1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs
Stanley Cup champions
Division2nd
1941–42 record27–18–3
Home record18–6–0
Road record9–12–3
Goals for158
Goals against136
Team information
General managerConn Smythe
CoachHap Day
CaptainSyl Apps
ArenaMaple Leaf Gardens
Team leaders
GoalsGordie Drillon (23)
AssistsBilly Taylor (26)
PointsGordie Drillon and Syl Apps (41)
Penalty minutesRudolph Kampman (67)
WinsTurk Broda (27)
Goals against averageTurk Broda (2.76)

The 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the club's 25th season in the NHL. The Maple Leafs came off a very solid season in 1940–41, finishing with their second highest point total in club history, as they had a 28–14–6 record, earning 62 points, which was two fewer than the 1934–35 team accumulated; however, they lost to the Boston Bruins in the semi-finals, extending their Stanley Cup drought to nine seasons.

That drought was broken, however, when the Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals, coming back after losing the first three games to win the Stanley Cup in seven games. They were the first team to come back from an 0–3 deficit to win a playoff series 4–3, and although it has happened in several playoff series since then, this remains the only time it has happened in a championship round.

Off-season

Before Smythe left to take up training with his 30th Battery, he signed up three rookies to the Maple Leafs: Bob Goldham, Ernie Dickens and John McCreedy. Lorne Carr's contract was purchased from the New York Americans. The final addition to the team was Pete Langelle, who made the team after playing part-time in previous seasons.[1]

Regular season

Toronto got off to a quick start, winning 14 of their first 19 games, battling with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers for top spot in the NHL. A 4–7–3 slump in their next 14 games saw Toronto fall behind the Bruins and Rangers, however, the Leafs followed up their slump by posting a 7–1–0 record in their next 8 games, before dropping 5 of final 7 games to end the season. Toronto finished the year with a record of 27–18–3, recording 57 points, and finishing in second place in the NHL, three points behind the first place New York Rangers.

The Leafs offense was led by Syl Apps, who despite missing 10 games to injuries, finished tied for the club lead in points with 41. Gordie Drillon also finished with 41 points, and he scored a team best 23 goals, while Billy Taylor had a club high 26 assists. Sweeney Schriner managed to join Drillon in the 20 goal club, as he managed to get 20 goals and earned 36 points. Bucko McDonald led the Leafs blueline, recording 21 points, while Rudolph Kampman provided the team toughness, getting 67 penalty minutes.

In goal, Turk Broda got all the action, winning 27 games and posting a 2.76 GAA, along with earning 6 shutouts.

The Maple Leafs would open the playoffs against the best team in the league, the New York Rangers in a best of seven semi-final series. The Leafs opened the series with a victory at Maple Leaf Gardens with a solid 3–1 win, then managed to go up two games by defeating the Rangers 4–2 at Madison Square Garden. New York managed to take the third game, shutting out Toronto 3–0, however, the Leafs would go up 3–1 in the series, winning the fourth game 2–1 at home. New York staved off elimination in the fifth game, holding off Toronto for a 3–1 win, however, the Leafs ended the series in the sixth game, hanging on for a 3–2 victory, and a spot in the Stanley Cup finals.

Toronto's opponent in the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals was the Detroit Red Wings, who finished the year with a weak 19–25–4 record, ending up in fifth in the league. Detroit defeated the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins to earn a spot in the finals. The Wings surprised Toronto in the series opener, winning the game 3–2, then Detroit managed to take the second game by a 4–2 score to go home with a 2–0 series lead. The Red Wings stayed hot, winning the third game at the Detroit Olympia 5–2, pushing the Leafs to the brink of elimination. Toronto responded in the fourth game, narrowly defeating Detroit 4–3 to cut the Wings series lead to 3–1. The Leafs returned home for the fifth game, and dominated Detroit, winning the game 9–3 and now were down 3–2 in the series. Turk Broda stole the show in the sixth game, shutting out Detroit 3–0 to even the series up, and the Leafs completed their miracle comeback with a 3–1 victory in the seventh and deciding game in front of a record breaking crowd of over 16,000 fans to win the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in club history, and first time since the 1931–32 season. This comeback was never repeated in a Stanley Cup finals since.

