2003–04 Montreal Canadiens season

The 2003–04 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 95th season of play, 87th in the National Hockey League. The Canadiens returned to the playoffs this season and made it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals after winning the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Boston Bruins, 4–3, before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4–0.

2003–04 Montreal Canadiens
Division	4th Northeast
Conference	7th Eastern
2003–04 record	41–30–7–4
Home record	23–13–4–1
Road record	18–17–3–3
Goals for	208
Goals against	192
Team information
General Manager	Bob Gainey
Coach	Claude Julien
Captain	Saku Koivu
Arena	Bell Centre
Team leaders
Goals	Richard Zednik (26)
Assists	Mike Ribeiro (45)
Points	Mike Ribeiro (65)
Penalty minutes	Darren Langdon (135)
Plus/minus	Patrice Brisebois (+17)
Wins	Jose Theodore (33)
Goals against average	Jose Theodore Mathieu Garon (2.27)

Regular season

Heritage Classic

The Heritage Classic was an outdoor ice hockey game played on November 22, 2003, in Edmonton, Alberta, between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. It was the second NHL outdoor game and the first regular season outdoor game in the history of the NHL, and was modeled after the success of the "cold war" game between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University in 2001.[1]

The first NHL game to be played outdoors was in 1991 when the Los Angeles Kings played the New York Rangers in an exhibition game outside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.[2] The event took place in Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in front of a crowd of 57,167, the largest number of people to ever watch a live NHL game, despite temperatures of close to −18 °C, −30 °C (−22 °F) with wind chill. It was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Edmonton Oilers joining the NHL in 1979.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television broadcast also set the record for most viewers of a single NHL game with 2.747 million nationwide. This was the first NHL game broadcast in HDTV on CBC.

The Canadiens won the game by a score of 4–3.

Final standings

Northeast Division[3]

No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	2	Boston Bruins	82	41	19	15	7	209	188	104
2	4	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	45	24	10	3	242	204	103
3	5	Ottawa Senators	82	43	23	10	6	262	189	102
4	7	Montreal Canadiens	82	41	30	7	4	208	192	93
5	9	Buffalo Sabres	82	37	34	7	4	220	221	85

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Eastern Conference[4]

R		Div	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Z- Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	46	22	8	6	245	192	106
2	Y- Boston Bruins	NE	82	41	19	15	7	209	188	104
3	Y- Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	40	21	15	6	209	188	101
4	X- Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	45	24	10	3	242	204	103
5	X- Ottawa Senators	NE	82	43	23	10	6	262	189	102
6	X- New Jersey Devils	AT	82	43	25	12	2	213	164	100
7	X- Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	41	30	7	4	208	192	93
8	X- New York Islanders	AT	82	38	29	11	4	237	210	91
8.5
9	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	37	34	7	4	220	221	85
10	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	33	37	8	4	214	243	78
11	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	28	34	14	6	172	209	76
12	Florida Panthers	SE	82	28	35	15	4	188	221	75
13	New York Rangers	AT	82	27	40	7	8	206	250	69
14	Washington Capitals	SE	82	23	46	10	3	186	253	59
15	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	23	47	8	4	190	303	58

