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.
Contents
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
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 |
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 York | 1 | 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
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
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
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 |
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):
- Kenny Mosdell, Brooklyn Americans
- Harry Watson, Brooklyn Americans
- Bill Mosienko, Chicago Black Hawks
- Adam Brown, Detroit Red Wings
- Buddy O'Connor, Montreal Canadiens
- Emile "Butch" Bouchard, Montreal Canadiens
- Grant Warwick, New York Rangers
- Jim Henry, New York Rangers
- Bob Goldham, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Gaye Stewart*, Toronto Maple Leafs
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):
- Eddie Wiseman, Boston Bruins
- Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans
- Art Coulter, New York Rangers
See also
References
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Notes
- ↑ Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.71, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9
- ↑ Standings: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Dinger 2011, p. 148.