The 1969 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1968–69 season, and the culmination of the 1969 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the defending champion Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues, a rematch of the previous year's finals. As they did in the previous matchup, the Canadiens won the series in four games.

Paths to the Finals Montreal defeated the New York Rangers 4–0 and the Boston Bruins 4–2 to advance to the finals.

St. Louis defeated the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings in four games each.

Game summaries This was the second playoff series between these two teams. Their only previous meeting came in the previous year's Stanley Cup Final. In this year's six-game regular season series, there were five wins for Montreal and one tie. Claude Ruel became the eleventh rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup. Montreal goaltender Rogie Vachon limited St. Louis to three goals in four games.

Game one

In game one, Montreal defeated St. Louis in a 3–1 victory on home ice, with Dick Duff, Bobby Rousseau, and John Ferguson all scoring for the Canadiens, giving them a 1–0 series lead over the Blues. Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st MTL Dick Duff (3) – pp Yvan Cournoyer (5) and Jean Beliveau (4) 03:39 1–0 MTL MTL Bobby Rousseau (3) – sh Claude Provost (2) 04:17 2–0 MTL STL Frank St. Marseille (3) Bill McCreary (5) and Noel Picard (4) 18:24 2–1 MTL 2nd None 3rd MTL John Ferguson (3) – en Henri Richard (4) 19:46 3–1 MTL Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st MTL Jacques Laperriere Roughing 01:18 2:00 STL Red Berenson Slashing 02:58 2:00 MTL Jacques Laperriere Interference 04:06 2:00 MTL Jacques Laperriere Misconduct 04:06 10:00 STL Gary Sabourin Slashing 04:44 2:00 STL Bill McCreary Slashing 06:31 2:00 MTL Henri Richard Interference 10:44 2:00 MTL J. C. Tremblay Slashing 16:51 2:00 STL Tim Ecclestone Holding 16:51 2:00 2nd MTL Jean Beliveau Tripping 00:44 2:00 MTL Ted Harris High-sticking 03:21 2:00 STL Jim Roberts High-sticking 03:21 2:00 STL Bench (served by Tim Ecclestone) Too many men on the ice 07:00 2:00 MTL Jacques Laperriere Holding 07:48 2:00 STL Bob Plager Charging 12:21 2:00 3rd MTL Terry Harper Interference 07:53 2:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total 5 10 5 20 14 5 9 28

Game two

Game two ended with the same result as game one, with Montreal defeating St. Louis by a score of 3–1 on their home ice, taking a 2–0 as the series continued into St. Louis. Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st MTL Ralph Backstrom (3) J. C. Tremblay (3) 17:26 1–0 MTL 2nd MTL Dick Duff (4) – pp Jean Beliveau (7) and Serge Savard (6) 09:07 2–0 MTL MTL Yvan Cournoyer (4) Jean Beliveau (8) 14:11 3–0 MTL 3rd STL Larry Keenan (4) Jim Roberts (4) and Bob Plager (4) 09:20 3–1 MTL Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st MTL Dick Duff Elbowing 02:17 2:00 STL Noel Picard Elbowing 02:17 2:00 STL Tim Ecclestone Tripping 03:30 2:00 MTL Jean Beliveau High-sticking 04:54 2:00 STL Al Arbour High-sticking 04:54 2:00 MTL Ted Harris Tripping 06:36 2:00 STL Noel Picard Tripping 07:34 2:00 MTL Terry Harper Holding 14:17 2:00 MTL John Ferguson Cross-checking 19:50 2:00 MTL John Ferguson Spearing 19:50 2:00 MTL John Ferguson Misconduct 19:50 10:00 2nd STL Bill McCreary Tripping 08:45 2:00 3rd STL Bill Plager Holding 02:34 2:00 MTL Ted Harris Elbowing 05:21 2:00 STL Terry Crisp High-sticking 05:21 2:00 MTL Bobby Rousseau Tripping 08:40 2:00 MTL Serge Savard Holding 09:09 2:00 STL Noel Picard Playing with a broken stick 17:58 2:00 MTL Jacques Laperriere Cross-checking 19:23 2:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total 5 10 10 25 9 15 9 33

