1984 Montreal Canadiens- Losing Season, Winning Playoff

[c9777666]

From 1952-1994, the Montreal Canadiens had only one losing record in 40+ years.

And they made the most of it.

During the regular season, their 35-40-5 record didn't strike fear in many- first time they had a losing record since 1951!.

They still made the playoffs (Hartford wasn't good enough to threaten them), but it didn't exactly look like a team that looked like they could turn it on in the playoffs.

Recent history was not on their side.

Contrast that with their records in the first four years of the post-dynasty era that was the 80s:

1980- 47-20-13
1981- 45-22-13
1982- 46-17-17
1983- 42-24-14

Unfortunately, in that 4 year stretch, they won one playoff round (a best of 5 first rounder against Hartford in what ended up being Gordie Howe's last NHL games played.)

Their upsets were inglorious:

1980 vs. Minnesota when Denis Herron committed a horrendous goalie blunder and lost a home game 7 to Minnesota, a series where they lost THREE home games at the Forum,

1981 vs. Edmonton, the famous Wayne Gretzky coming out party where Sevigny said LaFleur would put Gretzky in his back pocket only to have it backfire horrendously, Andy Moog turned out to be the hot goaltender, and the Oilers first made a name for themselves in the 80s.

1982 vs. Quebec, a do-or-die OT home loss to a provincial rival one year AFTER that Oiler disaster.

1983 vs. Buffalo, where they get shut out TWICE at the Forum


In 1983-84, Bob Berry- who was on the bench for the Quebec/Edmonton debacles- was fired in late February with the team at 28–30–5.

His replacement? Jacques Lemaire, a celebrated player on their 70s dynasty.

They didn't exactly set the league on fire for their new coach, going 7-10 in their last 17 games and actually losing their last five games going into the playoffs!

They were the only playoff team in the Wales Conference that had a losing record (The other 7 playoff teams had no worse than 42 wins or 93 points). The Rangers, 7th place in the Wales, had 18 more points than Montreal that year.

And compounding all of this were the teams they were looking up at in the Adams Division:

Boston- 49-25-6, 104 points
Buffalo- 48-25-7, 103 points
Quebec- 42-28-10, 94 points

And with a roster that was less than daunting- Guy LaFleur scored 30 goals (including career goal #500), but was aging and this was actually his best season of the 80s. They did have an emerging Mats Naslund, traded for Bobby Smith, post-Olympic call up Chris Chelios, Larry Robinson was still Larry Robinson.

Goaltending? Well, that season was basically Richard Sevigny and Rick Wamsley splitting time, but given their play in recent playoff debacles, Lemaire basically decided to roll the dice with Steve Penney, a callup with 4 career NHL games.


And with all that in mind, the Canadiens basically defied history and logic.

Swept a Boston team that was basically the same team that had reached game 6 of the Wales Finals in '83, then beat an offensively stacked Quebec team that a year later pushed a stacked Flyers team to game 6 of the '85 Wales Finals.

In the first 2 playoff rounds, Penney delivered a road shutout in both the Boston Garden AND Quebec Colisee.

The first round- well, Boston seemed to have everything on their side- better team, better season, playoff experience but the year before- but there was one thing they didn't have- playoff success against Montreal.

They hadn't beaten them since the 1940s, and not even having home-ice for a change helped. The hex was real and it seemed like no matter what, Montreal in the postseason simply didn't know how to lose against Boston when it mattered. 3 and out, Penney basically pulled a Halak.

The second round is well known for the Good Friday Massacre, but what gets forgotten is that Penney had delivered his game 5 shutout on the road in a 2-2 series and that they were actually trailing game 6 in the third period before a 5-goal outburst.

Just like that, a Montreal team had gone unexpectedly further than previous 80s Habs team that were supposed to go expectedly further.

And incredibly, with an improbable gift of home-ice advantage against the 50-win 4-time Cup champ Islanders, they went up 2-0 with ANOTHER Penney shutout and it looked like we were witnessing a hockey miracle.

Considering how much wear and tear and age had ravaged the Isles by '84, it didn't seem like NYI could stop the Montreal Miracle.

It looked like we might actually get an improbably Edmonton-Montreal Final, LaFleur vs. Gretzky, a chance to rehash 1981, an all-Canadian Cup Final, maybe one more Cup for the Flower.

But the Islanders did what they did best- refuse to lose with their backs against the wall.

Rallied to win the next 4 despite what seemed to be insurmountable odds and just like that, the unexpected joyride came to an end.

What Jacques Lemaire did with that team was astonishing considering they had a rookie goalie in Penney, Guy Lafleur was past his prime, and only one forward had double-digit playoff points (Mats Naslund).

