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.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.
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. 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 with wind chill. It was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Edmonton Oilers joining the NHL in 1979.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 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
Schedule and results
Playoffs
Montréal Canadiens -vs- Boston Bruins
- April 7 - Game 1 - Canadiens 0, Bruins 3
- April 9 - Game 2 - Canadiens 1, Bruins 2
- April 11 - Game 3 - Canadiens 3, Bruins 2
- April 13 - Game 4 - Canadiens 3, Bruins 4
- 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
- April 29 - Game 4 - Canadiens 1, Lightning 3
Tampa Bay wins series 4–0Player statistics
Regular season
;Scoring
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG |
| C | 81 | 20 | 45 | 65 | 34 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 5 |
| RW | 81 | 25 | 38 | 63 | 26 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 4 |
| C | 68 | 14 | 41 | 55 | 52 | -5 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| RW | 81 | 26 | 24 | 50 | 63 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 9 |
| D | 63 | 15 | 20 | 35 | 104 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| C | 69 | 16 | 15 | 31 | 40 | -10 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| D | 71 | 4 | 27 | 31 | 22 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 72 | 13 | 17 | 30 | 30 | -8 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| D | 69 | 6 | 22 | 28 | 20 | -2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 50 | 17 | 10 | 27 | 24 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| RW | 66 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| D | 73 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 70 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 52 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 41 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| C | 70 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | -4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| RW | 53 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| RW | 60 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 80 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 98 | -1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| RW | 23 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 16 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 73 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 82 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 14 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| LW | 36 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 46 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 34 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| LW | 64 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 135 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 67 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LW | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
;Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T/OT | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV | SV% |
| 3961 | 67 | 33 | 28 | 5 | 150 | 2.27 | 6 | 1860 | 1710 | .919 |
| 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 |
| C | 11 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 11 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| RW | 11 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LW | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RW | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
;Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV | SV% |
| 678 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 2.39 | 1 | 333 | 306 | .919 |
| 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1.000 |
| Team: | 690 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 2.35 | 1 | 339 | 312 | .920 |
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
