This Day in Hockey History – April 22, 1971 – Expanding Stars

It took some time after the NHL doubled its franchises in 1967 for the newest teams to find equal footing. In fact, it took three seasons of the St. Louis Blues getting swept in the Stanley Cup finals before another expansion team finally defeated the Blues and went on to win a playoff game against an Original Six team. On April 22, 1971, the Minnesota North Stars became the first expansion team to defeat an established team during playoffs. It was the 18th playoff game between a post-1967 franchise and a pre-1967 franchise.

When the North Stars realized who they would be playing in the quarter-finals, they probably feared things would turn out as they had the other two years they made the playoffs. In 1968, the Blues had defeated them in the semi-finals, and in 1970 the Blues had defeated them in the quarter-finals. However, this time, Minnesota knocked out St. Louis for the first time ever by winning the quarter-finals 4-2. In 1971, they were the only expansion team to make it to the semi-finals.

For the next round, the North Stars played the Montreal Canadiens. Again, their opponents had an intimidating record. The Canadiens had swept the Blues in the first two seasons after the 1967 expansion, and they had just eliminated the Boston Bruins, the team that swept the Blues the previous season. The first game of the semi-finals seemed to indicate another sweep was on the horizon as Montreal crushed Minnesota 7-2.

Game 2 took place April 22 at Montreal Forum, where 16,601 fans gathered. By the end of the first period, the North Stars already led 4-0. During the middle session, the Canadiens managed to halve the lead before Minnesota came back with a fifth goal. Although Montreal spent the third period bombarding Minnesota’s net, only Captain Jean Beliveau found the back of it. Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden had not had a good night considering pucks bouncing off his own teammates accounted for two of the goals on him. He probably felt relieved when he was pulled at the end, even though that allowed the North Stars to sink a final goal.

Naturally, the Canadiens were not happy with the 6-3 score. The Forum fans had been so disgusted with the lack of penalty calls throughout the third period that they threw programs, papers, and even 13 rubber overshoes onto the ice. Forward John Ferguson lost his temper and broke his stick over being benched. Coach Al MacNeil justified himself saying, “I set up three lines I thought were going to pull us through. If I think a guy is going bad, I’ll pull him out. I have to do things the way I feel they should be done. Some of them thought this would be a four-game series. Now they know they have to work.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota celebrated being the first to defeat an Original Six team during playoffs. Goalie Cesare Maniago commented, “Everyone figured we were pushovers. We reviewed ourselves after losing 7-2 Tuesday. We knew we were a better club.” That was why, Maniago explained, “We played the type of hockey that got us here. That is checking and waiting for a break.”

Maniago, who had played 14 games for the Canadiens during the 1962-63 season, received much of the credit for the North Stars’ win. Coach Al Gordon praised, “Cesare was great, just great. It got a little tight when they cut the lead down to 4-2 late in the second period, but then Cesare came up with a couple of big ones and Murray Oliver got that [fifth] goal to take us out of trouble.” Center Jude Drouin summarized, “We got some early breaks and took advantage of them. Then we back-checked to kill off penalties, and Cesare was making the big saves. It was a total team effort.”

With the series tied 1-1, the North Stars had the momentum in their favor. Although they lost Game 3 with the scores from Game 2 reversed, the Stars came back to win Game 4 on April 25. That meant that they had pulled off the first two post-1967 wins, one before a Montreal audience and one for their own Minnesota fans. A return to Canada for Game 5 gave the Stars another humiliating loss, of 6-1. They valiantly attempted to tie up the series again back at Minnesota for Game 6 but fell short, losing 3-2. The Canadiens went on to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final.

The post-1967 franchises would not take home the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers won in 1974. The North Stars finally made it to the finals in 1981 and again in 1991, but they lost both to other expansion teams (the New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins). Soon thereafter, the franchise relocated, and, as the Dallas Stars, they won their only Stanley Cup in 1999.

Additional Sources:

• Mike Lamey, “North Stars wait, see, win” and “Ferguson fumes after benching,” Minneapolis Star, 23 April 1971, p. 8B.
• Dwayne Netland, “North Stars shock Canadiens 6-3,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 23 April 1971, pp. 1C and 6C.
• Sid Hartman’s column, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 23 April 1971, p. 2C.
• Bob Morrissey, “Habs suffer post-Bruin letdown,” Montreal Gazette, 23 April 1971, pp. 17 and 21.
• Ted Blackman, “Fuming Ferguson shatters his stick,” Montreal Gazette, 23 April 1971, p. 17.