1986 Stanley Cup Finals

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox Stanley Cup Finals

The 1986 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1985–86 season, and the culmination of the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Campbell Conference champion Calgary Flames and the Wales Conference champion Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens won the best-of-seven series, four games to one, to win their 23rd Stanley Cup, and their 17th in their last 18 Finals appearances dating back to 1956.

It was the first all-Canadian Finals since Montreal lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1967, the last year of the Original Six era. This was the fifth of nine consecutive Finals contested by a team from Western Canada, the fourth of eight contested by a team from Alberta (the Edmonton Oilers appeared in six, the Flames in two, the Vancouver Canucks in one), and the third of five consecutive Finals to end with the Cup presentation on Alberta ice (the Oilers won four, the Canadiens one). This was the only time between 1980 and 1988 that neither the Oilers (four wins) nor the New York Islanders (four wins) won the Stanley Cup.

Although this was the first ever postseason meeting between the two teams, it was not the first Montreal-Calgary Finals. The first Finals between teams from Montreal and Calgary took place in 1924 when the Canadiens defeated the Western Canada Hockey League champion Calgary Tigers. The Canadiens and Flames met again in a rematch in 1989, with Calgary winning in six games.

The format reverted to the 2-2-1-1-1 format that had been in use since the re-alignment which followed the 1981. The previous four Finals had used a 2-3-2 format, although only the latter two of those Finals lasted five games.

Paths to the Finals

See also: 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs, 1985–86 Calgary Flames season, and 1985–86 Montreal Canadiens season

Calgary defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3–0, the defending champion and in-province rival Edmonton Oilers 4–3, and the St. Louis Blues 4–3 to advance to the final.

Montreal defeated rival Boston Bruins 3–0, the Hartford Whalers 4–3, and the New York Rangers 4–1 to make it to the final.

Game summaries

Brian Skrudland's game-winning goal in game two ended the shortest overtime in NHL playoff history, at a mere nine seconds. Montreal rookie goaltender Patrick Roy was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

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Team rosters

Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.

Calgary Flames

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
15		Bartel, RobinRobin Bartel	D	L	1985–86	Drake, Saskatchewan	first
4		Baxter, PaulPaul Baxter	D	R	1983–84	Winnipeg, Manitoba	first
21		Berezan, PerryPerry Berezan	C	R	1983	Edmonton, Alberta	first
26		Bozek, SteveSteve Bozek	LW	L	1983–84	Kelowna, British Columbia	first
14		Bradley, BrianBrian Bradley	C	R	1983	Kitchener, Ontario	first
25		Courteau, YvesYves Courteau	RW	R	1982–83	Montreal	first
17		Eaves, MikeMike Eaves	C	R	1983–84	Denver, Colorado	first
22		Fotiu, NickNick Fotiu	LW	L	1985–86	Staten Island, New York	second (1979)
16		Hull, BrettBrett Hull	RW	R	1984	Belleville, Ontario	first
19		Hunter, TimTim Hunter	RW	R	1979	Calgary, Alberta	first
6		Johnson, TerryTerry Johnson	D	L	1985–86	Calgary, Alberta	first
31		Lemelin, RejeanRejean Lemelin	G	L	1978–79	Quebec City, Quebec	first
12	Template:Country data SWE	Loob, HakanHakan Loob	RW	R	1980	Visby, Sweden	first
2		MacInnis, AlAl MacInnis	D	R	1981	Inverness, Nova Scotia	first
34		Macoun, JamieJamie Macoun	D	L	1982–83	Newmarket, Ontario	first
9		McDonald, LannyLanny McDonald – C	RW	R	1981–82	Hanna, Alberta	first
7		Mullen, JoeJoe Mullen	RW	R	1985–86	New York	first
29		Otto, JoelJoel Otto	C	R	1984–85	Elk River, Minnesota	first
11		Patterson, ColinColin Patterson	LW	R	1983–84	Rexdale, Ontario	first
24		Peplinski, JimJim Peplinski – C	RW	R	1979	Renfrew, Ontario	first
10		Quinn, DanDan Quinn	C	L	1983	Ottawa, Ontario	first
23		Reinhart, PaulPaul Reinhart	D	L	1979	Kitchener, Ontario	first
8		Risebrough, DougDoug Risebrough – C	C	L	1982–83	Guelph, Ontario	fifth (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979)
10		Roberts, GaryGary Roberts	LW	L	1984	North York, Ontario	first
5		Sheehy, NeilNeil Sheehy	D	R	1983–84	Fort Frances, Ontario	first
20		Suter, GaryGary Suter	D	L	1984	Madison, Wisconsin	first
27		Tonelli, JohnJohn Tonelli	LW	L	1985–86	Hamilton, Ontario	sixth (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984)
30		Vernon, MikeMike Vernon	G	L	1981	Calgary, Alberta	first
33		Wilson, CareyCarey Wilson	C	R	1983–84	Winnipeg, Manitoba	first