Game three

Rogie Vachon made 29 saves in game four to record his first career playoff shutout in game four, while Dick Duff recorded three points for Montreal, giving them a 4–0 victory over St. Louis to take a commanding 3–0 series lead. Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st MTL Serge Savard (4) Dick Duff (7) 12:34 1–0 MTL 2nd MTL Jacques Lemaire (4) Mickey Redmond (3) 08:16 2–0 MTL MTL Dick Duff (5) Yvan Cournoyer (6) and Jean Beliveau (9) 13:38 3–0 MTL 3rd MTL Dick Duff (6) – pp Jean Beliveau (10) and Yvan Cournoyer (7) 18:35 4–0 MTL Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st STL Noel Picard Holding 05:13 2:00 STL Tim Ecclestone Hooking 07:40 2:00 MTL John Ferguson Charging 15:19 2:00 2nd STL Ron Schock Tripping 04:55 2:00 MTL Jacques Laperriere Holding 10:46 2:00 MTL Ralph Backstrom Hooking 15:41 2:00 MTL J. C. Tremblay Tripping 17:27 2:00 3rd MTL Ralph Backstrom Hooking 08:31 2:00 STL Tim Ecclestone Hooking 17:34 2:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total 14 13 8 35 10 10 9 29

Game four

Vachon would perform well in goal again for Montreal in game four, making 32 saves. John Ferguson scored the game winning goal early in the third period to help the Canadiens win the game by a score of 2–1, completing the four-game sweep of St. Louis and winning the Stanley Cup. Serge Savard was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, becoming the first defenseman in NHL history to win the award. Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1stNone 2nd STL Terry Gray (3) Frank St. Marseille (3) and Terry Crisp (4) 10:50 1–0 STL 3rd MTL Ted Harris (1) Dick Duff (3) and J. C. Tremblay (4) 00:42 1–1 MTL John Ferguson (4) Ralph Backstrom (4) 03:02 2–1 MTL Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st MTL Serge Savard Cross-checking 00:25 2:00 STL Jean-Guy Talbot Elbowing 04:40 2:00 MTL John Ferguson Charging 06:42 2:00 MTL John Ferguson Charging 09:07 2:00 MTL Jacques Lemaire Spearing 14:03 2:00 STL Gary Sabourin Spearing 14:03 2:00 STL Bench (served by Frank St. Marseille) Too many men on the ice 16:17 2:00 MTL Serge Savard Elbowing 19:34 2:00 STL Ab McDonald High-sticking 19:34 2:00 2nd STL Jim Roberts Holding 03:36 2:00 MTL J. C. Tremblay Tripping 14:32 2:00 STL Red Berenson Elbowing 14:32 2:00 MTL Jacques Lemaire Roughing 14:45 2:00 STL Bill Plager Roughing 14:45 2:00 MTL Serge Savard High-sticking 16:06 2:00 STL Tim Ecclestone High-sticking 16:06 2:00 MTL Jacques Laperriere High-sticking 19:59 2:00 STL Ab McDonald High-sticking 19:59 2:00 3rd STL Al Arbour Hooking 05:25 2:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total 8 14 9 31 13 12 8 33

Stanley Cup engraving The 1969 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 2–1 win over the Blues in game four.

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

1968–69 Montreal Canadiens

Won 4 Stanley Cups in 5 Years with Montreal 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969 Ralph Backstrom, Jean Beliveau, Yvan Cournoyer, Dick Duff, John Ferguson, Terry Harper, Ted Harris, Jacques Laperriere, Claude Provost, Henri Richard, Bobby Rousseau, Gilles Tremblay, Jean-Claude Tremblay, Gump Worsley (14 players), David Molson, Sam Pollock, Larry Aubut (3 non-players).

See also 1968–69 NHL season

Notes

References