1996–97 Montréal Canadiens
Eastern Conference · Atlantic Division · 31-36-0, 77 pts · Playoffs 1-4
The 1996–97 Montréal Canadiens went 31-36-0 (77 points) in the Northeast Division and played 5 playoff games (1-4). Vincent Damphousse led the team with 81 points (27 G, 54 A). Jocelyn Thibault had 22 wins in goal.
2026–272025–262024–252023–242022–232021–222020–212019–202018–192017–182016–172015–162014–152013–142012–132011–122010–112009–102008–092007–082006–072005–062003–042002–032001–022000–011999–001998–991997–981996–97
Skaters
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PPG | SOG | SH% | HIT | BLK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent Damphousse | C | 82 | 27 | 54 | 81 | -6 | 82 | 7 | 244 | 11.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Recchi | R | 82 | 34 | 46 | 80 | -1 | 58 | 7 | 202 | 16.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Savage | L | 81 | 23 | 37 | 60 | -14 | 39 | 5 | 219 | 10.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Saku Koivu | C | 50 | 17 | 39 | 56 | +7 | 38 | 5 | 135 | 12.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin Rucinsky | L | 70 | 28 | 27 | 55 | +1 | 62 | 6 | 172 | 16.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephane Richer | R | 63 | 22 | 24 | 46 | 0 | 32 | 2 | 126 | 17.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Valeri Bure | R | 64 | 14 | 21 | 35 | +4 | 6 | 4 | 131 | 10.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Vladimir Malakhov | D | 65 | 10 | 20 | 30 | +3 | 43 | 5 | 177 | 5.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Benoit Brunet | L | 39 | 10 | 13 | 23 | +6 | 14 | 2 | 63 | 15.9 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephane Quintal | D | 71 | 7 | 15 | 22 | +1 | 100 | 1 | 139 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turner Stevenson | R | 66 | 8 | 13 | 21 | -14 | 97 | 1 | 76 | 10.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Shayne Corson | L | 47 | 6 | 15 | 21 | -5 | 80 | 2 | 96 | 6.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Darcy Tucker | R | 73 | 7 | 13 | 20 | -5 | 110 | 1 | 62 | 11.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Thornton | L | 73 | 10 | 10 | 20 | -19 | 128 | 1 | 110 | 9.1 | 0 | 0 |
| David Wilkie | D | 61 | 6 | 9 | 15 | -9 | 63 | 3 | 65 | 9.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrice Brisebois | D | 49 | 2 | 13 | 15 | -7 | 24 | 0 | 72 | 2.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Marc Bureau | C | 43 | 6 | 9 | 15 | +4 | 16 | 1 | 56 | 10.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Popovic | D | 78 | 1 | 13 | 14 | +9 | 32 | 0 | 82 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Sebastien Bordeleau | C | 29 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -3 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 7.4 | 0 | 0 |
| Pierre Turgeon | C | 9 | 1 | 10 | 11 | +4 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Jassen Cullimore | D | 50 | 2 | 6 | 8 | +4 | 42 | 0 | 52 | 3.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Murray Baron | D | 60 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -16 | 107 | 0 | 52 | 1.9 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Murray | R | 58 | 4 | 2 | 6 | -8 | 114 | 0 | 32 | 12.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Craig Rivet | D | 35 | 0 | 4 | 4 | +7 | 54 | 0 | 24 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Eric Houde | C | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Manson | D | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 23 | 0 | 22 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Rory Fitzpatrick | D | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pierre Sevigny | L | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Donald Brashear | L | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 38 | 0 | 6 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brad Brown | D | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Francois Groleau | D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| David Ling | R | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Terry Ryan | L | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Goaltenders