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

Z – Clinched Conference; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot

Schedule and results

Regular season results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Points
1	L	October 9, 2003	2–5	@ Ottawa Senators (2003–04)	0–1–0–0	0
2	W	October 11, 2003	4–0	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04)	1–1–0–0	2
3	W	October 14, 2003	5–1	Washington Capitals (2003–04)	2–1–0–0	4
4	W	October 16, 2003	4–1	Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04)	3–1–0–0	6
5	L	October 18, 2003	0–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04)	3–2–0–0	6
6	W	October 20, 2003	2–1	Detroit Red Wings (2003–04)	4–2–0–0	8
7	W	October 23, 2003	3–0	New York Islanders (2003–04)	5–2–0–0	10
8	L	October 25, 2003	2–6	Ottawa Senators (2003–04)	5–3–0–0	10
9	L	October 27, 2003	0–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04)	5–4–0–0	10
10	L	October 28, 2003	0–2	Boston Bruins (2003–04)	5–5–0–0	10
11	W	October 30, 2003	1–0 OT	@ Boston Bruins (2003–04)	6–5–0–0	12
12	L	November 1, 2003	1–5	New York Rangers (2003–04)	6–6–0–0	12
13	L	November 4, 2003	2–4	Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	6–7–0–0	12
14	L	November 7, 2003	1–2	@ Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	6–8–0–0	12
15	W	November 8, 2003	3–0	Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	7–8–0–0	14
16	T	November 11, 2003	1–1 OT	Columbus Blue Jackets (2003–04)	7–8–1–0	15
17	L	November 13, 2003	1–3	@ New York Islanders (2003–04)	7–9–1–0	15
18	W	November 15, 2003	3–2	@ Ottawa Senators (2003–04)	8–9–1–0	17
19	OTL	November 18, 2003	4–5 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	8–9–1–1	18
20	L	November 20, 2003	1–2	@ Calgary Flames (2003–04)	8–10–1–1	18
21	W	November 22, 2003	4–3	@ Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	9–10–1–1	20
22	L	November 25, 2003	2–5	Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	9–11–1–1	20
23	W	November 28, 2003	5–3	@ Washington Capitals (2003–04)	10–11–1–1	22
24	T	November 29, 2003	1–1 OT	Florida Panthers (2003–04)	10–11–2–1	23
25	W	December 2, 2003	3–2	Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04)	11–11–2–1	25
26	T	December 5, 2003	1–1 OT	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04)	11–11–3–1	26
27	W	December 6, 2003	3–1	Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04)	12–11–3–1	28
28	L	December 8, 2003	2–3	Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04)	12–12–3–1	28
29	W	December 10, 2003	2–1	@ New York Rangers (2003–04)	13–12–3–1	30
30	L	December 12, 2003	2–4	@ Florida Panthers (2003–04)	13–13–3–1	30
31	W	December 13, 2003	5–2	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04)	14–13–3–1	32
32	T	December 16, 2003	1–1 OT	Boston Bruins (2003–04)	14–13–4–1	33
33	W	December 18, 2003	5–4 OT	Nashville Predators (2003–04)	15–13–4–1	35
34	L	December 20, 2003	2–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04)	15–14–4–1	35
35	W	December 22, 2003	4–1	Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04)	16–14–4–1	37
36	L	December 23, 2003	2–3	@ Washington Capitals (2003–04)	16–15–4–1	37
37	OTL	December 27, 2003	1–2 OT	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04)	16–15–4–2	38
38	W	December 29, 2003	2–1	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04)	17–15–4–2	40
39	T	December 31, 2003	1–1 OT	@ Dallas Stars (2003–04)	17–15–5–2	41
40	W	January 3, 2004	5–1	Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04)	18–15–5–2	43
41	W	January 4, 2004	4–1	Washington Capitals (2003–04)	19–15–5–2	45
42	W	January 6, 2004	3–1	Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	20–15–5–2	47
43	L	January 8, 2004	1–4	Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04)	20–16–5–2	47
44	W	January 10, 2004	8–0	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04)	21–16–5–2	49
45	W	January 13, 2004	5–2	St. Louis Blues (2003–04)	22–16–5–2	51
46	W	January 14, 2004	2–1	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04)	23–16–5–2	53
47	T	January 17, 2004	2–2 OT	New York Rangers (2003–04)	23–16–6–2	54
48	W	January 20, 2004	4–1	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04)	24–16–6–2	56
49	L	January 23, 2004	0–2	@ New Jersey Devils (2003–04)	24–17–6–2	56
50	L	January 24, 2004	1–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04)	24–18–6–2	56
51	L	January 27, 2004	1–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	24–19–6–2	56
52	W	January 29, 2004	3–2 OT	@ Minnesota Wild (2003–04)	25–19–6–2	58
53	L	January 31, 2004	0–1	Boston Bruins (2003–04)	25–20–6–2	58
54	W	February 1, 2004	6–4	Chicago Blackhawks (2003–04)	26–20–6–2	60
55	W	February 3, 2004	4–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04)	27–20–6–2	62
56	W	February 5, 2004	2–1	New York Islanders (2003–04)	28–20–6–2	64
57	L	February 10, 2004	1–2	@ Florida Panthers (2003–04)	28–21–6–2	64
58	L	February 12, 2004	3–5	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04)	28–22–6–2	64
59	L	February 14, 2004	2–5	@ Ottawa Senators (2003–04)	28–23–6–2	64
60	L	February 17, 2004	1–4	Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04)	28–24–6–2	64
61	W	February 19, 2004	4–1	Calgary Flames (2003–04)	29–24–6–2	66
62	L	February 21, 2004	4–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04)	29–25–6–2	66
63	W	February 23, 2004	4–1	@ New York Rangers (2003–04)	30–25–6–2	68
64	W	February 24, 2004	4–2	Ottawa Senators (2003–04)	31–25–6–2	70
65	W	February 26, 2004	3–2 OT	@ Boston Bruins (2003–04)	32–25–6–2	72
66	W	February 28, 2004	1–0 OT	Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04)	33–25–6–2	74
67	W	March 1, 2004	2–1	New Jersey Devils (2003–04)	34–25–6–2	76
68	L	March 3, 2004	3–4	@ San Jose Sharks (2003–04)	34–26–6–2	76
69	W	March 5, 2004	4–3	@ Phoenix Coyotes (2003–04)	35–26–6–2	78
70	W	March 6, 2004	4–2	@ Los Angeles Kings (2003–04)	36–26–6–2	80
71	W	March 8, 2004	5–2	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003–04)	37–26–6–2	82
72	OTL	March 11, 2004	2–3 OT	Florida Panthers (2003–04)	37–26–6–3	83
73	W	March 13, 2004	4–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04)	38–26–6–3	85
74	W	March 16, 2004	4–2	Colorado Avalanche (2003–04)	39–26–6–3	87
75	T	March 19, 2004	1–1 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (2003–04)	39–26–7–3	88
76	W	March 20, 2004	3–2	New Jersey Devils (2003–04)	40–26–7–3	90
77	L	March 24, 2004	1–2	@ Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	40–27–7–3	90
78	L	March 25, 2004	0–4	Ottawa Senators (2003–04)	40–28–7–3	90
79	OTL	March 27, 2004	2–3 OT	@ Boston Bruins (2003–04)	40–28–7–4	91
80	L	March 31, 2004	1–5	@ New York Islanders (2003–04)	40–29–7–4	91
81	L	April 1, 2004	0–2	Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04)	40–30–7–4	91
82	W	April 3, 2004	6–3	Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	41–30–7–4	93

