League 2nd NHL Goals for 91 Coach Eddie Gerard | 1925–26 record 20–11–5 (45 points) Goals against 73 Captain Dunc Munro | |
The 1925–26 Montreal Maroons season saw the team win their first Stanley Cup in only their second season.
Contents
Regular season
Rookie Nels Stewart led the league in goals, with 34, and points, 42, to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer. His accomplishments also won him the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.
Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
Playoffs
The Maroons took on the first-year team Pittsburgh Pirates in a two-game, total-goals series. The Maroons won the first game 3–1 and tied the second to win the series six goals to four.
In the second round, the Maroons took on the first-place Ottawa Senators. At home in the first game, the Maroons tied the Senators 1–1. Former Senator Punch Broadbent scored at 8 minutes of the second period to put the Maroons ahead. The lead lasted until King Clancy tied the game with ten seconds left. In the second game, held at Ottawa, the Maroons took the series with a 1–0 shutout victory to win the NHL championship. Babe Siebert on an individual rush, scored off his own rebound at the six-minute mark of the second period. Cy Denneny appeared to tie the score a minute later, but the play was off-side. The Maroons held off the attack of the Senators the rest of the way in front of a record attendance of 10,525.
After the final game in Ottawa, an anonymous supporter gave a $1,000 cheque to team president James Strachan "to be divided up among the boys for their fighting victory."
Stanley Cup Final
Nels Stewart was "Old Poison" to the Victoria Cougars, as he scored 6 goals in the 4 games and goaltender Clint Benedict shut out the westerners three times. All games were played at the Forum in Montreal.
Victoria Cougars vs. Montreal Maroons
Montreal Maroons win best-of-five series 3 games to 1 for the Stanley Cup
Playoffs
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Montreal Maroons
Montreal wins total goals series 6 goals to 4
Montreal Maroons vs. Ottawa Senators
Montreal wins total goals series 2 goals to 1
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Goaltenders
GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
Awards and records
Stanley Cup engraving
Eddie Gerard's name was misspelled when the ring was engraved as F. GERAD (MGR) instead of E. GERARD (MGR) on the 2nd version of the ring created in 1969. The mistake was repeated on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.