Montreal Canadiens

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
12		Boisvert, SergeSerge Boisvert	RW	R	1984–85	Drummondville, Quebec	first
21		Carbonneau, GuyGuy Carbonneau	C	R	1979	Sept-Îles, Quebec	first
24		Chelios, ChrisChris Chelios	D	R	1981	Chicago	first
20	Template:Country data SWE	Dahlin, KjellKjell Dahlin	RW	L	1981	Timrå, Sweden	first
27		DeBlois, LucienLucien DeBlois	RW	R	1984–85	Joliette, Quebec	second (1979)
23		Gainey, BobBob Gainey – C	LW	L	1973	Peterborough, Ontario	fifth (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979)
29		Gingras, GastonGaston Gingras	D	L	1979	Témiscaming, Quebec	first
5		Green, RickRick Green	D	L	1982–83	Belleville, Ontario	first
31		Kordic, JohnJohn Kordic	RW	R	1983	Edmonton, Alberta	first
18		Kurvers, TomTom Kurvers	D	L	1981	Minneapolis, Minnesota	first
38		Lalor, MikeMike Lalor	D	L	1985–86	Buffalo, New York	first
32		Lemieux, ClaudeClaude Lemieux	RW	R	1983	Buckingham, Quebec	first
17		Ludwig, CraigCraig Ludwig	D	L	1980	Rhinelander, Wisconsin	first
8		Maley, DavidDavid Maley	LW	L	1982	Beaver Dam, Wisconsin	first
35		McPhee, MikeMike McPhee	LW	L	1980	Sydney, Nova Scotia	first
26	Template:Country data SWE	Näslund, MatsMats Näslund – A	LW	L	1979	Timrå, Sweden	first
30		Nilan, ChrisChris Nilan	RW	R	1978	Boston, Massachusetts	first
44		Stéphane RicherStephane Richer	RW	R	1984	Ripon, Quebec	first
19		Robinson, LarryLarry Robinson – A	D	L	1971	Winchester, Ontario	sixth (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979)
28		Rooney, SteveSteve Rooney	LW	L	1981	Canton, Massachusetts	first
33		Roy, PatrickPatrick Roy	G	L	1984	Quebec City, Quebec	first
39		Skrudland, BrianBrian Skrudland	C	L	1985–86	Peace River, Alberta	first
15		Smith, BobbyBobby Smith	C	L	1983–84	North Sydney, Nova Scotia	second (1981)
1		Soetaert, DougDoug Soetaert	G	L	1984–85	Edmonton, Alberta	first
25	Template:Country data TCH	Svoboda, PetrPetr Svoboda	D	L	1984	Most, Czechoslovakia	first
14		Tremblay, MarioMario Tremblay – A	RW	R	1974	Alma, Quebec	fifth (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979)
11		Walter, RyanRyan Walter	LW	L	1982–83	New Westminster, British Columbia	first

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1986 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Bob Gainey by NHL President John Ziegler following the Canadiens 4–3 win over the Flames in game five.

The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1985–86 Montreal Canadiens Template:Stanley Cup champion

Riot

Some 5,000 jubilant Montreal fans celebrating the Canadiens' Stanley Cup win over the Calgary Flames rampaged through the city's downtown, causing over Template:CAD worth of damage.

Broadcasting

In Canada, this was the second and final year that the English-language rights of the Cup Finals were shared between CBC and CTV. For games one and two, CBC only had the rights to air them locally in Montreal and Calgary, while CTV broadcast them to the rest of the country. CBC then had the exclusive rights to televise games three, four, and five nationally. Had the series gone to a seventh game, then both CBC and CTV would have simultaneously televised it while using their separate production facilities and crews. After the season, CTV pulled the plug on their two-year-long venture with the NHL, and their rights package was eventually given to the Global-Canwest consortium.

This was the first of three consecutive seasons that ESPN televised the Stanley Cup Finals in the United States.

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1985–86 NHL season

References

• Diamond, Dan (2000). Total Stanley Cup. Toronto: Total Sports Canada. ISBN 978-1-892129-07-9. https://archive.org/details/totalstanleycupo0000unse. 
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont: Fenn Pub. pp. 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7. 

Preceded by Edmonton Oilers 1985

Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup Champions 1986

Succeeded by Edmonton Oilers 1987