Playoffs

Montréal Canadiens -vs- Boston Bruins

• April 7 - Game 1 - Canadiens 0, Bruins 3
• April 9 - Game 2 - Canadiens 1, Bruins 2 (OT)
• April 11 - Game 3 - Canadiens 3, Bruins 2
• April 13 - Game 4 - Canadiens 3, Bruins 4 (2OT)
• April 15 - Game 5 - Canadiens 5, Bruins 1
• April 17 - Game 6 - Canadiens 5, Bruins 2
• April 19 - Game 7 - Canadiens 2, Bruins 0

Montreal wins series 4–3

Montréal Canadiens -vs- Tampa Bay Lightning

• April 23 - Game 1 - Canadiens 0, Lightning 4
• April 25 - Game 2 - Canadiens 1, Lightning 3
• April 27 - Game 3 - Canadiens 3, Lightning 4 (OT)
• April 29 - Game 4 - Canadiens 1, Lightning 3

Tampa Bay wins series 4–0

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Mike Ribeiro	C	81	20	45	65	34	15	7	0	5
Michael Ryder	RW	81	25	38	63	26	10	10	0	4
Saku Koivu	C	68	14	41	55	52	-5	5	0	3
Richard Zednik	RW	81	26	24	50	63	5	7	0	9
Sheldon Souray	D	63	15	20	35	104	4	6	1	3
Yanic Perreault	C	69	16	15	31	40	-10	5	0	3
Patrice Brisebois	D	71	4	27	31	22	17	2	0	0
Jan Bulis	C	72	13	17	30	30	-8	1	1	4
Andrei Markov	D	69	6	22	28	20	-2	2	0	0
Pierre Dagenais	RW	50	17	10	27	24	15	4	0	3
Niklas Sundstrom	RW	66	8	12	20	18	3	0	0	2
Francis Bouillon	D	73	2	16	18	70	1	0	0	0
Steve Begin	C	52	10	5	15	41	6	0	1	1
Joe Juneau	C	70	5	10	15	20	-4	2	1	1
Jason Ward	RW	53	5	7	12	21	3	2	0	1
Andreas Dackell	RW	60	4	8	12	10	8	0	0	0
Craig Rivet	D	80	4	8	12	98	-1	2	0	1
Donald Audette	RW	23	3	5	8	16	-4	0	0	0
Stephane Quintal	D	73	3	5	8	82	10	0	0	0
Jim Dowd	C	14	3	2	5	6	6	0	1	0
Chad Kilger	LW	36	2	2	4	14	2	0	0	0
Mike Komisarek	D	46	0	4	4	34	4	0	0	0
Alexei Kovalev	RW	12	1	2	3	12	-4	0	0	1
Darren Langdon	LW	64	0	3	3	135	-2	0	0	0
Jose Theodore	G	67	0	3	3	4	0	0	0	0
Ron Hainsey	D	11	1	1	2	4	3	0	0	0
Marcel Hossa	LW	15	1	1	2	8	-3	0	0	0
Benoit Gratton	C	4	0	1	1	4	0	0	0	0
Jozef Balej	RW	4	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0
Gordie Dwyer	LW	2	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	0
Karl Dykhuis	D	9	0	0	0	2	-2	0	0	0
Mathieu Garon	G	19	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Chris Higgins	C	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tomas Plekanec	LW	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T/OT	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Jose Theodore	3961	67	33	28	5	150	2.27	6	1860	1710	.919
Mathieu Garon	1003	19	8	6	2	38	2.27	0	480	442	.921
Team:	4964	82	41	34	7	188	2.27	6	2340	2152	.920

