1938–39 Boston Bruins season

The 1938–39 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 15th season in the NHL, and they were coming off of a very successful regular season in 1937–38, winning the American Division with a record of 30–11–7, however, they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup semi-finals. This season, the Bruins would meet the Maple Leafs in a rematch, and win the series 4–1 to win the Stanley Cup for the second time, and the first time in 10 years.

1938–39 Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup champions
Division1st NHL
1938–39 record36–10–2
Home record20–2–2
Road record16–8–0
Goals for156 (1st)
Goals against76 (1st)
Team information
General managerArt Ross
CoachArt Ross
CaptainCooney Weiland
ArenaBoston Garden
Team leaders
GoalsRoy Conacher (26)
AssistsBill Cowley (34)
PointsBill Cowley (42)
Penalty minutesJack Portland (46)
WinsFrank Brimsek (33)
Goals against averageFrank Brimsek (1.56)

Regular season

In the off-season, the NHL would lose a franchise, as the Montreal Maroons would fold, leaving the league with seven teams, and eliminating the American and Canadian Division format the league had been using since 1926. The Bruins would make a key acquisition, acquiring Roy Conacher from the Kirkland Lake Hargreaves of the NOHA.

Boston would see goaltender Tiny Thompson get injured during an early season game, forcing the club to sign Frank Brimsek, who played for the Providence Reds of the IAHL. Brimsek stepped in and played great hockey, and when Thompson came back from his injury, the Bruins decided to deal him to the Detroit Red Wings for Norm Smith. Brimsek would help lead the Bruins to 1st place in the NHL standings, as they finished the season with a record of 36–10–2, earning 74 points, their highest point total since the 1929–30 season.

Bill Cowley would lead the team with 42 points, despite missing 14 games due to injuries. His 34 assists were a league high. Rookie Roy Conacher scored an NHL high 26 goals, and added 11 assists to finish with 37 points. Milt Schmidt continued to show improvement, scoring a career high 32 points. Flash Hollett led the Bruins defense with 27 points, as he scored 10 goals and added 17 assists, while Dit Clapper scored 13 goals and 26 points from the blueline.

In goal, rookie Frank Brimsek led the NHL with 33 wins and a 1.56 GAA, earning both the Vezina Trophy and the Calder Memorial Trophy. He also recorded 10 shutouts, which was among the league leaders.

Final standings
National Hockey League
GP W L T GF GA Pts
Boston Bruins48361021567674
New York Rangers482616614910558
Toronto Maple Leafs481920911410747
New York Americans4817211011915744
Detroit Red Wings481824610712842
Montreal Canadiens481524911514639
Chicago Black Hawks48122889113232

[1]

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
1938-39 NHL Records
Team BOS CHI DET MON NYA NYR TOR
Boston —8–07–16–25–2–15–35–2–1
Chicago 0–8—1–5–24–42–4–23–4–12–3–3
Detroit 1–75–1–2—4–3–13–3–22–63–4–1
Montreal 2–64–43–4–1—3–2–31–4–32–4–2
N.Y. Americans 2–5–14–2–23–3–22–3–3—2–5–14–3–1
N.Y. Rangers 3–54–3–16–24–1–35–2–1—4–3–1
Toronto 2–5–13–2–24–3–14–2–23–4–13–4–1—

Schedule and results
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecordPts
1November 3Boston Bruins3–2Toronto Maple Leafs1–0–02
2November 6Boston Bruins4–1Detroit Red Wings2–0–04
3November 13Boston Bruins1–2New York Americans2–1–04
4November 15Toronto Maple Leafs1–1Boston Bruins2–1–15
5November 20Detroit Red Wings1–4Boston Bruins3–1–17
6November 22New York Rangers2–4Boston Bruins4–1–19
7November 27New York Americans2–8Boston Bruins5–1–111
8December 1Boston Bruins0–2Montreal Canadiens5–2–111
9December 4Boston Bruins5–0Chicago Black Hawks6–2–113
10December 6Chicago Black Hawks0–2Boston Bruins7–2–115
11December 11Boston Bruins3–0New York Rangers8–2–117
12December 13Montreal Canadiens2–3Boston Bruins9–2–119
13December 15Boston Bruins1–0Montreal Canadiens10–2–121
14December 18Boston Bruins2–0Detroit Red Wings11–2–123
15December 20New York Americans0–3Boston Bruins12–2–125
16December 25New York Rangers1–0Boston Bruins12–3–125
17December 27Toronto Maple Leafs2–8Boston Bruins13–3–127
18December 29Boston Bruins2–4New York Americans13–4–127
19December 31Boston Bruins1–2New York Rangers13–5–127
20January 1Detroit Red Wings1–4Boston Bruins14–5–129
21January 3New York Americans1–2Boston Bruins15–5–131
22January 5Boston Bruins2–1Chicago Black Hawks16–5–133
23January 7Boston Bruins0–2Toronto Maple Leafs16–6–133
24January 10Chicago Black Hawks1–3Boston Bruins17–6–135
25January 17Toronto Maple Leafs1–2Boston Bruins18–6–137
26January 19Boston Bruins0–1Montreal Canadiens18–7–137
27January 22Boston Bruins5–0Detroit Red Wings19–7–139
28January 24Montreal Canadiens4–6Boston Bruins20–7–141
29January 29Boston Bruins3–2New York Americans21–7–143
30January 31New York Americans2–2Boston Bruins21–7–244
31February 2Boston Bruins2–1Toronto Maple Leafs22–7–246
32February 5Boston Bruins3–0Chicago Black Hawks23–7–248
33February 7Toronto Maple Leafs0–2Boston Bruins24–7–250
34February 9Boston Bruins4–2New York Rangers25–7–252
35February 12New York Rangers3–2Boston Bruins25–8–252
36February 14Detroit Red Wings1–2Boston Bruins26–8–254
37February 16Boston Bruins5–1Montreal Canadiens27–8–256
38February 19Boston Bruins1–4Detroit Red Wings27–9–256
39February 21Chicago Black Hawks2–8Boston Bruins28–9–258
40February 25Boston Bruins0–1Toronto Maple Leafs28–10–258
41February 26Boston Bruins5–1Chicago Black Hawks29–10–260
42February 28Montreal Canadiens2–6Boston Bruins30–10–262
43March 5New York Rangers3–5Boston Bruins31–10–264
44March 7Detroit Red Wings0–3Boston Bruins32–10–266
45March 9Boston Bruins9–6New York Americans33–10–268
46March 12Boston Bruins4–2New York Rangers34–10–270
47March 14Chicago Black Hawks2–4Boston Bruins35–10–272
48March 19Montreal Canadiens5–7Boston Bruins36–10–274

