NHL History: 30 best teams to not win the Stanley Cup: 24. 1989 Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens have had some great teams for their entire history, which means every so often, very good teams will fail to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup. More often than not, the Canadiens were the last team standing. However, the best team in the French province of Canada had one team that was supposed to win it all, but they just couldn’t get it done.
The Canadiens finished first in the Eastern Conference this season with 115 points. Mats Naslund led the team with 84 points, but Bobby Smith was right behind him with 83 points. Claude Lemieux, Stephane Richer, and Guy Carbonneau provided great secondary help among the forward group. A young Chris Chelios led a strong defensive group while also scoring 73 points himself. The great Patrick Roy was in net. This should have been an easy championship for the city of Montreal, but it didn’t work out that way.
After flying through the Eastern Conference, they took on the President Trophy winners in the Calgary Flames. It was a best-on-best Stanley Cup Final. After going up in the series 2-1, the Canadiens lost three straight games and lost the Final in Game 6.
The last game of the series was a slugfest, as there were three coincidental minors and Lemieux went off for game misconduct last in the third period. The Canadiens lost that game, and the series, to a team that was still relatively new to the league. It was a disappointing end, but the Canadiens would be back soon enough. After a few more failed playoff attempts, the Canadiens finally won it all in 1993. It wasn’t the run Montreal fans hoped, but since it’s their last championship, they very much appreciate it.