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THE REGULAR SEASON

The story of the 1949-50 season is once again the play of goalie Bill Durnan and the Canadiens’ defense corps.

Ken Reardon, Doug Harvey, Glen Harmon and Emile Bouchard continue their excellent work in front of Durnan. At the end of the regular season, the Canadiens have allowed only 150 goals in 70 games, the lowest total in the league.

In goal, Durnan continues his dominant play of the previous season and claims 26 of the team’s 29 wins, maintaining a 2.20 goals-against average with eight shutouts. He wins his sixth Vezina Trophy in seven NHL seasons.

As they did in 1947-48 when Durnan won only 20 games, the Canadiens’ fans boo him, despite the fact that he is the league’s best goalie. In an interview, Durnan announces that he will retire at the end of the current season.

On offense, Maurice Richard leads his teammates with 43 goals and 65 points to finish fourth overall in league scoring.

Elmer Lach, now recovered from the broken jaw that sidelined him the previous season, records 48 points in 64 games, just ahead of Billy Reay. Defenseman Ken Reardon bolsters the offense with 28 points, the most among the Canadiens’ blue-liners.

Reardon gets himself in hot water when he says in a magazine interview that he will seek revenge from Cal Gardner and make sure that the Toronto defenseman gets 14 stitches in his mouth, a reference to a previous altercation when Gardner was with the New York Rangers.

On March 1, 1950, league president Clarence Campbell requires Reardon to post a $1,000 bond to insure that he will not act on his threat. At season’s end, Campbell returns the money to the Canadiens defenseman, who did not go after Gardner again.