Toronto Maple Leafs win Stanley Cup
The 1942 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings.
After losing the first three games, the Maple Leafs won the next four to win the series 4–3, winning their fourth Stanley Cup. It was the first Cup Final in history to go seven.
This was the series of the remarkable comeback. Toronto came back from a 3–0 deficit to win the best-of-seven series and the Stanley Cup. It's a record that has never been repeated in stanley cup finals history. Game seven in Toronto was the first time a crowd of over 16,000 attended a hockey game in Canada.
The NHL was comprised of seven teams in 1941-42 for the final time until expansion swelled the number to 12 in 1967-68. The woeful Brooklyn Americans, renamed from the New York Americans, finished last and as a result, were ineligible for playoff competition. In the semi-finals, the first place New York Rangers faced the second place Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto won the best of seven series four games to two, earning a bye into the finals. Meantime, third place Boston faced fourth place Chicago, with Boston winning the best of three two games to one. And fifth place Detroit beat sixth place Montreal two games to one in the best of three series. Boston then met Detroit in a match-up to earn a pass to the final, but the Red Wings won the best of three in two games. That set the stage for the Stanley Cup final -- Toronto against Detroit. The Red Wings won the first three games -- 3-2, 4-2 and 5-2. But Toronto coach Hap Day benched regulars Gordie Drillon and Bucko McDonald, inserting Don Metz and Hank Goldup in their place. The replacements didn't impact on the team directly, but the Leafs as a team reversed their fortunes. They won the next three games by scores of 4-3, 9-3, and 3-0 to even the series. Game seven completed the most remarkable comeback in NHL history. The Maple Leafs won 3-1 to win game seven, and as a result, the Stanley Cup!
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. No other team has repeated such a feat since.
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.
