Beliveau's footprint on playoff hockey still strong ahead of Cup Final between Oilers, Panthers

MONTREAL -- Six impressions of Jean Beliveau's name left the Stanley Cup in the autumn of 2018, when the top band of the sterling and nickel alloy trophy, celebrating 12 championship teams from 1953-54 through 1964-65, was retired to the vault of the Hockey Hall of Fame to accommodate a fresh bottom band.

Beliveau's name still appears on the Cup 11 times: four as captain of the Montreal Canadiens for titles in 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1971, then another seven as Canadiens executive vice president for championships won in 1973, 1976-79, 1986 and 1993.

Good luck finding a more impressive statistic for the late legend regarded as the greatest captain of the most successful team in NHL history and arguably the finest, most graceful ambassador the game has ever known.

Jean Beliveau in a 1990s portrait with 10 Stanley Cup miniatures representing his winnings as a player, and in a portrait that was his favorite on-ice publicity photo. The latter shot appeared on a biographical book in 1970 and Beliveau's 1994 autobiography.

Beliveau's name comes to mind with the 2024-25 NHL season in the home stretch, the Stanley Cup Final beginning with the Oilers against the Florida Panthers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

Nicknamed "Le Gros Bill" (Big Bill) for a similarity he bore to a French-Canadian actor who starred in a 1949 movie of that name, Beliveau's footprint on Stanley Cup Playoff hockey, notably the Stanley Cup Final, remains strong to this day, 54 years after his final game.

You'll find his achievements spread liberally through the record book, all categories below related directly to the Cup Final:

Jean Beliveau, second from right, on Maple Leaf Gardens ice for a 1950s photo with teammates (from left) Bernie Geoffrion, Maurice Richard and Ken Mosdell.

Beliveau is ranked first in game-winning goals with nine in 64 games. Two clinched the Cup -- Game 4 against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1960 and Game 7 against the Chicago Black Hawks in 1965.

He is tied with five others for most game-winning goals scored in a single series with three, having done so in 1960 and 1965, the only player to score three in a series on two occasions.

Beliveau ranks first for most points with 62 (30 goals, 32 assists).

He's first in power-play points (28) and power-play assists (17).

Jean Beliveau with teammates (from left) Bobby Rousseau, Gump Worsley, Henri Richard, Dick Duff and Yvan Cournoyer and the Stanley Cup and inaugural Conn Smythe Trophy, which Beliveau won, and a short time later in the Canadiens' Montreal Forum dressing room.

Beliveau is tied for first in four other categories: most Stanley Cup Final appearances (12), most consecutive championships won (five, 1956-60), most power-play goals (four) and most power-play points in a single game (four).

And though not an official record, he is one of eight players on a list of those with two Stanley Cup-clinching goals.

All of these statistics take their place in Beliveau's enormous body of work.

The 13-time NHL All-Star won the Hart Trophy in 1956 and 1964 given to the most valuable player in the NHL, the Art Ross Trophy as the League's leading scorer in 1956 and the inaugural Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1965.

Jean Beliveau against Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower in an overhead 1960s photo taken at the Montreal Forum, and in 1960s action at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Beliveau would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 with his great friend and rival, Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings. That marked the first time that the customary three-year, post-retirement period to induct elected players was waived (Beliveau retired in 1971, following his 10th and final Stanley Cup win).

His career output was nearly off the charts: 586 goals and 809 assists in 1,287 regular-season and playoff games, each one for the Canadiens between 1950-71 and most played during the NHL's pre-expansion era.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound center missed the playoffs only once in his 18 full seasons, 1969-70, then led the Canadiens to the championship the following year, stunning the heavily favored Boston Bruins in a seven-game first round, knocking off the Minnesota North Stars in six and then defeating the Black Hawks in a seven-game Final.

Jean Beliveau in 1950s and 1960s portraits.

Beliveau scored two final-round game-winning goals in 1956 against the Red Wings, one against the Bruins in 1957, then three each against Toronto and Chicago in 1960 and 1965.

The latter championship ended a drought of sorts for the Canadiens, who hadn't won since 1960, their last of five consecutive titles. Beliveau's Cup-clincher came just 14 seconds after the opening face-off in Game 7 at the Forum, where he also assisted on Dick Duff's goal at 5:03 in Montreal's 4-0 win.

"This is the one I really wanted," Beliveau told reporters in the Canadiens dressing room on the night of May 1, 1965, holding the Stanley Cup for photographers. "It's a good feeling to hold it. I hope it won't be the last time."

Indeed, the Canadiens captain would win another four championships before he retired.

Jean Beliveau in 1960s Montreal Forum action against the Chicago Black Hawks. From left: goalie Denis DeJordy, John Ferguson, Pierre Pilote, Al MacNeil, Stan Mikita and Jacques Laperriere.

"There's more satisfaction because no one (among the media) in this room thought we would win," he added. "The players were more optimistic."

Five years earlier, hobbled by a groin injury, Beliveau scored Montreal's first and last goals in another 4-0 Cup-clinching victory, that one in Toronto.

"There was always something about playing the Maple Leafs," Beliveau said, reflecting on playoff hockey two years before he died Dec. 2, 2014, at the age of 83. "We always brought out the best in each other, and our fans made sure of that."

His 1960 championship-clinching goal, his second that night and Montreal's fourth goal, came against Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower. The two men had enormous respect for each other, and it was with a tinge of regret that Beliveau found the mark twice against Bower that night, and twice earlier in the series.

Jean Beliveau in a mid-1990s photo taken in the Montreal Canadiens' replica Forum dressing room at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

For Beliveau, there was nothing like the Stanley Cup Final, all of hockey focused on the last two teams standing after a grinding regular season and punishing playoffs to have a chance to win hockey's grandest prize.

"As a boy, you dream of playing for the Stanley Cup," he said. "You work your entire career for that chance, and you never take it for granted if you make it to the Final. Twice, I was in the right place at the right time to score a goal that would prove to be the winner.

"But I was only part of the team, one piece of the puzzle. It took a lot of pieces fitting together perfectly, sometimes when that didn't seem possible, that made victory possible."

Top photo: Jean Beliveau holds the 1965 Stanley Cup on Montreal Forum ice after the Canadiens' Game 7 victory against the Chicago Black Hawks.