May 16: Canadiens begin dynasty by sweeping Flyers in 1976 Cup Final

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: May 16
1976: The Montreal Canadiens end the Philadelphia Flyers' aspirations of winning the Stanley Cup for a third consecutive year by completing a sweep of the Final with a
5-3 victory at the Spectrum
.

Guy Lafleur
scores at 14:18 of the third period to make it 4-3 and
Frank Mahovlich
beats Flyers goalie
Wayne Stephenson
less than a minute later for the Canadiens, who win their 19th championship and the first of four in a row.
Flyers forward
Reggie Leach
, who gives Philadelphia a 1-0 lead when he scores less than a minute into the game, is voted winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup Playoff MVP after he sets a postseason record with 19 goals. He's still the only non-goalie on the losing team to win the award.

MORE MOMENTS
1927:Jack Adams is named general manager and coach of the Detroit Cougars, replacing Duke Keats. Adams goes on to control the fortunes of the team, renamed the Falcons in 1930 and the Red Wings in 1932, for the next 35 years.
1971:
Jean Beliveau
has two assists
, his final points in Stanley Cup competition, to help the Canadiens defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in Game 6 of the Final at the Forum. Beliveau assists on a first-period goal by
Yvan Cournoyer
and sets up Frank Mahovlich's game-tying goal early in the third. A shorthanded goal by
Peter Mahovlich
at 8:55 of the third period puts the Canadiens ahead to stay and sends the series back to Chicago for Game 7.
1982:The New York Islanders become the first U.S.-based team to win the Stanley Cup three years in a row when they
defeat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1
at Pacific Coliseum to complete a four-game sweep in the Final.
Mike Bossy
scores a power-play goal five minutes into the second period and again at even strength three minutes later. He finishes the playoffs with 17 goals and wins the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Billy Smith
makes 23 saves for the Islanders, who allow one goal in winning the two games at Vancouver.

1985:
Jari Kurri
sets a playoff record with his third hat trick in the same postseason year, then scores a fourth goal to help the Edmonton Oilers clinch the Campbell Conference championship by
defeating the Blackhawks 8-2
at Chicago Stadium in Game 6. Kurri scores the first goal of the game at 5:12 of the first period, gets two more in the second and completes the scoring with 1:43 remaining in the third.
Wayne Gretzky
assists on all four goals.
1996:
Steve Yzerman
scores at 1:15 of the second overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings
a 1-0 victory
against the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals at Joe Louis Arena. Goalies
Jon Casey
of the Blues and
Chris Osgood
of the Red Wings go save-for-save until Yzerman scores on a long slap shot to win the game and the series.

2014:The Los Angeles Kings advance to the Western Conference Final for the third year in a row by defeating the Anaheim Ducks
6-2 in Game 7
of the second round at Honda Center. The Kings score three times in the first 10 minutes against rookie goalie John Gibson and are never threatened. Six Kings score goals and goalie Jonathan Quick makes 25 saves. The loss spoils the final NHL game of Ducks star
Teemu Selanne
, who receives a long ovation when he comes out for his final shift with 1:02 remaining in the third period.
2016:Sidney Crosby ends a personal eight-game goal drought when he scores 40 seconds into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a
3-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning
in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final at Consol Energy Center. Crosby takes a pass from Bryan Rust and, while going down on one knee, he takes a shot that goes past the blocker of goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for the first playoff overtime goal of his career.

2018:Jonathan Marchessault becomes the first player in NHL history to score a goal in the first minute and the last minute of a playoff game. Marchessault gives the Vegas Golden Knights a quick lead when he scores 35 seconds into Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Winnipeg Jets, then ices a
4-2 win
by scoring into an empty net at 19:37 of the third period. Mark Scheifele scores twice for the Jets, giving him 11 goals on the road in the 2018 playoffs, an NHL record for one playoff year.

2019: The Boston Bruins advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the 20th time since entering the NHL in 1924 when they complete a sweep of the Eastern Conference Final by
defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0
at PNC Arena. Patrice Bergeron scores two goals and goalie Tuukka Rask makes 24 saves for his second series-clinching shutout of the 2019 playoffs. It's the first trip to the Cup Final for the Bruins since 2013.