Montreal defeated the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks to advance to the finals as the East Division champion.
St. Louis would defeat the Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota North Stars to advance to the finals as the West Division champion.
However, what ended up happening would turn heads, as the Blues proceeded to put up a fight, riding the back of their goaltender, Glenn Hall.
Wrote Red Burnett, the dean of hockey writers then: "A number of Hall's saves were seemingly impossible.
With their backs against the wall, the Blues put everything to the test, rallying from an early one-goal deficit to take the lead into the third period.
However, Montreal was not to be denied and won the Stanley Cup in game four as J. C. Tremblay fired home the winning goal.
None other than Bowman, the runner-up team's head coach in this Finals, would be the one to break Blake's record: he won the Cup with the Canadiens in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979, with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992, and with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997, 1998, and 2002.