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
Saku Koivu	C	11	3	8	11	10	2	0	0
Alexei Kovalev	RW	11	6	4	10	8	1	0	1
Richard Zednik	RW	11	3	3	6	2	0	0	1
Andrei Markov	D	11	1	4	5	8	0	0	1
Craig Rivet	D	11	1	4	5	2	1	0	0
Yanic Perreault	C	9	2	2	4	0	0	0	1
Patrice Brisebois	D	11	2	1	3	4	1	0	0
Mike Ribeiro	C	11	2	1	3	18	0	0	0
Michael Ryder	RW	11	1	2	3	4	0	0	0
Jan Bulis	C	11	1	1	2	4	0	0	0
Jim Dowd	C	11	0	2	2	2	0	0	0
Sheldon Souray	D	11	0	2	2	39	0	0	0
Jose Theodore	G	11	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
Jason Ward	RW	5	0	2	2	2	0	0	0
Darren Langdon	LW	9	1	0	1	6	0	0	0
Niklas Sundstrom	RW	4	1	0	1	2	0	0	0
Steve Begin	C	9	0	1	1	10	0	0	0
Pierre Dagenais	RW	8	0	1	1	6	0	0	0
Joe Juneau	C	11	0	1	1	4	0	0	0
Francis Bouillon	D	11	0	0	0	7	0	0	0
Mathieu Garon	G	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Komisarek	D	7	0	0	0	8	0	0	0
Stephane Quintal	D	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Jose Theodore	678	11	4	7	27	2.39	1	333	306	.919
Mathieu Garon	12	1	0	0	0	0.00	0	6	6	1.000
Team:	690	11	4	7	27	2.35	1	339	312	.920

[5]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Transactions

Roster

Forwards:
11 - Saku Koivu
15 - Darren Langdon
17 - Jason Ward
20 - Richard Zednik
22 - Steve Begin
24 - Andreas Dackell
25 - Chad Kilger
26 - Pierre Dagenais
27 - Alexei Kovalev
32 - Gordie Dwyer
34 - Jim Dowd
35 - Tomas Plekanec
37 - Niklas Sundstrom
38 - Jan Bulis
46 - Benoit Gratton
71 - Mike Ribeiro
73 - Michael Ryder
76 - Jozef Balej
81 - Marcel Hossa
82 - Donald Audette
88 - Chris Higgins
90 - Joe Juneau
94 - Yanic Perreault

Defencemen:
5 - Stephane Quintal
8 - Mike Komisarek
28 - Karl Dykhuis
43 - Patrice Brisebois
44 - Sheldon Souray
51 - Francis Bouillon
52 - Craig Rivet
65 - Ron Hainsey
79 - Andrei Markov

Goaltenders:
30 - Mathieu Garon
60 - Jose Theodore

Draft picks

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/junior/club team
1	10	Andrei Kostitsyn (RW)	Belarus	CSKA Moscow (RSL)
2	40	Cory Urquhart (C)	Canada	Montreal Rocket (QMJHL)
2	61	Maxim Lapierre (C)	Canada	Montreal Rocket (QMJHL)
3	79	Ryan O'Byrne (D)	Canada	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
4	113	Corey Locke (C)	Canada	Ottawa 67's (OHL)
4	123	Danny Stewart (LW)	Canada	Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)
6	177	Christopher Heino-Lindberg (G)	Sweden	Hammarby IF (Sweden)
6	188	Mark Flood (D)	Canada	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
7	217	Oskari Korpikari (D)	Finland	Oulun Kärpät (Finland)
8	241	Jimmy Bonneau (LW)	Canada	Montreal Rocket (QMJHL)
9	271	Jaroslav Halak (G)	Slovakia	Slovan Bratislava Jr. (Slovakia)

See also

• 2003–04 NHL season

References

• Canadiens on Hockey Database
• Canadiens on NHL Reference

1. "Edmonton Oilers Heritage Website - Heritage Classic". Archived from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
2. "Not exactly the first time". CBC News. Archived from the original on 15 November 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
3. "2003-2004 Division Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
4. "2003–2004 Standings by Conference". National Hockey League. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
5. "2003-04 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-05-28.