You... again?
par Staff Writer / Montréal CanadiensMONTREAL –Faced with the prospect of having to get past the Penguins in their quest for the Stanley Cup for a second straight year, the Red Wings would like nothing more than tear a page from the Canadiens book.
No team has managed the feat as often as the Habs, who have on four occasions raised the Cup with the same dejected opponent looking on in vain. Also the last team to have turned the trick, the Canadiens got the best of the Bruins in 1977 and 1978, their second and third of four straight championships in the late 1970s.
Twice as Nice | |
The Canadiens have beaten the same team in the Stanley Cup Finals in consecutive years four times, more often than any other NHL team. | |
Canadiens def. Bruins | 1977, 1978 |
Canadiens def. Blues | 1968, 1969 |
Maple Leafs def. Wings | 1963, 1964 |
Canadiens def. Leafs | 1959, 1960 |
Canadiens def. Bruins | 1957, 1958 |
Wings def. Canadiens | 1954, 1955 |
Maple Leafs def. Wings | 1948, 1949 |
The Red Wings have done it once in their own right, victimizing the Canadiens in both 1954 and 1955. On the other hand, Detroit was handled by the Leafs in both 1963 and 1964, and 1948 and 1949.
Mike Babcock and Co. can take comfort in the fact that a team faced with the opportunity to eliminate a team for a second straight spring in the Finals has faired very well, posting a 7-2 mark.
The only teams to have accomplished what the Penguins hope to do are the 1984 Oilers, who beat the Islanders the second time around and the NY Rangers who turned the tables on the Leafs in 1933 after losing to Toronto the previous year.
Manny Almela is a writer for canadiens.com