1968 Stanley Cup playoffs

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

1968 Stanley Cup playoffs: The NHL’s playoff tournament for the 1967–68 season, the first after expanding from six to twelve teams. The eight-team bracket included four new expansion clubs, and the defending champions Toronto Maple Leafs did not qualify.

Format and teams: The Original Six teams formed the East Division; the new expansion clubs formed the West Division. The top four in each division made the playoffs. In the first round, within each division, 1st played 3rd and 2nd played 4th. The winners moved on to the Stanley Cup Semifinals, then the Finals. This setup guaranteed an expansion team would reach the Finals but highlighted the gap between the East’s strong Original Six teams and the West’s newer teams.

Standings and results: The Montreal Canadiens finished the regular season first with 94 points. In the East, the Boston Bruins were third (84), the New York Rangers second (90), and the Chicago Black Hawks fourth (80). In the West, the Philadelphia Flyers were division champions (73), the Los Angeles Kings were second (72), the St. Louis Blues were third (70), and the Minnesota North Stars fourth (69).

First round: Montreal beat Chicago in five games. Chicago had upset the Rangers in six to reach that series. In the West, the Blues beat the Flyers in seven, and the North Stars beat the Kings in seven.

Semifinals and finals: In the East, Montreal defeated Chicago in five to reach the Finals. In the West, the St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota North Stars in seven, with Ron Schock scoring a double-overtime winner to send the Blues to the Finals. In the Finals, the Montreal Canadiens swept the Blues, four games to none, to win the Stanley Cup.

Montreal’s victory gave them their fourth straight Finals appearance in the 1960s, led by stars like Jean Beliveau and Henri Richard. Some playoff games were postponed after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.