| TEAM |
GP
Games played - Number of games the team has played
|
W
Wins - Games the team has won, either in regulation or in overtime
|
L
Losses - Games the team has lost in regulation
|
PTS
Points - Team points, calculated from W, L, T, OTL and SOL; used to determine standings
|
GF
Goals for - Number of goals the team has scored
|
GA
Goals against - Number of goals scored against the team
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal Canadiens | 21 | 12 | 9 | 24 | 115 | 85 |
| Toronto Arenas | 21 | 12 | 9 | 24 | 109 | 110 |
| Ottawa Senators | 22 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 103 | 114 |
| Montreal Wanderers | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 35 |
| # | SKATERS |
GP
Games played - Number of games the player has set foot on the ice
|
G
Goals - Number of goals the player has scored
|
A
Assists - Number of goals the player has assisted in
|
PTS
Points - Scoring points, calculated as the sum of G and A
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Joe Malone | 20 | 44 | 4 | 48 |
| 4 | Newsy Lalonde | 14 | 23 | 7 | 30 |
| 5 | Didier Pitre | 20 | 17 | 6 | 23 |
| 2 | Bert Corbeau | 21 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| 3 | Joe Hall | 21 | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| # | #1 GOALIE |
GP
Games played - Number of games the player has set foot on the ice
|
RECORD
Record - Goalie record (W-L-T)
|
SO
Shutouts - Number of games where the goaltender has not allowed a goal
|
GAA
Goals against average - Mean goals-per-game scored on the goaltender
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georges Vézina | 21 | 12-9-0 | 1 | 3.93 |
| DATE | AWAY | HOME |
|---|
THE REGULAR SEASON
The Montreal Canadiens skated out to open the 1917-18 season, not as members of the NHA, but as a founding team of the newly-formed National Hockey League (NHL). Announced in November, the NHL initially featured five teams but when play began less than a month later, the league was down to just four. By the end of the first season, only the trio of, the Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens remained.
The Quebec Bulldogs decided to sit out the season and the Montreal Wanderers were forced out when the Westmount Arena burned down. The Canadiens, also left homeless, took up residency at the Jubilee Rink for the balance of the season.
Continuing the split schedule, that had been previously introduced by the NHA proved to be to the Canadiens advantage. The team went 10-4 in the first half to lock up a playoff berth by early February.
Newsy Lalonde and Didier Pitre, with 23 and 17 goals respectively, regularly found their way onto the score sheet, but the biggest star of the NHL’s first season was Joe Malone, their linemate and the league’s first scoring champion.
The former Bulldog scored five times on opening night and repeated the feat on two other occasions during the season. He also strung together a 14-game scoring streak and put 48 points into the book, burying the puck 44 times over the course of the season.
Between the pipes, Georges Vezina’s 84 goals against were 25 fewer than his closest counterpart allowed. Veteran defenseman “Bad” Joe Hall lived up to his nickname, spending a league-leading 100 minutes in the penalty box.
THE PLAYOFFS
The NHL’s first playoffs pitted the Canadiens, who had won the first half of the season, against second half leaders, the Toronto Arenas. Credited with identical 13-9 records over the entire season they, faced off in a two-game total goal series to determine the NHL’s challenger for the Stanley Cup. Playing in front of friendly fans, the Arenas came out with guns blazing and won the first game 7-3, holding a decided advantage when play resumed in Montreal for the second game.
The Canadiens won the night but their 4-3 victory in the second game left them three short of Toronto’s total as the Arenas won the NHL’s first championship title.
With the series win came the O’Brien Trophy and the right to play Vancouver of the PCHA in a five-game series. Winning 3-2 over the Millionaires, the Arenas became the first NHL team to capture the Stanley Cup.
| NHL Finals - Toronto Maple Leafs | ||||
| Date | AWAY | HOME | ||
| March 11th, 1918 | MTL 3 | TOR 7 | ||
| March 13th, 1918 | TOR 3 | MTL 4 | ||
| Toronto won total-goals series 10-7 | ||||
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