1941-42 NHL season

The 1941-42 NHL season was the 25th season of the National Hockey League. Seven teams played 48 games each. This season was the last season for the storied franchise of the Quebec Bulldogs/Hamilton Tigers/New York Americans/Brooklyn Americans whose roots began in 1888 in the Amateur Hockey Association (AHA). The Bulldogs won two Stanley Cups while playing in the National Hockey Association (NHA) in 1912 and 1913. This season also marks the last season of the pre-modern NHL. The next season, 1942-43, is the first season of the Original six and the start of the modern era of NHL hockey.

Regular season

The New York Americans changed their name to the Brooklyn Americans in an attempt to build a civic relationship with those from Flatbush, but they finished last again. Harvey "Busher" Jackson became one of the longest holdouts on record when he 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 caliber. That didn't prevent them from finishing last, though.

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.

Final standings

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
New York Rangers	48	29	17	2	60	177	143	400
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	27	18	3	57	158	136	341
Boston Bruins	48	25	17	6	56	160	118	349
Chicago Black Hawks	48	22	23	3	47	145	155	365
Detroit Red Wings	48	19	25	4	42	140	147	440
Montreal Canadiens	48	18	27	3	39	134	173	504
Brooklyn Americans	48	16	29	3	35	133	175	425

Scoring leaders

Stanley Cup playoffs

Note: all dates in 1942

Playoff bracket

Quarter-finals

Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Black Hawks

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

Boston wins best-of-three series 2-1

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 22	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	2
March 24	Detroit Red Wings	0	Montreal Canadiens	5
March 26	Montreal Canadiens	2	Detroit Red Wings	6

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2-1

Semi-finals

New York Rangers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 21	New York Rangers	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	3
March 22	Toronto Maple Leafs	4	New York Rangers	2
March 24	Toronto Maple Leafs	0	New York Rangers	3
March 28	New York Rangers	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
March 29	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	New York Rangers	3
March 31	New York Rangers	2	Toronto Maple Leafs	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4-2

Boston Bruins vs. Detroit Red Wings

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

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2-0

Stanley Cup finals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings

The Leafs' comeback from a 3-0 series deficit to win the Stanley Cup was the first time such a rally had been achieved in North American professional sports, and has only been equalled twice since, by the New York Islanders in the 1975 NHL quarter-finals and by Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
April 4	Detroit Red Wings	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
April 7	Detroit Red Wings	4	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
April 9	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	Detroit Red Wings	5
April 12	Toronto Maple Leafs	4	Detroit Red Wings	3
April 14	Detroit Red Wings	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	9
April 16	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Detroit Red Wings	0
April 18	Detroit Red Wings	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4-3

NHL awards

O'Brien Trophy:	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:	New York Rangers
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Grant Warwick, New York Rangers
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
Vezina Trophy:	Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins

References

NHL 1941/42 | Saison LNH 1941-42

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