1925–26 Montreal Maroons season

1925–26 Montreal Maroons
1925–26 Montreal Maroons
Stanley Cup champions
Prince of Wales Trophy winners
O'Brien Trophy winners
League	2nd NHL
1925–26 record	20–11–5 (45 points)
Goals for	91
Goals against	73
Team information
Coach	Eddie Gerard
Captain	Dunc Munro
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Nels Stewart (34)
Assists	Reg Noble (9)
Points	Nels Stewart (42)
Penalty minutes	Nels Stewart (119)
Wins	Clint Benedict (20)
Goals against average	Clint Benedict (1.91)
	← 1924–25 1926–27 →

The 1925–26 Montreal Maroons season saw the team win their first Stanley Cup in only their second season.

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

National Hockey League
Teams	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
Ottawa Senators	36	24	8	4	77	42	341	52
Montreal Maroons	36	20	11	5	91	73	554	45
Pittsburgh Pirates	36	19	16	1	82	70	264	39
Boston Bruins	36	17	15	4	92	85	279	38
New York Americans	36	12	20	4	68	89	361	28
Toronto St. Patricks	36	12	21	3	92	114	325	27
Montreal Canadiens	36	11	24	1	79	108	458	23

^[1] 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.

Record vs. opponents

1925–26 NHL Records ^[2]
Team	BOS	MTL	MTM	NYA	OTT	PIT	TOR
Boston	—	2–3–1	4–1–1	2–2–2	2–4	2–4	5–1
M. Canadiens	3–2–1	—	1–5	2–4	0–6	2–4	3–3
M. Maroons	1–4–1	5–1	—	4–1–1	1–2–3	3–3	6–0
New York	2–2–2	4–2	1–4–1	—	1–5	3–3	1–1–4
Ottawa	4–2	6–0	2–1–3	5–1	—	4–2	3–1–2
Pittsburgh	4–2	4–2	3–3	3–3	2–4	—	3–2–1
Toronto	1–5	3–3	0–6	1–1–4	1–3–2	2–3–1	—

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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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."^[5]

Stanley Cup Finals

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

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 30	Victoria Cougars	0	Montreal Maroons	3
April 1	Victoria Cougars	0	Montreal Maroons	3
April 3	Victoria Cougars	3	Montreal Maroons	2
April 6	Victoria Cougars	0	Montreal Maroons	2

Montreal Maroons win best-of-five series 3 games to 1 for the Stanley Cup

Schedule and results

Number	Result	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	November 28, 1925	2–3	@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	0–1–0
2	W	December 1, 1925	4–2	Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	1–1–0
3	W	December 3, 1925	3–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)	2–1–0
4	W	December 5, 1925	4–0	Boston Bruins (1925–26)	3–1–0
5	L	December 8, 1925	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1925–26)	3–2–0
6	W	December 12, 1925	5–2	Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	4–2–0
7	W	December 16, 1925	4–2	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	5–2–0
8	W	December 19, 1925	4–1	@ New York Americans (1925–26)	6–2–0
9	W	December 23, 1925	1–0 OT	Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	7–2–0
10	W	December 26, 1925	2–0	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	8–2–0
11	L	December 30, 1925	4–7	Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)	8–3–0
12	W	January 2, 1926	3–2 OT	New York Americans (1925–26)	9–3–0
13	L	January 5, 1926	0–4	@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	9–4–0
14	T	January 7, 1926	1–1 OT	Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	9–4–1
15	W	January 12, 1926	5–2	Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	10–4–1
16	W	January 16, 1926	1–0	Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)	11–4–1
17	T	January 19, 1926	3–3 OT	@ Boston Bruins (1925–26)	11–4–2
18	W	January 23, 1926	4–1	Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	12–4–2
19	T	January 25, 1926	1–1 OT	@ New York Americans (1925–26)	12–4–3
20	L	January 27, 1926	1–2 OT	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	12–5–3
21	L	January 30, 1926	0–5	Boston Bruins (1925–26)	12–6–3
22	W	February 2, 1926	2–0	@ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)	13–6–3
23	W	February 9, 1926	5–3	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	14–6–3
24	W	February 13, 1926	2–1	New York Americans (1925–26)	15–6–3
25	W	February 18, 1926	5–2	Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	16–6–3
26	T	February 20, 1926	0–0 OT	@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	16–6–4
27	T	February 23, 1926	1–1 OT	Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	16–6–5
28	L	February 26, 1926	0–1	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	16–7–5
29	W	February 27, 1926	4–3	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	17–7–5
30	L	March 2, 1926	0–4	Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	17–8–5
31	L	March 4, 1926	2–3	Boston Bruins (1925–26)	17–9–5
32	W	March 6, 1926	4–3 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)	18–9–5
33	W	March 11, 1926	5–1	New York Americans (1925–26)	19–9–5
34	W	March 13, 1926	4–2	Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)	20–9–5
35	L	March 16, 1926	0–1	@ Boston Bruins (1925–26)	20–10–5
36	L	March 17, 1926	3–5	@ New York Americans (1925–26)	20–11–5

Playoffs

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Montreal Maroons

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score	Notes
March 20	@Pittsburgh Pirates	1	Montreal Maroons	3
March 23	@Pittsburgh Pirates	3	Montreal Maroons	3

Montreal wins total goals series 6 goals to 4

Montreal Maroons vs. Ottawa Senators

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score	Notes
March 25	@Montreal Maroons	1	Ottawa Senators	1
March 27	Montreal Maroons	1	@Ottawa Senators	0

Montreal wins total goals series 2 goals to 1

Player stats

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	GP	G	A	Pts
Nels Stewart	36	34	8	42
Babe Siebert	35	16	8	24
Reg Noble	33	9	9	18
Punch Broadbent	36	12	5	17
Dunc Munro	33	4	6	10
Hobie Kitchen	30	5	2	7
Chuck Dinsmore	33	3	1	4
Merlyn Phillips	12	3	1	4
Frank Carson	16	2	1	3
Sammy Rothschild	33	2	1	3

Goaltenders

GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average

Player	GP	GA	SO	GAA
Clint Benedict	36	73	6	2.0

Awards and records

Nels Stewart – Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy
O'Brien Cup – for 1925–26 NHL champion.
Prince of Wales Trophy – for 1925–26 NHL playoff champion.

Transactions

References

^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ "Senators and Maroons Battle to Draw 1 to 1". Ottawa Citizen. March 26, 1926. p. 10.
^ "Maroons Capture NHL Title With Win Over Ottawa". Montreal Gazette. March 29, 1926. p. 18.
^ "$1,000 Donated To Maroon Players By Anonymous Rooter". Montreal Gazette. March 29, 2015. p. 19.