1941–42 NHL season

1941–42 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration November 1, 1941 – April 18, 1942
Number of games 48
Number of teams 7
Regular season
Season champion New York Rangers
Season MVP Tommy Anderson (Brooklyn Americans)
Top scorer Bryan Hextall (New York Rangers)
Stanley Cup
Champions Toronto Maple Leafs
  Runners-up Detroit Red Wings

The 1941–42 NHL season was the 25th season of the National Hockey League. Seven teams played 48 games each. The Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup defeating the Detroit Red Wings winning four straight after losing the first three in a best-of-seven series, a feat only repeated thrice in NHL history and once in Major League Baseball as of today.

League business

This season was the last season for the New York Americans who changed their name to the Brooklyn Americans in an attempt to build a civic relationship with those from Flatbush area of New York.

Regular season

The Americans started the season without Harvey "Busher" Jackson who refused to sign. He was then sold to Boston. But the Amerks had two positive notes: two defencemen, Tommy Anderson and Pat Egan, were now All-Star calibre. That didn't prevent them from finishing last, though. On December 9, 1941, the Chicago Blackhawks-Boston Bruins game would be delayed for over a half-hour as United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared that America was at war.[1]

Frank Patrick suffered a heart attack and had to sell his interest in the Montreal Canadiens, and the Habs almost had to move to Cleveland. But Tommy Gorman kept the team alive. They added Emile "Butch" Bouchard to start his great career on defence and another very good player, Buddy O'Connor, at centre. Montreal had goaltending problems as Bert Gardiner slumped, and rookie Paul Bibeault replaced him. He showed flashes of brilliance, but his inexperience showed. Joe Benoit starred with 20 goals, the first Canadien to do that since 1938–39, when Toe Blake did it.

The New York Rangers had a new goaltender as Sugar Jim Henry replaced the retired Dave Kerr. Henry was one of the reasons the Rangers finished first, something they would not again do for the next 50 years.

Final standings

National Hockey League
GP W L T Pts GF GA
New York Rangers 48 29 17 2 60 177 143
Toronto Maple Leafs 48 27 18 3 57 158 136
Boston Bruins 48 25 17 6 56 160 118
Chicago Black Hawks 48 22 23 3 47 145 155
Detroit Red Wings 48 19 25 4 42 140 147
Montreal Canadiens 48 18 27 3 39 134 173
Brooklyn Americans 48 16 29 3 35 133 175

[2]

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Playoffs

Note: all dates in 1942

Quarter-finals

Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Black Hawks

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
March 22 Boston 2 Chicago 1 OT
March 24 Chicago 4 Boston 0
March 26 Chicago 2 Boston 3

Boston wins best-of-three series 2–1

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
March 22 Montreal 1 Detroit 2
March 24 Detroit 0 Montreal 5
March 26 Montreal 2 Detroit 6

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2–1

Semi-finals

New York Rangers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
March 21 New York 1 Toronto 3
March 22 Toronto 4 New York 2
March 24 Toronto 0 New York 3
March 28 New York1 Toronto 2
March 29 Toronto 1 New York 3
March 31 New York 2 Toronto 3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4–2

Boston Bruins vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
March 29 Detroit 6 Boston 4
March 31 Boston 1 Detroit 3

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2–0

Final

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date Away Score Home Score Notes
April 4 Detroit 3 Toronto 2
April 7 Detroit 4 Toronto 2
April 9 Toronto 2 Detroit 5
April 12 Toronto 4 Detroit 3
April 14 Detroit 3 Toronto 9
April 16 Toronto 3 Detroit 0
April 18 Detroit 1 Toronto 3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4–3

Playoff bracket

  Quarter-finals Semi-finals Stanley Cup Final
                           
        
  1  New York Rangers 2  
    2  Toronto Maple Leafs 4  
      
          
    2  Toronto Maple Leafs 4
  5  Detroit Red Wings 3
  3  Boston Bruins 2  
4  Chicago Black Hawks 1  
3  Boston Bruins 0
    5  Detroit Red Wings 2  
5  Detroit Red Wings 2
  6  Montreal Canadiens 1  

Awards

Award winners
Calder Trophy:
(Best first-year player) 		Grant Warwick, New York Rangers
Hart Trophy:
(Most valuable player) 		Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans
Lady Byng Trophy:
(Excellence and sportsmanship) 		Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
O'Brien Cup:
(Playoff runner-up) 		Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(Regular season champion) 		New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:
(Fewest goals allowed) 		Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins
All-Star teams
First team   Position   Second team
Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins G Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs
Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks D Pat Egan, Brooklyn Americans
Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans D Bucko McDonald, Toronto Maple Leafs
Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs C Phil Watson, New York Rangers
Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers RW Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
Lynn Patrick, New York Rangers LW Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings
Frank Boucher, New York Rangers Coach Paul Thompson, Chicago Black Hawks

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

PLAYER TEAM GP G A PTS PIM
Bryan Hextall New York Rangers 48 24 32 56 30
Lynn Patrick New York Rangers 47 32 22 54 18
Don Grosso Detroit Red Wings 45 23 30 53 13
Phil Watson New York Rangers 48 15 37 52 58
Sid Abel Detroit Red Wings 48 18 31 49 45
Toe Blake Montreal Canadiens 48 17 28 45 29
Bill Thoms Chicago Black Hawks 47 15 30 45 8
Gordie Drillon Toronto Maple Leafs 48 23 18 41 6
Syl Apps Toronto Maple Leafs 38 18 23 41 0
Tommy Anderson Brooklyn Americans 48 12 29 41 64

Source: NHL[3]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins – Minutes Played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Player Team GP Min GA GAA W L T SO
Frank Brimsek Boston Bruins 47 2930 115 2.35 24 17 6 3
Turk Broda Toronto Maple Leafs 48 2960 136 2.76 27 18 3 6
Jim Henry New York Rangers 48 2960 143 2.90 29 17 2 1
Johnny Mowers Detroit Red Wings 47 2880 144 3.00 19 25 3 5
Sam LoPresti Chicago Black Hawks 47 2860 152 3.19 21 23 3 3
Paul Bibeault Montreal Canadiens 38 2380 131 3.30 17 19 2 1
Chuck Rayner Brooklyn Americans 36 2380 129 3.47 13 21 2 1
Earl Robertson Brooklyn Americans 12 750 46 3.68 3 8 1 0
Bert Gardiner Montreal Canadiens 10 620 42 4.06 1 8 1 0

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1941–42 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1941–42 (listed with their last team):

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.71, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9
  2. ↑ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al., eds. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  3. ↑ Dinger 2011, p. 148.

External links

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