1948–49 Montreal Canadiens season explained

Team:	Montreal Canadiens
League:	NHL
Season:	1948–49
Year:	1948
Leaguerank:	3rd
Record:	28–23–9
Goalsfor:	152
Goalsagainst:	126
Goalsleader:	Billy Reay (22)
Assistsleader:	Billy Reay (23)
Pointsleader:	Billy Reay (45)
Pimleader:	Murph Chamberlain (111)
Winsleader:	Bill Durnan (28)
Gaaleader:	Bill Durnan (2.10)

The 1948–49 Montreal Canadiens season was the 40th season in club history. The Montreal Canadiens were eliminated in the semi-finals against the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 3.

Regular season

Bill Durnan set a long-standing modern NHL record between February 26 and March 6, 1949, when he amassed four consecutive shutouts, not allowing a goal over a span of 309 minutes, 21 seconds.^[1] This record was not surpassed until 2004, when Brian Boucher, then of the Phoenix Coyotes, broke it.

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

Regular season results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	T	October 14, 1948	1–1	New York Rangers (1948–49)	0–0–1
2	W	October 16, 1948	8–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	1–0–1
3	W	October 21, 1948	5–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	2–0–1
4	T	October 23, 1948	0–0	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	2–0–2
5	L	October 27, 1948	2–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	2–1–2
6	T	October 30, 1948	3–3	Boston Bruins (1948–49)	2–1–3
7	L	October 31, 1948	1–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	2–2–3
8	W	November 6, 1948	2–0	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	3–2–3
9	W	November 11, 1948	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	4–2–3
10	W	November 13, 1948	3–1	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	5–2–3
11	L	November 14, 1948	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1948–49)	5–3–3
12	L	November 17, 1948	3–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	5–4–3
13	W	November 21, 1948	3–0	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	6–4–3
14	T	November 24, 1948	3–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	6–4–4
15	L	November 25, 1948	0–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	6–5–4
16	L	November 27, 1948	0–2	Boston Bruins (1948–49)	6–6–4
17	W	December 4, 1948	3–1	New York Rangers (1948–49)	7–6–4
18	L	December 5, 1948	1–2	@ Boston Bruins (1948–49)	7–7–4
19	L	December 11, 1948	2–5	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	7–8–4
20	T	December 12, 1948	4–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	7–8–5
21	W	December 15, 1948	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1948–49)	8–8–5
22	W	December 18, 1948	5–3	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	9–8–5
23	L	December 19, 1948	2–3	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	9–9–5
24	W	December 23, 1948	4–2	Boston Bruins (1948–49)	10–9–5
25	L	December 25, 1948	0–2	New York Rangers (1948–49)	10–10–5
26	L	December 26, 1948	1–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	10–11–5
27	W	December 30, 1948	3–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	11–11–5
28	L	January 1, 1949	3–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	11–12–5
29	W	January 6, 1949	7–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	12–12–5
30	L	January 8, 1949	1–4	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	12–13–5
31	T	January 9, 1949	1–1	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	12–13–6
32	W	January 12, 1949	5–3	@ Boston Bruins (1948–49)	13–13–6
33	W	January 15, 1949	7–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	14–13–6
34	L	January 16, 1949	2–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	14–14–6
35	W	January 19, 1949	4–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	15–14–6
36	W	January 20, 1949	2–1	New York Rangers (1948–49)	16–14–6
37	W	January 22, 1949	4–2	Boston Bruins (1948–49)	17–14–6
38	L	January 23, 1949	0–3	@ Boston Bruins (1948–49)	17–15–6
39	W	January 26, 1949	3–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	18–15–6
40	L	January 29, 1949	2–5	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	18–16–6
41	L	January 30, 1949	0–9	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	18–17–6
42	L	February 3, 1949	1–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	18–18–6
43	L	February 5, 1949	2–3	Boston Bruins (1948–49)	18–19–6
44	L	February 6, 1949	0–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	18–20–6
45	T	February 9, 1949	2–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	18–20–7
46	L	February 13, 1949	3–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	18–21–7
47	W	February 17, 1949	3–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	19–21–7
48	W	February 19, 1949	3–1	New York Rangers (1948–49)	20–21–7
49	L	February 20, 1949	2–3	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	20–22–7
50	W	February 24, 1949	3–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	21–22–7
51	W	February 26, 1949	1–0	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	22–22–7
52	W	March 2, 1949	2–0	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	23–22–7
53	W	March 5, 1949	4–0	Boston Bruins (1948–49)	24–22–7
54	W	March 6, 1949	1–0	@ Boston Bruins (1948–49)	25–22–7
55	T	March 9, 1949	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	25–22–8
56	W	March 12, 1949	3–0	New York Rangers (1948–49)	26–22–8
57	T	March 13, 1949	1–1	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	26–22–9
58	W	March 17, 1949	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	27–22–9
59	W	March 19, 1949	5–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	28–22–9
60	L	March 20, 1949	1–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	28–23–9

