1951 - 52 NHL season The 1951 - 52 NHL season was the 35th season of the National Hockey League . Six teams each played 70 games . The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup by sweeping the Montreal Canadiens four games to none . League Business . A long standing feud between Boston president Weston Adams and general manager Art Ross ended on October 12 , 1951 when Adams sold his stock in Boston Garden to Walter Brown . Chicago , who had made the mammoth nine player deal the previous season , now decided to make the largest cash deal for players to this time by paying $ 75 , 000 for Jim McFadden , George Gee , Jimmy Peters , Clare Martin , Clare Raglan , and Max McNab . Regular season . Conn Smythe offered $ 10 , 000 for anyone who found Bill Barilko , missing since August 26th . Barilko and Dr . Henry Hudson had left Rupert House on James Bay in the doctor ' s light plane for Timmins , Ontario after a weekend fishing trip and had not been found . For the fourth straight season , the Detroit Red Wings finished first overall in the National Hockey League . Highlights . Montreal opened the season before a crowd of 15 , 100 fans as the Canadiens beat Chicago 4 - 2 . Rocket Richard had a goal and Bernie Geoffrion had two . On the same night , Terry Sawchuk had his first shutout of the season as Detroit beat Boston 1 - 0 . Princess ( later Queen ) Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were in attendance at the Montreal Forum , and Floyd Curry came alive with the hat trick and Richard scored two goals as Montreal beat the New York Rangers 6 - 1 . Inspired by the return of Black Jack Stewart to the lineup , Chicago had a rare trouncing of the Red Wings right at the Olympia , 6 - 2 . During the game , Chicago ' s Gus Bodnar twisted his shoulder and Harry Lumley hurt a knee . Trainer Moe Roberts , who played his first game in the NHL for Boston in 1925 - 26 , played the rest of the way in goal for Chicago and played quite well at age 46 . Roberts would stand as the oldest person to ever play an NHL game until Gordie Howe returned to the NHL at age 51 in 1979 . Chicago wasn ' t drawing well and so they decided to experiment with afternoon games . It worked , as the largest crowd of the season , 13 , 600 fans , showed up for a January 20 game in which Chicago lost to Toronto 3 - 1 . Elmer Lach night was held March 8 at Montreal Forum as the Canadiens tied Chicago 4 - 4 . 14 , 452 fans were on hand to see Lach presented with a car , rowboat , TV set , deepfreeze chest , bedroom and dining room suites , a refrigerator and many other articles . On the last night of the season , March 23 , 1952 , with nothing at stake at Madison Square Garden , 3 , 254 fans saw Chicago ' s Bill Mosienko score the fastest hat trick in NHL history , 3 goals in 21 seconds . Lorne Anderson was the goaltender who gave up the goals to Chicago . Gus Bodnar also set a record with the fastest three assists in NHL history as he assisted on all three goals Mosienko scored . Chicago beat the New York Rangers 7 - 6 . 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 " Stanley Cup playoffs . In the playoffs , Detroit finished 8 - 0 , the first time a team had gone undefeated in the playoffs since the 1934 - 35 Montreal Maroons . The Wings scored 24 goals in the playoffs , compared to a combined 5 goals for their opponents . Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1951 - 52 ( 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 1951 - 52 ( listed with their last team ) : Attendance . " Regular Season Only "