1966 Stanley Cup Final

Montreal defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 to advance to the Final, and Detroit defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–2. ==Game summaries==

The Montreal Canadiens were the defending champions in their twenty-second Stanley Cup Finals, after winning their thirteenth championship the previous year with a seven-game victory over the Chicago Black Hawks. This was the Detroit Red Wings' eighteenth Stanley Cup Finals, having won seven championships previously. Their most recent Finals came in 1964, when they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. This was the eleventh playoff series between these two teams, with Detroit winning seven of their ten previous series. Their most recent series had come in the 1958 semifinals, where Montreal won in a four-game sweep. Montreal won eighteen of twenty-eight points in this year's regular season series. Detroit would not return to the Stanley Cup Finals again until 1995. Toe Blake had coached the Canadiens to seven Cups in eleven years. Henri Richard, a member of all seven championship teams, would score the series winner in game six in overtime. Two minutes into the extra period, Richard broke in on Red Wing goalie Roger Crozier, lost his footing on the newly resurfaced ice as he cut across the goalmouth, and sprawled into Crozier. The puck went in, and even though Crozier and the Wings protested that Richard had pushed the puck in with his hand, the goal stood. His brilliant play in goal, even in defeat, earned Crozier the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, becoming the first player to win the award as a member of the losing team. Game one In game one, Roger Crozier made 33 saves in net for Detroit, and Paul Henderson scored the game winning goal early in the third period to win the game 3–2, giving the Red Wings a 1–0 series lead. Game two In game two, Detroit defeated Montreal by a score of 5–2, to take a 2–0 series lead back home. Game three Gilles Tremblay scored twice for the Canadiens in a 4–2 over the Red Wings in game three to cut the series lead in half. Game four Roger Crozier was injured in the opening five minutes and forty-eight seconds into game four and had to be replaced by backup Hank Bassen. After a scoreless first, Norm Ullman opened the scoring for the Red Wings, and Jean Beliveau tied the game with nine seconds remaining in the second period. Ralph Backstrom scored the game winning goal in the third, and Gump Worsley made a total of 22 saves to give the Canadiens a 2–1 victory to tie the series. ==Stanley Cup engraving==

The 1966 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–2 win over the Red Wings in game six. The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1965–66 Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup engravings • Montreal Canadiens name was misspelt MONTREAL CANADIENE. This mistake was later corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93. ==Broadcasting==

In 1966, NBC became the first television network in the United States to air a national broadcast of a Stanley Cup Playoff game. The network provided coverage of four Sunday afternoon playoff games during the postseason. On April 10 and April 17, NBC aired semifinal games between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings. On April 24, and May 1, NBC aired Games 1 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. Win Elliot served as the play-by-play man while Bill Mazer served as the color commentator for the games. NBC's coverage of the 1966 Stanley Cup Final marked the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television in color. The CBC would follow suit the following year. NBC's Stanley Cup coverage preempted a sports anthology series called NBC Sports in Action, hosted by Jim Simpson and Bill Cullen, who were between-periods co-hosts for the Stanley Cup broadcasts. ==Aftermath==

The next season, the Red Wings finished a distant fifth, 24 points out of the playoffs, marking the beginning of a 20 year slump known as the "Dead Wings" era. The Red Wings only made the playoffs four times in the next 20 years between 1967 and 1986, and would not return to the Stanley Cup Final again until 1995, where they were swept by the New Jersey Devils. The Canadiens would return to the Stanley Cup Final the next season, but lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. However, the Canadiens would eventually become a dynasty, winning the Stanley Cup in 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. ==See also==