^[2]

Playoffs

The Canadiens would meet the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 22	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	2	OT
March 24	Montreal Canadiens	4	Detroit Red Wings	3	OT
March 26	Detroit Red Wings	2	Montreal Canadiens	3
March 29	Detroit Red Wings	3	Montreal Canadiens	1
March 31	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	3
April 2	Detroit Red Wings	1	Montreal Canadiens	3
April 5	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	3

Detroit won the best-of-seven series 4 games to 3.

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	C	60	22	23	45	33
	RW	59	20	18	38	110
	RW	60	15	22	37	8
	C	36	11	18	29	59
	C	60	17	9	26	50
	D	59	8	12	20	44
	C	47	9	8	17	6
	LW	48	10	6	16	34
	D	55	3	13	16	87
	D	46	3	13	16	103
	D	28	6	7	13	10
	LW	54	5	8	13	111
	LW	59	3	9	12	14
	LW	27	5	5	10	8
	RW	36	4	6	10	6
	C	26	3	7	10	12
	D	51	3	5	8	31
	LW/C	30	2	5	7	6
	D	27	3	3	6	42
	C/LW	16	0	0	0	6
	G	60	0	0	0	0
	RW	3	0	0	0	0
	D	3	0	0	0	2

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
	3600	60	28	23	9	126	2.10	10
Team:	3600	60	28	23	9	126	2.10	10

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	LW	7	5	1	6	0
	C	7	1	5	6	4
	RW	7	2	1	3	0
	RW	7	2	1	3	14
	D	7	1	1	2	4
	RW/C	6	1	1	2	0
	C	7	1	1	2	4
	LW	7	1	1	2	2
	RW	7	0	1	1	8
	LW	7	0	1	1	4
	D	7	0	1	1	10
	D	7	0	1	1	13
	D	5	0	1	1	2
	D	7	0	0	0	6
	C	1	0	0	0	0
	LW	4	0	0	0	8
	RW	2	0	0	0	2
	G	7	0	0	0	0
	C	2	0	0	0	0
	C	1	0	0	0	4
	D	7	0	0	0	18

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
	468	7	3	4	17	2.18	0
Team:	468	7	3	4	17	2.18	0

^[3]

Awards and records

• Bill Durnan, Vezina Trophy
• Bill Durnan, Goaltender, NHL First Team All-Star
• Glen Harmon, Defense, NHL Second Team All-Star
• Ken Reardon, Defense, NHL Second Team All-Star
• Maurice Richard, Right Wing, NHL First Team All-Star

See also

• 1948–49 NHL season

References

• Canadiens on Hockey Database
• Canadiens on NHL Reference

Notes and References

1. Web site: HHOF - Player Details.
2. Web site: 1948–49 Montreal Canadiens Games. Hockey-reference.com . 2009-06-04 .
3. Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-05-28 . 1948-49 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.