Final standings

National Hockey League
GP W L T Pts GF GA
New York Rangers482917260177143
Toronto Maple Leafs482718357158136
Boston Bruins482517656160118
Chicago Black Hawks482223347145155
Detroit Red Wings481925442140147
Montreal Canadiens481827339134173
Brooklyn Americans481629335133175

[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.

Record vs. opponents

1941–42 NHL Records [3]
Team BOS BRK CHI DET MTL NYR TOR
Boston —4–43–3–24–2–26–1–14–44–3–1
Brooklyn 4–4—2–63–4–13–4–12–5–12–6
Chicago 3–3–26–2—3–54–3–12–64–4
Detroit 2–4–24–3–15–3—5–31–72–5–1
Montreal 1–6–14–3–13–4–13–5—4–43–5
New York 4–45–2–16–27–14–4—3–4–1
Toronto 3–4–16–24–45–2–15–34–3–1—

Schedule and results

#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecordPts
1November 1New York Rangers4–3Toronto Maple Leafs0–1–00
2November 8Boston Bruins0–2Toronto Maple Leafs1–1–02
3November 13Montreal Canadiens2–4Toronto Maple Leafs2–1–04
4November 15Detroit Red Wings1–2Toronto Maple Leafs3–1–06
5November 18Toronto Maple Leafs8–6New York Rangers4–1–08
6November 20Toronto Maple Leafs4–3Detroit Red Wings5–1–010
7November 22Chicago Black Hawks0–3Toronto Maple Leafs6–1–012
8November 23Toronto Maple Leafs2–3Chicago Black Hawks6–2–012
9November 29Brooklyn Americans2–8Toronto Maple Leafs7–2–014
10November 30Toronto Maple Leafs5–1Brooklyn Americans8–2–016
11December 2Toronto Maple Leafs1–3Boston Bruins8–3–016
12December 6Montreal Canadiens1–3Toronto Maple Leafs9–3–018
13December 11Toronto Maple Leafs1–2Montreal Canadiens9–4–018
14December 13New York Rangers1–2Toronto Maple Leafs10–4–020
15December 14Toronto Maple Leafs4–0Detroit Red Wings11–4–022
16December 20Chicago Black Hawks2–0Toronto Maple Leafs11–5–022
17December 21Toronto Maple Leafs3–0Chicago Black Hawks12–5–024
18December 25Boston Bruins0–2Toronto Maple Leafs13–5–026
19December 27Detroit Red Wings3–5Toronto Maple Leafs14–5–028
20December 28Toronto Maple Leafs1–2Brooklyn Americans14–6–028
21December 30Toronto Maple Leafs1–4Boston Bruins14–7–028
22January 1Toronto Maple Leafs3–3New York Rangers14–7–129
23January 3Brooklyn Americans2–4Toronto Maple Leafs15–7–131
24January 10Detroit Red Wings6–4Toronto Maple Leafs15–8–131
25January 15Toronto Maple Leafs3–2Montreal Canadiens16–8–133
26January 17Chicago Black Hawks4–2Toronto Maple Leafs16–9–133
27January 24Brooklyn Americans2–3Toronto Maple Leafs17–9–135
28January 25Toronto Maple Leafs4–6Chicago Black Hawks17–10–135
29January 27Toronto Maple Leafs0–0Boston Bruins17–10–236
30January 29Montreal Canadiens3–7Toronto Maple Leafs18–10–238
31January 31Boston Bruins3–2Toronto Maple Leafs18–11–238
32February 1Toronto Maple Leafs2–7New York Rangers18–12–238
33February 5Toronto Maple Leafs3–3Detroit Red Wings18–12–339
34February 7New York Rangers4–6Toronto Maple Leafs19–12–341
35February 8Toronto Maple Leafs4–3Brooklyn Americans20–12–343
36February 12Toronto Maple Leafs6–4Montreal Canadiens21–12–345
37February 14Detroit Red Wings2–4Toronto Maple Leafs22–12–347
38February 21Brooklyn Americans3–4Toronto Maple Leafs23–12–349
39February 22Toronto Maple Leafs0–3Detroit Red Wings23–13–349
40February 28Chicago Black Hawks2–8Toronto Maple Leafs24–13–351
41March 1Toronto Maple Leafs4–3Chicago Black Hawks25–13–353
42March 3Toronto Maple Leafs3–5Boston Bruins25–14–353
43March 5Montreal Canadiens5–2Toronto Maple Leafs25–15–353
44March 7New York Rangers2–4Toronto Maple Leafs26–15–355
45March 8Toronto Maple Leafs0–2New York Rangers26–16–355
46March 14Boston Bruins4–6Toronto Maple Leafs27–16–357
47March 15Toronto Maple Leafs3–6Brooklyn Americans27–17–357
48March 19Toronto Maple Leafs3–7Montreal Canadiens27–18–357

