1953–54 Boston Bruins season

The 1953–54 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 30th season in the NHL. The Bruins finished 4th in the league and lost in the Semi-finals to the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 0.
==Off-season==
The 7th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Montreal on October 3, 1953. A team of All-stars that included two Bruins, Bill Quackenbush and Ed Sandford, played against the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens. The All-Stars won 3-1 with no Bruin registering a point.
==Regular Season==
Hal Laycoe suffered a knee injury in training camp resulting in Ray Gariepy taking his place. Laycoe returned on November 5, 1953 while Gariepy played 35 games (of 36 career) over the season.
The 1953-54 season was one of parity across the league, with the exception of the Chicago Black Hawks. The Bruins were only 14 points out of first place despite finishing fourth and frequently beat the league leaders Detroit and Montreal. Bruins scoring was up from the previous year with nine Bruins forwards registering double digit goal totals. The Fleming Mackell, Ed Sandford, Johnny Peirson line finished 1-2-3 on the team while the second line of Dave Creighton, Joe Klukay and Leo Labine registered 20, 20 and 16 goals respectively. Sandford was voted to the Second All-Star team. Rookie Doug Mohns made the team out of the juniors and impressed as did newly acquired veteran Cal Gardner who'd play four full seasons for the Bruins.
The Bruins defense was solid led by goalie Jim Henry who played all 70 games and registered 8 shutouts. The November 14, 1953 game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs resulted in Real Chevrefils and All-Star defenseman Bill Quackenbush both breaking their legs. Quackenbush missed 25 games which resulted in a slight rise in goals against from the previous season. The Bruins missed Chevrefils' scoring as he was lost for the season.
Near the end of February 1954, the Bruins were in fifth place trailing the New York Rangers for the last playoff spot. Boston finished strong, losing only once in the last 12 games of the season to make the post season.
===Final Standings===
===Game Log===
Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results 	Regular Season Results
No. 	R 	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	W 	October 11, 1953 	4–1 	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	1–0–0
2 	L 	October 15, 1953 	1–4 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 	1–1–0
3 	L 	October 17, 1953 	2–5 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	1–2–0
4 	W 	October 18, 1953 	3–2 	New York Rangers (1953–54) 	2–2–0
5 	L 	October 22, 1953 	3–4 	@ New York Rangers (1953–54) 	2–3–0
6 	W 	October 24, 1953 	3–2 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	3–3–0
7 	W 	October 25, 1953 	4–3 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	4–3–0
8 	W 	October 31, 1953 	3–1 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	5–3–0
9 	T 	November 1, 1953 	0–0 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	5–3–1
10 	W 	November 5, 1953 	4–2 	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 	6–3–1
11 	L 	November 7, 1953 	2–5 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	6–4–1
12 	W 	November 8, 1953 	2–0 	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	7–4–1
13 	T 	November 11, 1953 	2–2 	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	7–4–2
14 	L 	November 14, 1953 	0–2 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	7–5–2
15 	T 	November 15, 1953 	1–1 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 	7–5–3
16 	L 	November 19, 1953 	2–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	7–6–3
17 	W 	November 20, 1953 	2–0 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	8–6–3
18 	T 	November 22, 1953 	2–2 	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	8–6–4
19 	L 	November 25, 1953 	3–5 	@ New York Rangers (1953–54) 	8–7–4
20 	W 	November 26, 1953 	5–2 	New York Rangers (1953–54) 	9–7–4
21 	W 	November 29, 1953 	2–1 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 	10–7–4
22 	W 	December 3, 1953 	3–1 	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 	11–7–4
23 	L 	December 5, 1953 	2–4 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	11–8–4
24 	L 	December 6, 1953 	2–7 	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	11–9–4
25 	W 	December 10, 1953 	6–3 	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	12–9–4
26 	L 	December 12, 1953 	1–7 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	12–10–4
27 	T 	December 13, 1953 	2–2 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	12–10–5
28 	L 	December 16, 1953 	3–4 	@ New York Rangers (1953–54) 	12–11–5
29 	W 	December 17, 1953 	3–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 	13–11–5
30 	L 	December 19, 1953 	3–7 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	13–12–5
31 	L 	December 20, 1953 	2–4 	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	13–13–5
