1947–48 Toronto Maple Leafs season



The 1947–48 Toronto Maple Leafs season was Toronto's 31st season in the NHL. The Maple Leafs finished 1st in the league and won the 1948 Stanley Cup Finals over the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 0.

Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Boston Bruins 1
Having last met in the 1941 Stanley Cup Semi-finals where the Bruins defeated the Leafs 4 games to 3 on their way to their third Stanley Cup, the Leafs defeated the Bruins in a tight five game series where three games were decided by one goal, including an overtime game. Six goals by Ted Kennedy led the Leafs.

Game 1 at Maple Leaf Gardens was a cleanly played game in which the teams constantly traded goals. The Bruins Murray Henderson scored early in the first period but the Leafs Bill Ezinicki tied it up. In the second, Ed Harrison put the Bruins up 2-1 but Max Bentley evened the score. In the third period, Jimmy Peters blocked a Gus Mortson point shot, passed to Milt Schmidt who fed Pat Egan for a one-timer that made it 3-2 Bruins. Syl Apps evened the score and at 8:38, Kenny Smith put the Bruins ahead. A point shot by Jimmy Thomson at 15:34 sent the game into overtime. Late in the first OT, Nick Metz potted the winner from the edge of the crease and the Leafs took a 1-0 series lead.

Game 2 in Toronto was decided by power plays and the Leafs Ted Kennedy. An early penalty to the Bruins Fern Flaman saw Kennedy score his first on a backhand from in front of the net on the PP. A slash by the Leafs Howie Meeker resulted in the Bruins Johnny Peirson scoring his first career playoff goal on the PP to tie it up. At 18:24, the Bruins Clare Martin took a tripping penalty and Kennedy scored his second on the PP. A minute into the second period, Meeker took another slashing penalty and Pete Babando tied it at 2-2 on the PP. Showing he didn't need a man advantage to score, Kennedy potted his third and then fourth goal of the game and the Leafs took a 4-2 lead into the third. Max Bentley put the Leafs up 5-2 before Milt Schmidt made it 5-3. The Leafs headed to Boston up 2-0 in the series.

Game 3 at the Boston Garden saw the Leafs dominate the Bruins throughout the game. By the end of the second period, the Bruins had only 5 shots on goal. Leafs goals by Meeker, Bill Barilko and Kennedy was responded to by Milt Schmidt on a rebound and the Leafs led 3-1. The third period got out of hand once Garth Boesch added another goal for the Leafs and a scrap broke out. A late goal by Nick Metz had the hometown crowd fuming and a fight occurred between Bruin fans and the Leafs Wally Stanowski. Stanowski's teammates came to his aid and the Leafs beat a hasty retreat to their dressing room with a 5-1 win and 3-0 stranglehold on the series.

Game 4 at Boston saw nearly 70 policemen posted to prevent a re-occurrence of Game 3's altercation with the fans. The game was cleanly played with the Bruins Ed Sandford scoring the only goal of the first period. Bill Ezinicki tied it up in the second before Johnny Peirson put the Bruins ahead again. At 13:24 of the third, Peirson scored again which would hold up as the winner when Apps scored with 4:52 left. The Leafs held a 3-1 series lead.

Game 5 in Toronto was a tight checking affair with the Bruins Jimmy Peters opening the scoring on the power play 5:20 into the game. Leafs third liners Vic Lynn and Murray Costello responded and the Leafs led 2-1 at the end of the first period. The Bruins Kenny Smith tied the game at 12:08 of the second. Both teams attempts to break the deadlock were stunted by Turk Broda and Frank Brimsek until Kennedy took a Meeker pass and picked the top corner over Brimsek's shoulder at 5:52 of the third. The Bruins couldn't counter and the Leafs took the series 4-1.

Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Detroit Red Wings 0
This was the debut series for Detroit's Gordie Howe, and the last for Toronto's Syl Apps who retired after the series.

Regular Season

 * Scoring
 * Goaltending

Playoffs

 * Scoring
 * Goaltending

1948 Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Champions
Turk Broda, Garth Boesch, Gus Mortson, Jimmy Thomson, Wally Stanowski, Bill Barilko, Harry Watson, Phil Samis, Ted Kennedy, Syl Apps (captain), Don Metz, Nick Metz, Bill Ezinicki, Vic Lynn, Howie Meeker, Max Bentley, Joe Klukay, Les Costello, Sid Smith, Conn Smythe (manager), Hap Day (coach), Tim Daly (trainer)

Awards and Records

 * Prince of Wales Trophy: Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Vezina Trophy: Turk Broda
 * Turk Broda, Goalie, NHL First Team All-Star

Trivia

 * Bruins who recorded a Hat trick this season include:
 * Ted Kennedy had four goals during the 5-3 win over the Boston Bruins, Game 2 of the Semi-finals, March 27, 1948.

Video
Over 14 minutes of clips (in reverse image) from the December 27, 1947 Bruins-Leafs game won 2-1 by Toronto. The first 2 minutes are in colour. Goals by Sid Smith, Vic Lynn and Pete Babando are shown.