateurs led by future Hall of Famers Roy Worters and Lionel Conacher , finished third . Final standings . " Note : W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pts = Points , GF = Goals For , GA = Goals Against , PIM = Penalties in minutes " < br > " Note : Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold " Scoring leaders . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points " Stanley Cup playoffs . This is the last season that saw challengers from outside of the NHL compete for the Stanley Cup . At the beginning of the season , the Western Canada Hockey League renamed itself the Western Hockey League because one of its teams , the Regina Capitals , had moved to the States to play in Portland , Oregon . They were renamed the Portland Rosebuds . Once again , the Victoria Cougars finished third in their league but once again won their league championship and the right to play for the Stanley Cup . The previous season , the Cougars beat the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup with that being the only time in NHL history in which a non - NHL team won the Cup . After the 1926 playoffs , the Western Hockey League would fold leaving the Stanley Cup entirely to the NHL . The Cup would never again be challenged by a non - NHL team , despite efforts to " Free Stanley " during the 2004 - 05 NHL lockout season of 2004 - 2005 . This was also the only season that more teams missed the playoffs than made the playoffs . " All dates 1926 " NHL Championship . The second seed Montreal Maroons beat the third seed Pittsburgh Pirates and then went on to beat first place Ottawa Senators 2 goals to 1 in a two game " total goals " series , thus capturing the Prince of Wales Trophy and the right to play the Victoria Cougars for the Stanley Cup . Pittsburgh Pirates vs . Montreal Maroons " Montreal wins total goals series 6 goals to 4 " Montreal Maroons vs . Ottawa Senators " Montreal wins total goals series 2 goals to 1 " Finals . Nels Stewart was " Old Poison " to the Victoria Cougars , as he scored 6 goals in the 4 games and goaltender Clint Benedict shut out the westerners three times . Victoria Cougars vs . Montreal Maroons " Montreal Maroons win best - of - five series 3 games to 1 for the Stanley Cup " NHL Playoff leading scorer . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points " Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1925 - 26 ( 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 1925 - 26 ( listed with their last team ) :