1967 Stanley Cup playoffs


The 1967 Stanley Cup playoffs was the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League for the 1966–67 season, and the final postseason before the expansion from six to twelve teams. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the defending champions the Montreal Canadiens, in six games to win the Stanley Cup. The Leafs squad was the oldest ever to win a Cup final; the average age of the team was well more than 30, and four players were more than 40. Toronto has not won the Cup or been to the Finals since.

Playoff seeds

The top four out of the six teams in the league qualified for the playoffs:
  1. [1966–67 1966–67 Chicago Black Hawks season|Chicago Black Hawks season|Chicago Black Hawks] – 94 points
  2. [1966–67 1966–67 Montreal Canadiens season|Montreal Canadiens season|Montreal Canadiens] – 77 points
  3. Toronto Maple Leafs – 75 points
  4. [1966–67 1966–67 New York Rangers season|New York Rangers season|New York Rangers] – 72 points

Playoff bracket

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series. In the semifinals, the first-place team played the third-place team, while the second-place team played the fourth-place team. The winners of the semifinals then played for the Stanley Cup.

Semifinals

(1) Chicago Black Hawks vs. (3) Toronto Maple Leafs

The Chicago Black Hawks was the best regular season team with 94 points. The Toronto Maple Leafs earned the third seed with 75 points. This was the sixth playoff series between these two teams, with Toronto winning three of their five previous series. Their most recent series had come in the 1962 Stanley Cup Finals, which Toronto won in six games. Chicago earned eighteen of twenty-eight points in this year's regular season series.
Despite Chicago's impressive regular season marks, the third seed Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Black Hawks in the first round of the playoffs.

(2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (4) New York Rangers

Montreal earned the second seed with 77 points. New York earned the fourth seed with 72 points. This was the eighth playoff series between these two teams, with New York winning four of their seven previous series. Their most recent series had come in the 1957 semifinals, where Montreal defeated New York in five games. Montreal earned sixteen out of twenty-eight points in this year's regular season series.
Montreal defeated the Rangers in a four-game sweep.

Finals

The Montreal Canadiens were the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. In the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals, Montreal defeated Detroit in six games. This was their 24th Stanley Cup Finals overall, having won the championship fourteen times previously. This was the Toronto Maple Leafs' twenty-first and most recent Stanley Cup Finals, having won twelve championships previously. This was the thirteenth playoff series between these two teams, and they split their twelve previous series. Their most recent series came in the 1966 semifinals, where Montreal won in a four-game sweep. These teams split their fourteen-game regular season series.
After splitting the first four games, the Maple Leafs won games five and six to win the series to date this is the last Time the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup or went to the Stanley Cup Finals and the last team from Ontario to do so until The Ottawa Senators in 2007.

Awards and records