32 	W 	December 25, 1953 	4–1 	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 	14–13–5
33 	L 	December 27, 1953 	1–2 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	14–14–5
34 	W 	December 29, 1953 	6–2 	@ New York Rangers (1953–54) 	15–14–5
35 	L 	January 1, 1954 	1–2 	New York Rangers (1953–54) 	15–15–5
36 	T 	January 2, 1954 	1–1 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	15–15–6
37 	L 	January 7, 1954 	1–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	15–16–6
38 	L 	January 9, 1954 	2–3 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	15–17–6
39 	W 	January 10, 1954 	5–3 	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 	16–17–6
40 	L 	January 14, 1954 	1–2 	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	16–18–6
41 	L 	January 16, 1954 	1–2 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	16–19–6
42 	W 	January 17, 1954 	3–2 	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	17–19–6
43 	L 	January 20, 1954 	3–8 	@ New York Rangers (1953–54) 	17–20–6
44 	W 	January 21, 1954 	3–2 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	18–20–6
45 	L 	January 23, 1954 	3–4 	New York Rangers (1953–54) 	18–21–6
46 	W 	January 24, 1954 	2–1 	New York Rangers (1953–54) 	19–21–6
47 	W 	January 28, 1954 	3–2 	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 	20–21–6
48 	L 	January 30, 1954 	2–4 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	20–22–6
49 	W 	January 31, 1954 	2–0 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 	21–22–6
50 	L 	February 4, 1954 	0–5 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	21–23–6
51 	L 	February 6, 1954 	2–4 	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	21–24–6
52 	T 	February 7, 1954 	1–1 	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	21–24–7
53 	W 	February 10, 1954 	3–2 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	22–24–7
54 	L 	February 11, 1954 	1–3 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 	22–25–7
55 	W 	February 13, 1954 	1–0 	New York Rangers (1953–54) 	23–25–7
56 	W 	February 14, 1954 	4–1 	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	24–25–7
57 	L 	February 17, 1954 	1–2 	@ New York Rangers (1953–54) 	24–26–7
58 	L 	February 20, 1954 	2–3 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	24–27–7
59 	W 	February 21, 1954 	4–3 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	25–27–7
60 	W 	February 24, 1954 	5–3 	@ New York Rangers (1953–54) 	26–27–7
61 	T 	March 4, 1954 	1–1 	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	26–27–8
62 	T 	March 6, 1954 	3–3 	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54) 	26–27–9
63 	W 	March 7, 1954 	6–0 	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 	27–27–9
64 	W 	March 11, 1954 	1–0 	New York Rangers (1953–54) 	28–27–9
65 	W 	March 13, 1954 	2–1 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	29–27–9
66 	W 	March 14, 1954 	3–0 	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54) 	30–27–9
67 	W 	March 16, 1954 	4–2 	Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	31–27–9
68 	T 	March 18, 1954 	3–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings (1953–54) 	31–27–10
69 	L 	March 19, 1954 	0–7 	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	31–28–10
70 	W 	March 21, 1954 	9–5 	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54) 	32–28–10
==Playoffs==
===Montreal Canadiens 4, Boston Bruins 0===
The teams met the previous year in the 1953 Stanley Cup Finals where Montreal prevailed 4 games to 1. The Canadiens won in convincing fashion, never trailing in a game and despite Maurice Richard not registering a point in the series. Jacques Plante was brilliant, allowing only 4 goals in 4 games and posting 2 shutouts. At the end of the playoffs, after managing the Bruins since their first season in 1924-25, Art Ross announced his retirement and was replaced by Lynn Patrick.
Game 1 at the Montreal Forum saw the Canadiens pepper Bruins goalie Jim Henry with 43 shots. After Canadiens Lorne Davis opened the scoring at 4:25 in the second period it appeared Boston had tied it up when a Doug Mohns shot eluded Plante and skittered towards the open net. Doug Harvey batted it out and the goal judge declared the puck hadn't crossed the line. The Bruins couldn't solve Plante and Bernie Geoffrion scored in the third period for a 2-0 Montreal win.
Game 2 in Montreal saw the Canadiens dominate from the opening faceoff as Dickie Moore scored 10 seconds into the game. Montreal scored three more in the first period then Moore potted his second for a 5-0 lead. After Jean Béliveau scored his first career playoff goal early in the second, the game got chippy. Fleming Mackell scored Boston's only goal of the game at 13:02 and then several fights broke out. The fighting continued in the third period as 94 minutes in penalties were called in the game. Paul Meger and Beliveau added goals for a 8-1 Canadiens romp and 2-0 series lead.