Playoffs

In the playoffs, Boston would have a 1st round bye, advancing straight to the NHL semi-finals, where they would face the 2nd place New York Rangers in a best of 7 series. New York had 58 points during the regular season, which was 16 less than the Bruins. The series opened at Madison Square Garden in New York, and the Bruins would win a thrilling, triple overtime game by a score of 2–1. Game 2 moved to the Boston Garden, and Boston took a 2–0 series lead with a 3–2 overtime victory. The Bruins took a commanding 3–0 lead in the series with a 4–1 win, looking to close out the series in the 4th game, as the series shifted back to New York. The Rangers would hold off elimination, defeating Boston 2–1, and then in game 5 in Boston, the game would be decided in overtime, with New York once again winning by a 2–1 score to cut the series lead to 3–2. Game 6 was played back in New York, and the Rangers easily defeated the Bruins 3–1, to tie the series up at 3 games, forcing a 7th game to be played in Boston. The game would be tied 1–1 after regulation time, and would not be settled until the 3rd overtime period, when Boston finally snapped the tie, winning the game 2–1, and taking the series 4–3, to advance to the Stanley Cup finals.

The Bruins opponent was the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finished the season with a 19–20–9 record, earning 47 points, which was 27 points fewer than Boston. The Leafs defeated the New York Americans and Detroit Red Wings to earn a spot in the best of seven finals. The series would begin with 2 games in Boston, and each team won a game, as the series moved to Maple Leaf Gardens for games three and four. Boston would take control in Toronto, winning game three by a 3–1 score, then shutting out the Leafs 2–0 in game four, to take a 3–1 series lead. Boston then returned home for game five, and defeated Toronto 3–1, to win their first Stanley Cup in 10 years, and second in team history.

Boston Bruins 4, New York Rangers 3
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1March 21Boston Bruins2–1New York Rangers1–0
2March 23New York Rangers2–3Boston Bruins2–0
3March 26New York Rangers1–4Boston Bruins3–0
4March 28Boston Bruins1–2New York Rangers3–1
5March 30New York Rangers2–1Boston Bruins3–2
6April 1Boston Bruins1–3New York Rangers3–3
7April 2New York Rangers1–2Boston Bruins4–3

Boston Bruins 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 1
Further information: 1939 Stanley Cup Finals
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1April 6Toronto Maple Leafs1–2Boston Bruins1–0
2April 9Toronto Maple Leafs3–2Boston Bruins1–1
3April 11Boston Bruins3–1Toronto Maple Leafs2–1
4April 13Boston Bruins2–0Toronto Maple Leafs3–1
5April 16Toronto Maple Leafs1–3Boston Bruins4–1

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Bill CowleyC34834422
Roy ConacherLW4726113712
Milt SchmidtC/D4115173213
Bobby BauerRW481318314
Woody DumartLW461415292
Flash HollettD4410172735
Dit ClapperRW/D4213132622
Gord PettingerC481114258
Ray GetliffeC/LW4310122211
Mel HillRW4610102016
Eddie ShoreD444141847
Cooney WeilandC4579169
Charlie SandsC/RW37751210
Jack CrawfordD48481212
Jack PortlandD4845946
Red HamillLW60110
Frank BrimsekG430000
Harry FrostRW40000
Pat McReavyC60000
Terry ReardonC/RW40000
Jack ShewchukD30002
Tiny ThompsonG50000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Frank Brimsek2610433391681.5610
Tiny Thompson310531181.550
Team:29204836102761.5610

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
Bill CowleyC12311142
Roy ConacherLW12641012
Mel HillRW1263912
Milt SchmidtC/D123362
Bobby BauerRW123250
Woody DumartLW121346
Flash HollettD121342
Eddie ShoreD1204419
Jack CrawfordD121129
Ray GetliffeC/LW111122
Gord PettingerC121127
Dit ClapperRW/D120116
Frank BrimsekG120000
Harry FrostRW10000
Red HamillLW120008
Jack PortlandD1200011
Charlie SandsC/RW10000
Cooney WeilandC120000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO
Frank Brimsek8631284181.251
Team:8631284181.251

[2]

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;

See also

References
  1. Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  2. "1938-39 Boston Bruins Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  • National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007
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