In 1919, the Metropolitans made it to the finals for the second time in three years, this time against the Montreal Canadiens. The series was to have been a five-game series, but the fourth game ended in a scoreless draw. However, local health officials called off the deciding sixth game just hours before it was due to start when several players on both teams were stricken by Spanish flu. With virtually his entire team either hospitalized or confined to bed and efforts to find replacements vetoed by the PCHA, Canadiens owner George Kennedy announced he was forfeiting the game—and the Cup—to Seattle. However, Muldoon felt it would be unsportsmanlike to accept what would have been his second Cup, seeing as it would have been at the expense of a team decimated by illness. Seattle lost in the Stanley Cup finals in the next year against the Ottawa Senators.