Playoffs

Toronto Maple Leafs 4, New York Rangers 2

#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1March 21New York Rangers1–3Toronto Maple Leafs1–0
2March 22Toronto Maple Leafs4–2New York Rangers2–0
3March 24Toronto Maple Leafs0–3New York Rangers2–1
4March 28New York Rangers1–2Toronto Maple Leafs3–1
5March 29Toronto Maple Leafs1–3New York Rangers3–2
6March 31New York Rangers2–3Toronto Maple Leafs4–2

Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Detroit Red Wings 3

#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1April 4Detroit Red Wings3–2Toronto Maple Leafs0–1
2April 7Detroit Red Wings4–2Toronto Maple Leafs0–2
3April 9Toronto Maple Leafs2–5Detroit Red Wings0–3
4April 12Toronto Maple Leafs4–3Detroit Red Wings1–3
5April 14Detroit Red Wings3–9Toronto Maple Leafs2–3
6April 16Toronto Maple Leafs3–0Detroit Red Wings3–3
7April 18Detroit Red Wings1–3Toronto Maple Leafs4–3

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Gordie DrillonRW482318416
Syl AppsC381823410
Billy TaylorC4812263820
Sweeney SchrinerLW4720163621
Lorne CarrRW471617334
Pete LangelleC481022329
Hank GoldupLW4412183013
Bob DavidsonLW376202639
John McCreedyRW471582314
Bucko McDonaldD482192124
Nick MetzLW301192020
Bob GoldhamD19471125
Bingo KampmanD38471167
Wally StanowskiD2417810
Don MetzRW252358
Ernie DickensD102246
Reg HamiltonD2204427
Jack ChurchD2703330
Turk BrodaG480000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Turk Broda296048271831362.766
Team:296048271831362.766

Playoffs

Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Syl AppsC1359142
Wally StanowskiD1328102
Billy TaylorC1328104
Sweeney SchrinerLW1363910
Nick MetzLW1344812
John McCreedyRW134376
Don MetzRW44370
Pete LangelleC133362
Lorne CarrRW133256
Gordie DrillonRW92352
Bob GoldhamD1322431
Bob DavidsonLW1312320
Bingo KampmanD1302212
Bucko McDonaldD90112
Turk BrodaG130000
Ernie DickensD130004
Hank GoldupLW90002
Gaye StewartLW10000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO
Turk Broda7801385312.381
Team:7801385312.381

[4]

Note:
Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

The 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs were inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.[5]

Transactions

See also

References

  1. ↑ Smythe, p. 144
  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. ↑ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  4. ↑ "1941-42 Toronto Maple Leafs Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
  5. ↑ "1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs". oshof.ca. Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  • Smythe, Conn; Young, Scott (1981). Conn Smythe: If you can't beat 'em in the alley. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-9078-1.
  • National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007
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