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1951 Stanley Cup Finals
1951 Stanley Cup Finals
	* – Denotes overtime period(s)
Location(s)	Toronto: Maple Leaf Gardens (1, 2, 5); Montreal: Montreal Forum (3, 4)
Coaches	Toronto: Joe Primeau; Montreal: Dick Irvin
Captains	Toronto: Ted Kennedy; Montreal: Emile Bouchard
Dates	April 11–21, 1951
Series-winning goal	Bill Barilko (2:53, OT)
Hall of Famers	Maple Leafs:; Max Bentley (1966); Turk Broda (1967); Fernie Flaman (1990); Ted Kennedy (1966); Harry Watson (1994); Canadiens:; Emile Bouchard (1966); Bernie Geoffrion (1972); Doug Harvey (1973); Tom Johnson (1970); Elmer Lach (1966); Bert Olmstead (1985); Maurice Richard (1961); Coaches:; Dick Irvin (1958, player); Joe Primeau (1963, player)

The 1951 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs won the series 4–1, with all five games going into overtime. It was the Toronto franchise's ninth Stanley Cup win and the last in a series of six wins starting in 1942. It was the first appearance in a string of ten consecutive appearances by the Canadiens.

Paths to the Finals

Toronto defeated the Boston Bruins 4–1 to reach the Finals. Montreal defeated the defending champion Detroit Red Wings 4–2 to reach the Finals.

Game summaries

Every game went into overtime in this series. Bill Barilko scored the Cup-winning overtime goal, his last goal in the NHL as he would die in a plane crash during the summer.^[1]

April 11	Montreal Canadiens		2–3	OT	Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
Maurice Richard (5) - 15:27		First period			00:15 - Sid Smith (3) 15:42 - Tod Sloan (2)
Paul Masnick (1) - 4:02		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		First overtime period			5:51 - Sid Smith (4)
Gerry McNeil		Goalie stats			Turk Broda

April 14	Montreal Canadiens		3–2	OT	Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
Paul Masnick (2) - 3:44		First period			No scoring
Billy Reay (3) - 9:24		Second period			16:31 - pp - Sid Smith (5)
No scoring		Third period			8:16 - pp - Ted Kennedy (3)
Maurice Richard (6) - 2:55		First overtime period			No scoring
Gerry McNeil		Goalie stats			Turk Broda

April 17	Toronto Maple Leafs		2–1	OT	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
No scoring		First period			2:18 - pp - Maurice Richard (7)
Sid Smith (6) - pp - 5:58		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Ted Kennedy (4) - 4:47		First overtime period			No scoring
Turk Broda		Goalie stats			Gerry McNeil

April 19	Toronto Maple Leafs		3–2	OT	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
Sid Smith (7) - 00:38		First period			14:41 - Maurice Richard (8)
Howie Meeker (1) - 1:27		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			13:49 - Elmer Lach (2)
Harry Watson (1) - 5:15		First overtime period			No scoring
Turk Broda		Goalie stats			Gerry McNeil

April 21	Montreal Canadiens		2–3	OT	Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
Maurice Richard (9) - 8:56		Second period			12:00 - Tod Sloan (3)
Paul Meger (1) - 4:47		Third period			19:28 - Tod Sloan (4)
No scoring		First overtime period			2:53 - Bill Barilko (3)
Gerry McNeil		Goalie stats			Turk Broda

Toronto won series 4–1

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1951 Stanley Cup was presented to Maple Leafs captain Ted Kennedy by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Maple Leafs 3–2 overtime win over the Canadiens in game five.

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

1950–51 Toronto Maple Leafs

Players

Centres

Wingers

Defencemen

Goaltenders

1 Walter "Turk" Broda
23 Al Rollins

Coaching and administrative staff

Conn Smythe (President/Manager/Owner), Clarence Hap Day (Asst. Manager)
George McGillach (Vice President), John Murdoch (Vice President)
Ed Bickle (Director/Owner), Jack Bickell (Director/Owner)
Tim Daly (Trainer), Ed Fitkin (Publicity Director)
Archie Campbell (Asst. Trainer), Tom Nayler (Asst. Trainer), George Walker (Chief Scout)
Joe Primeau (Coach), William MacBrien (Chairman/Owner)
Norman Delarue†, Robert Galloway†, Horance MacIntyre† (Team Doctors)

Stanley Cup engraving

† Included on the original ring in 1951. There was no room left for the 3 team doctors the way that the Toronto Maple Leafs 1951 members were engraved on the new ring during the 1957–58 season.
^A played only 13 games, but the name is on the cup. ^B played only 12 games, but the name is on the cup. Both Hugh Bolton, and Bob Hassard did not play in the playoff and did not qualify to be on the cup.
Joe Primeau was the 7th NHL rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup.
** John McCormack played 46 regular season games, he was sent to the minors to play in the playoffs. McCormack was still included on the Stanley Cup.
Joe Primeau (Coach), William MacBrien (Chairman/Owner) were listed last on the Stanley Cup. Tradition has them listed before the players.

Engraving mistakes

Several mistakes happened in the engraving of the names:

Gus Mortson's last name was misspelled WORTSON with a "W" instead a "M".
Danny Lewicki's last name was misspelled LEWESKI, with a "S" instead of a "C".
Ted Kennedy's name was misspelled KENNEDYY with an extra "Y". His position as Captain was also left off the Stanley Cup.
William A. H. MacBrien's last name was misspelled as McBrien, missing an "A"
Elwin "Al" Rollins' first name was misspelled ELVIN with a "V" instead of a "W". The Rollins mistake was not corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93. The other 4 mistakes were corrected on the Replica Cup.

Members of Toronto Maple Leafs that won 4 cups in 5 years 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951 dynasty

Bill Barilko, Turk Broda, Ted Kennedy†, Joe Klukay, Howie Meeker, Gus Mortson, Jimmy Thomson, Harry Watson (8 players),

Ed Bickle†, John Bickell†, Conn Smythe†, John Mordoch†, William MacBrien†, Hap Day†, Tim Daly†, George Walker, Ed Finkin, Horance McIntre (10 non-players).

† also won the Stanley Cup in 1945.

Notes

^ Campigotto, Jesse (July 16, 2020). "The hockey card Gord Downie stole from". CBC Sports. CBC. Retrieved May 28, 2021.

References

Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Stanley Cup. NHL.
Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.
"All-Time NHL Results".