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The 1954 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the defending championMontreal Canadiens, in their fourth straight Finals. It was the second Detroit–Montreal Finals series of the 1950s. Despite blowing a 3–1 series lead, the Red Wings defeated the Canadiens in seven games to win their second Stanley Cup in four years and sixth overall.
As of today, this remains the last Stanley Cup Final where Game 7 was decided in overtime.
Tony Leswick scored the series-winning goal at 4:29 of overtime in Game 7. In fact, Leswick's goal was one of the strangest Stanley Cup-winning goals in history, as Leswick's shot was deflected off the glove of Montreal's Doug Harvey and into the net. The Canadiens immediately skated off the ice without shaking hands with the Red Wings. This was the second time in NHL history that Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was decided in overtime; the previous time it happened, in 1950, Detroit beat the New York Rangers in the Finals. As of 2025, this is the last Stanley Cup Final to have an overtime Game 7.
CBC's coverage of games 3–5 were joined in progress at 9:30p.m. (approximately one hour after start time). Meanwhile, CBC joined game six in at 10 p.m. (again, one hour after start time). Game seven was carried nationwide from the opening face-off at 9 p.m. Since game seven was played on Good Friday night, there were no commercials (Imperial Oil was the sponsor).
Stanley Cup engraving
The 1954 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Ted Lindsay by NHL PresidentClarence Campbell following the Red Wings 2–1 overtime win over the Canadiens in game seven.
The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1953–54 Detroit Red Wings
John Mitchell (Chief Scout), Carl Mattson (Trainer)
Fred Huber Jr. (Publicity Director), Wally Crossman (Asst. Trainer/Stick Boy)
Stanley Cup engraving
#21 Earl Johnson's^ name was engraved on the Stanley Cup, even though he only played 1 regular-season game. Johnson spent the rest of his hockey career in the minors.
Oct 10 1953, Terry Sawchuk was injured during a game. Ass't Trainer Ross Wilson played goal for the last 16 minutes. Dave Gatherum was called up from the minors. He played goal on Oct 11, 16, 17 for injured Terry Sawchuk. He recorded 1 win, 1 tie and 1 loss. Gatherum went on to set an NHL record for the longest shutout sequence by a goaltender to start a career, 100:21 min, Oct 11-16, 1953. The record stood until 2011. Gatherum was recalled for the playoffs as a spare goalie. Gatherum never played in the NHL again after losing his first NHL game. Detroit still honour him by including Dave Gatherum's name on the Stanley Cup in 1954.
#19 Vic Stasiuk^ played 43 games, but was sent to the minors. His name was left off the cup because he played in the minors during the playoffs.
#21 Jim Hay played 12 games for Detroit, but did not play in the playoffs. He was included on team picture. Gilles Dube was listed as Ed Dube by mistake on the team picture.
Marguerite Norris was the first woman to be engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1954.
Tommy Ivan was misspelled as THOMAS NIVAN COACH instead of Thomas N. Ivan when the cup was redone in 1957–58. His name was spelled THOMAS IVAN COACH on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.