May 11: Blake caps NHL career with 11th championship

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: May 11
1968:The Montreal Canadiens send coach
Toe Blake
into retirement with one last Stanley Cup championship.

The Canadiens
rally to defeat the first-year St. Louis Blues 3-2
at the Forum to complete a four-game sweep in the Final and win the Cup for the 15th time. Eight of those come during Blake's 13 seasons as coach after he wins the Cup three times during his 13 seasons as a player.
Defenseman
J.C. Tremblay
scores the Cup-winning goal when he beats
Glenn Hall
at 11:40 of the third period.
"Toe Blake hated to lose so much that he made us the same way," Tremblay says of his fedora-wearing coach, who opts to step down despite winning the Cup for the third time in four years because "the pressure is too much."
Hall's heroics in the four one-goal losses don't go unrecognized; he wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

MORE MOMENTS
1971:
Jean Beliveau
scores his final Stanley Cup Playoff goal during the Canadiens'
5-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks
in Game 4 of the Final at the Forum. It's Beliveau's 79th playoff goal, second in NHL history at the time behind longtime teammate
Maurice Richard
's record of 82.
1972:
Bobby Orr
scores his second Cup-winning goal in three seasons, helping the Boston Bruins
defeat the New York Rangers 3-0
at Madison Square Garden in Game 6 of the Final. Orr beats
Gilles Villemure
during a power play midway through the first period, then sets up the first of two goals by
Wayne Cashman
in the third period.
Gerry Cheevers
makes 33 saves for his fifth playoff shutout. Orr becomes the fourth player to score two Cup-winning goals in his NHL career.

1978:The Bruins
defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3
at Boston Garden in Game 5 of the Semifinals, earning a return trip to the Cup Final.
Peter McNab
scores one goal and has four assists for Boston, which earns a rematch with the Canadiens in the Final after being swept in 1977.
1988:
Mark Messier
scores one goal and assists on three more, helping the Edmonton Oilers
overpower the Detroit Red Wings 8-4
at Northlands Coliseum in Game 5 to win the Campbell Conference Final. Messier sets up each of
Craig Simpson
's two goals in the first period, then scores early in the second to give the Oilers a 3-2 lead and spark a four-goal outburst that put the game away. The Oilers advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the fifth time in six seasons.

1993:
Gary Shuchuk
scores at 6:31 of the second overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a
4-3 victory against the Vancouver Canucks
at Pacific Coliseum in Game 5 of the Smythe Division Final. It's one of Shuchuk's two career playoff goals, and it ends the longest playoff game in Kings history to that point.
Kelly Hrudey
makes 36 saves for Los Angeles.
1996:The Pittsburgh Penguins' combination of
Mario Lemieux
and
Jaromir Jagr
is too much for the Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Lemieux scores three goals and has an assist, and Jagr also scores three goals in Pittsburgh's series-clinching
7-3 victory at the Civic Arena
. Lemieux scores once in each period; Jagr gets all three of his goals in the second.
2013:Defenseman Brooks Orpik scores the first playoff goal of his NHL career at 7:49 of overtime to give the Penguins a series-clinching
4-3 victory
against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. It's Orpik's first goal in his past 106 regular-season and playoff games. Orpik enters the night having played 77 playoff games without scoring a goal, the third-highest total in NHL history, behind two other defensemen,
Craig Muni
(113) and
Hal Gill
(110).

2016:The St. Louis Blues
defeat the Dallas Stars 6-1
at American Airlines Center in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round and advance to the conference final for the first time since 2001. David Backes,
Patrik Berglund
, Troy Brouwer, Robby Fabbri and Paul Stastny combine for 13 points, and goalie Brian Elliott makes 31 saves for St. Louis, which leads 4-0 less than four minutes into the second period.
2019: Timo Meier scores two of the San Jose Sharks' three goals in the second period of a
6-3 victory against the Blues
at SAP Center in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. Meier scores twice in a span of 7:10 to put the Sharks ahead 5-2. Logan Couture also scores twice for the Sharks, giving him an NHL-leading 11 goals in the 2019 playoffs.