| Player | GP | GS | W | L | OTL | SA | SV% | GAA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jocelyn Thibault | 71 | 54 | 22 | 24 | 0 | 1815 | .910 | 2.90 | 1 |
| Pat Jablonski | 51 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 438 | .886 | 3.98 | 0 |
| Jose Theodore | 40 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 508 | .896 | 3.87 | 0 |
| Tomas Vokoun | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | .714 | 12.00 | 0 |
Schedule & results
| Date | Opponent | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 5 | vs OTT | T 3–3 | Final/OT |
| Oct 7 | vs ANA | T 6–6 | Final/OT |
| Oct 9 | vs LAK | W 6–3 | Final |
| Oct 12 | vs NYR | W 5–2 | Final |
| Oct 15 | @ NJD | L 2–3 | Final |
| Oct 16 | vs CGY | W 4–2 | Final |
| Oct 19 | @ OTT | L 3–6 | Final |
| Oct 24 | @ BUF | L 3–6 | Final |
| Oct 26 | vs PHI | W 6–5 | Final |
| Oct 28 | vs PHX | L 4–5 | Final/OT |
| Oct 30 | @ DET | L 3–5 | Final |
| Nov 2 | @ SJS | L 3–4 | Final/OT |
| Nov 3 | @ PHX | T 4–4 | Final/OT |
| Nov 6 | @ ANA | W 6–5 | Final |
| Nov 7 | @ LAK | L 1–4 | Final |
| Nov 9 | @ COL | L 2–5 | Final |
| Nov 11 | vs EDM | W 3–2 | Final/OT |
| Nov 13 | vs FLA | L 3–5 | Final |
| Nov 15 | @ WSH | L 1–3 | Final |
| Nov 16 | vs VAN | W 6–1 | Final |
| Nov 20 | @ HFD | L 1–3 | Final |
| Nov 21 | @ BOS | W 6–2 | Final |
| Nov 23 | @ TOR | W 4–3 | Final |
| Nov 25 | vs TBL | W 4–2 | Final |
| Nov 27 | @ PIT | T 2–2 | Final/OT |
| Nov 30 | vs WSH | L 0–2 | Final |
| Dec 1 | @ NYR | L 2–6 | Final |
| Dec 4 | vs BOS | L 3–4 | Final |
| Dec 6 | @ CHI | W 3–1 | Final |
| Dec 7 | vs CHI | W 3–2 | Final |
| Dec 11 | vs BUF | L 2–3 | Final/OT |
| Dec 14 | @ NJD | T 3–3 | Final/OT |
| Dec 16 | vs TBL | L 2–4 | Final |
| Dec 21 | vs NYR | L 2–3 | Final/OT |
| Dec 23 | vs OTT | L 0–6 | Final |
| Dec 26 | @ PIT | T 3–3 | Final/OT |
| Dec 28 | @ TBL | T 4–4 | Final/OT |
| Dec 29 | @ FLA | W 2–1 | Final |
| Jan 1 | @ DAL | W 6–4 | Final |
| Jan 2 | @ STL | T 2–2 | Final/OT |
| Jan 4 | vs NYI | W 3–1 | Final |
| Jan 6 | vs HFD | W 5–4 | Final |
| Jan 9 | @ BOS | L 4–5 | Final |
| Jan 11 | vs BOS | W 6–3 | Final |
| Jan 13 | vs DAL | L 1–2 | Final |
| Jan 14 | @ PHI | L 2–3 | Final |
| Jan 20 | vs DET | W 4–1 | Final |
| Jan 22 | @ BUF | L 1–6 | Final |
| Jan 25 | vs STL | L 1–8 | Final |
| Jan 26 | vs PIT | L 2–5 | Final |
| Jan 28 | @ FLA | L 1–5 | Final |
| Jan 30 | @ TBL | W 4–1 | Final |
| Feb 1 | vs NJD | T 4–4 | Final/OT |
| Feb 3 | vs FLA | T 2–2 | Final/OT |
| Feb 5 | vs PIT | L 3–6 | Final |
| Feb 6 | @ PHI | L 5–9 | Final |
| Feb 8 | vs HFD | W 3–2 | Final/OT |
| Feb 10 | vs SJS | W 4–2 | Final |
| Feb 12 | @ BUF | T 2–2 | Final/OT |
| Feb 15 | vs NJD | L 1–4 | Final |
| Feb 17 | @ NYI | W 4–1 | Final |
| Feb 22 | vs TOR | L 1–5 | Final |
| Feb 25 | @ VAN | W 4–2 | Final |
| Feb 28 | @ CGY | L 2–3 | Final |
| Mar 1 | @ EDM | W 5–4 | Final |
| Mar 5 | vs COL | L 3–7 | Final |
| Mar 7 | @ HFD | L 0–2 | Final |
| Mar 8 | vs BUF | T 3–3 | Final/OT |
| Mar 10 | @ PIT | T 2–2 | Final/OT |
| Mar 13 | @ BOS | W 3–0 | Final |
| Mar 15 | vs OTT | T 2–2 | Final/OT |
| Mar 19 | @ NYR | W 5–4 | Final |
| Mar 22 | vs WSH | L 1–3 | Final |
| Mar 24 | vs BOS | W 3–1 | Final |
| Mar 26 | vs PIT | W 8–5 | Final |
| Mar 29 | @ OTT | L 2–5 | Final |
| Apr 2 | @ HFD | W 4–1 | Final |
| Apr 5 | vs HFD | L 1–4 | Final |
| Apr 7 | vs NYI | W 2–1 | Final |
| Apr 9 | @ NYI | W 3–1 | Final |
| Apr 10 | @ WSH | L 2–3 | Final |
| Apr 12 | vs PHI | T 3–3 | Final/OT |
| Apr 17 | @ NJD | L 2–5 | Final · Playoffs |
| Apr 19 | @ NJD | L 1–4 | Final · Playoffs |
| Apr 22 | vs NJD | L 4–6 | Final · Playoffs |
| Apr 24 | vs NJD | W 4–3 | Final/3OT · Playoffs |
| Apr 26 | @ NJD | L 0–4 | Final · Playoffs |