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 champions 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
National Hockey League	GP	W 	L 	T 	Pts	GF 	GA 	PIM
Montreal Canadiens 	70	39	18	13	91 	258	158	760
Boston Bruins 	70	32	29	9 	73 	205	215	838
Chicago Black Hawks 	70	28	29	13	69 	197	208	921
Toronto Maple Leafs 	70	27	32	11	65 	189	201	846
New York Rangers 	70	26	32	12	64 	201	217	860
Detroit Red Wings 	70	25	37	8 	58 	167	218	613
==Playoffs==
===Playoff bracket===
===Semifinals===
====(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (3) Chicago Black Hawks====
====(2) Boston Bruins vs. (4) Toronto Maple Leafs====
===Stanley Cup===
==Awards==
*Prince of Wales Trophy: 	Montreal Canadiens
*Art Ross Memorial Trophy: 	Dickie Moore, Montreal Canadiens
*Calder Memorial Trophy: 	Ralph Backstrom, Montreal Canadiens
*Hart Memorial Trophy: 	Andy Bathgate, New York Rangers
*James Norris Memorial Trophy: 	Tom Johnson, Montreal Canadiens
*Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: 	Alex Delvecchio, Detroit Red Wings
*Vezina Trophy: 	Jacques Plante, Montreal Canadiens
===All-Star teams===
First team 	  Position  	Second team
Jacques Plante, Montreal Canadiens	G 	Terry Sawchuk, Detroit Red Wings
Tom Johnson, Montreal Canadiens 	D 	Marcel Pronovost, Detroit Red Wings
Bill Gadsby, New York Rangers 	D 	Doug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens
Jean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens 	C 	Henri Richard, Montreal Canadiens
Andy Bathgate, New York Rangers 	RW 	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Dickie Moore, Montreal Canadiens 	LW 	Alex Delvecchio, Detroit Red Wings
==Player statistics==
===Scoring leaders===
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
Dickie Moore 	Montreal Canadiens 	70	41	55	96 	61
Jean Beliveau 	Montreal Canadiens 	64	45	46	91 	67
Andy Bathgate 	New York Rangers 	70	40	48	88 	48
Gordie Howe 	Detroit Red Wings 	70	32	46	78 	57
Ed Litzenberger 	Chicago Black Hawks	70	33	44	77 	37
Bernie Geoffrion 	Montreal Canadiens 	59	22	44	66 	30
George "Red" Sullivan	New York Rangers 	70	21	42	63 	56
Andy Hebenton 	New York Rangers 	70	33	29	62 	8
Don McKenney 	Boston Bruins 	70	32	30	62 	20
Tod Sloan 	Chicago Black Hawks	59	27	35	62 	79
===Leading goaltenders===
Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts
Player 	Team 	GP	MIN 	GA 	GAA 	W 	L 	T 	SO
Jacques Plante	Montreal Canadiens 	67	4000	144	2.15	38	16	13	9
Johnny Bower 	Toronto Maple Leafs	39	2340	107	2.74	15	17	7 	3
Glenn Hall 	Chicago Black Hawks	70	4200	208	2.97	28	29	13	1
Lorne Worsley 	New York Rangers 	67	4001	199	2.97	26	30	11	2
Ed Chadwick 	Toronto Maple Leafs	31	1860	92 	2.97	12	15	4 	3
Terry Sawchuk 	Detroit Red Wings 	67	4020	202	3.01	23	36	8 	5
Don Simmons 	Boston Bruins 	58	3480	183	3.16	24	26	8 	3
==Team Photos==
58-59BosBru.jpg|Boston Bruins
58-59ChiBH.jpg|Chicago Black Hawks
58-59DetRW.jpg|Detroit Red Wings
58-59MtlCdn.jpg|Montreal Canadiens
58-59NYR.jpg|New York Rangers
58-59TorML.jpg|Toronto Maple Leafs
==References==
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==External links==
*Hockey Database
*NHL.com
Category:1958 in ice hockey
Category:1959 in ice hockey