It was billed as the dramatic ending to “the greatest season in the history of hockey,” the Ottawa Citizen said. And had the events of April 13, 1927 not otherwise spiraled into bedlam, or, as the next morning’s Montreal Gazette described, “a rowdy free-for-all which rivaled gang warfare at its worst,” Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final might’ve actually entered the tomes with a similarly positive slant.
Business was booming during the NHL’s infancy, so much that three expansion franchises—the New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars—had increased the ranks to 10 before the ’26-27 season.