Game 3 at the Boston Garden was the closest game of the series. After a scoreless first period, Butch Bouchard and Cal Gardner traded goals in the first minute of the second period. Geoffrion and Bouchard made it 3-1 going into the third period. The Bruins fought back hard and goals by Doug Mohns and Milt Schmidt (the last of his career) tied it up with four minutes left. Dickie Moore scored with 1:30 left to win it 4-3 for Montreal.
Game 4 in Boston saw Montreal sweep the series on goals by Floyd Curry and Dickie Moore's 4th of the series.
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	March 23	Boston Bruins 	0-2 	Montreal Canadiens	0-1
2	March 25	Boston Bruins 	1-8 	Montreal Canadiens	0-2
3	March 28	Montreal Canadiens	4-3 	Boston Bruins 	3-0
4	March 30	Montreal Canadiens	2-0 	Boston Bruins 	4-0
==Player Stats==
===Regular Season===
;Scoring
# 	Player	Pos 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
7 	 	LW 	70	16	31	47 	42
8 	 	C 	67	15	32	47 	60
23	 	RW 	68	21	19	40 	55
17	 	C 	69	20	20	40 	27
22	 	LW 	70	20	17	37 	27
16	 	RW 	68	16	19	35 	57
9 	 	C 	70	14	20	34 	62
15	 	C/D 	62	14	18	32 	28
19	 	LW/D	70	13	14	27 	27
21	 	D 	68	3 	17	20 	38
10	 	D 	58	3 	16	19 	29
11	 	D 	45	0 	17	17 	6
6 	 	D 	70	5 	9 	14 	71
4 	 	D 	64	2 	10	12 	81
20	 	RW 	38	3 	7 	10 	24
14	 	LW 	69	4 	3 	7 	6
24	 	D 	35	1 	6 	7 	39
18	 	C 	14	3 	3 	6 	10
12	 	LW 	14	4 	1 	5 	2
1 	 	G 	70	0 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T 	GA 	GAA 	SO
 	4200	70	32	28	10	181	2.59	8
Team: 	4200	70	32	28	10	181	2.59	8
===Playoffs===
;Scoring
# 	Player	Pos 	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
9 	 	C 	4 	1	1	2 	0
8 	 	C 	4 	1	1	2 	8
19	 	LW/D	4 	1	0	1 	4
15	 	C/D 	4 	1	0	1 	20
4 	 	D 	4 	0	1	1 	0
16	 	RW 	4 	0	1	1 	8
21	 	D 	4 	0	1	1 	0
7 	 	LW 	3 	0	1	1 	4
18	 	C 	1 	0	0	0 	0
10	 	D 	2 	0	0	0 	0
20	 	C 	2 	0	0	0 	2
12	 	RW 	4 	0	0	0 	2
17	 	C 	4 	0	0	0 	0
14	 	LW 	4 	0	0	0 	0
6 	 	D 	4 	0	0	0 	4
22	 	LW 	4 	0	0	0 	0
23	 	RW 	4 	0	0	0 	2
11	 	D 	4 	0	0	0 	0
1 	 	G 	4 	0	0	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA 	SO
 	240	4 	0	4	16	4.00	0
Team: 	240	4 	0	4	16	4.00	0
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals 
MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts 
==Awards and Records==
*Ed Sandford, Left Wing, NHL Second Team All-Star
==Transactions==
*Purchase Cal Gardner from the Chicago Black Hawks on June 26, 1953.
*Sell Jack McIntyre to Chicago on January 21, 1954.
*Trade Jerry Toppazzini to Chicago for Gus Bodnar on February 16, 1954.
==Trivia==
*Bruins who recorded a hat trick this season include:
**Jerry Toppazzini during the 5-2 win over the New York Rangers on November 26, 1953.
**Ed Sandford during the 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on December 10, 1953.
==Gallery==
1953-Peirson-Mackell-Henry-Labine.jpg|Peirson, Mackell, Henry, Labine in 1953.
==See Also==
*1953–54 NHL season
==References==
* 
Boston Bruins season, 1953–54
Boston Bruins season, 1953–54
Category:Boston Bruins seasons