If anything, I think this playoff run may have been more impressive than what he did with the 2003 Wild.

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[Staniowski]

For me, the '84 playoffs were one of the most memorable ever. Battle of Quebec, Battle of Alberta, young Oilers, drive for five by the Islanders.

I remember those Habs quite well, especially the series against Quebec and then against the Islanders. The Quebec series was wild. And then, against the Islanders, there was a lot of talk that the Habs had to prevent the Isles from winning a 5th consecutive Cup, which would've tied the '50s Habs record. When the Islanders won, I remember thinking the Islanders would definitely win their 5th Cup, because they always found a way to win. But of course the Oilers won quite easily. Remember those 2 LaFontaine goals in the final game.

A lot of comparisons of Steve Penney to Ken Dryden. Carbonneau and Chelios were great young players, the Habs had a nice mixture of the old guard - with Robinson and Gainey, etc - young guys and in betweens like Bobby Smith, Mats Naslund, etc.

 

[The Panther]

That's right, I recall reading about how Montreal had a 2-0 lead in the Conference series. I think the Islanders were just running out of gas by that point -- the 0-2 deficit was the wake-up call they needed to get it in gear, and the Habs' run struck midnight.

(Let's be realistic, though -- Montreal wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell against Edmonton in '84!)

 

[c9777666]

(Let's be realistic, though -- Montreal wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell against Edmonton in '84!)

Obviously not, but it would have had some intriguing storylines (All-Canadian matchup, Gretzky-LaFleur one more time, memories of 1981) so it certainly wouldn't have lacked in sizzle.

 

[double5son10]

One of those frustrating "almost" runs. Would've loved to have seen the Drive for Five end a series earlier than it did. Some real what-ifs in that Islanders series: What might've been if Lemaire hadn't shelved Lafleur after he had become coach? Weird dynamic there. Habs could've really used Lafleur's offensive creativity, diminished as it was. Also Mats Naslund missing the penalty shot in a tied game 4. And of course you can't talk about that series without mentioning Trottier's boarding of Bob Gainey in game 3. Maybe the dirtiest hit I've ever seen one superstar make on another. Serge Savard appealed to the league that Trottier be suspended, but of course this was John Ziegler's NHL, so Trottier got nothing. In today's league he's likely gone for at least the series. Gainey's warrior reputation was certainly cemented by him playing with a dislocated shoulder but that cheapshot rendered him fairly ineffective.

Looking back on the other two series, in spite of the respective records I'm in a sense not surprised the Habs got past their division rivals. As the OP mentioned Chelios had just come up at the end of the season. On top of that Rick Green, who had missed all but 7 games of the RS was finally healthy. Yes, Penney played well, but that's 2 top D-men that really hadn't been a part of the team during the RS that helped make his life easier. In his shutout of the Bruins in the decisive game at the Forum Penney only faced 19 shots. Habs also got Pierre Mondou, Steve Shutt and Mark Hunter back from injury. They were a healthier, more complete team heading into the postseason than they had been all year.

I will disagree on one point with the OP. That Bruins team was NOT "basically the same team that had reached game 6 of the Wales Finals in '83". While their record was fairly similar to the previous season the Bruins had lost A LOT of veteran presence from the year before. Captain Wayne Cashman had retired, Brad Park had signed with Detroit as a FA, Marty Howe had returned to Hartford via trade request in the offseason, and in one of those real Sinden head scratchers the Bruins had sent 2nd line center Peter McNab to Vancouver for bottom 6 grinder Jim Nill. That's a big chunk of the team's leadership from that previous playoff run that wasn't there against Montreal.

The Quebec series was inter-provincial warfare, and as had been seen two years before, anything can happen in a series like that. I won't recap the gory details other than to say boy was that a stupid, stupid cheapshot by Sleigher in a decisive game. But then stupid cheapshots and Louis Sleigher are kind of synonymous, aren't they?

Yea, I doubt the Habs take more than one, maybe two games if things broke favorably for them, against Edmonton, but who knows? They were playing excellent defensive hockey, and who would've thought Calgary could take the Oilers to 7 (of course, that was also inter-provincial warfare too).

 

[Staniowski]

And of course you can't talk about that series without mentioning Trottier's boarding of Bob Gainey in game 3. Maybe the dirtiest hit I've ever seen one superstar make on another. Serge Savard appealed to the league that Trottier be suspended, but of course this was John Ziegler's NHL, so Trottier got nothing. In today's league he's likely gone for at least the series. Gainey's warrior reputation was certainly cemented by him playing with a dislocated shoulder but that cheapshot rendered him fairly ineffective.

I remember that Trottier hit on Gainey.