1928-29 NHL season

The 1928-29 NHL season was the twelfth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. This was the first Stanley Cup playoffs ever that saw two United States based teams compete for the cup. The Boston Bruins won over the New York Rangers 2 games to 0 in a best-of-three final.

Notable Rule Changes
Forward passing was permitted from the neutral zone across the blue line into the attacking zone, as long as no offensive player preceded the puck into the attacking zone; forward passing within the attacking zone was still forbidden. Regular season overtime was changed to a 10-minute, non-sudden-death format, to be played in its entirety.

Playoff Format
The playoff format was revised to match first-place teams in a best-of-five series for the NHL championship, second-place teams and third-place teams in a two-game total-goals series to determine the participants for a best-of-three semi-final and the semi-final winner against the NHL Champion in a best-of-three series for the Cup.

Regular Season
The Boston Bruins moved into a new home, the Boston Garden. In their debut game at the Garden on November 20, 1928, the Bruins lost 1–0 to the Montreal Canadiens.

Ottawa continued in financial trouble and sold Punch Broadbent to the New York Americans. They continued to erode, and at one point, rumour had it that they would be sold to a Chicago group. Frank Ahearn, the Senators owner, denied this, but admitted that the team was for sale to the highest bidder.

Lester Patrick and the New York Rangers offered Winthrop native Myles Lane to the Boston Bruins, astonishingly asking for superstar Eddie Shore in return. Bruins' general manager Art Ross replied famously, "You are so many Myles from Shore you need a life preserver." Nonetheless, the Bruins purchased Lane's rights for $7,500.

The New York Americans, last place finishers in 1927-28, surprised everyone by occupying first place for much of the season in the Canadian Division. They were held up by the great play of defenceman Lionel Conacher and goaltender Roy Worters. However, the Montreal Canadiens dislodged the Americans and finished first. George Hainsworth, Canadiens goaltender, set an unprecedented record of 22 shutouts and a .98 goals against average. Boston, led by rookie Tiny Thompson in goal, led the American Division.

Bruins player George Owen was the first NHL player to regularly wear head gear for protective purposes. Prior to this, the only time protective head gear was worn was to temporarly protect injuries. Fifty-one years later the NHL would mandate the use of helmets. Craig MacTavish was the last NHL player to not wear a helmet in 1997.

Scoring Leaders
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Leading Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Stanley Cup Playoffs
The playoffs were now between division finishers of each division, rather than a division champion from each division.The Boston Bruins knocked off the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers beat the New York Americans and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Cougars. The Rangers beat Toronto and then the Bruins won their first Stanley Cup defeating the Rangers. In the process, Boston became one of the few Cup winners in history to not lose a single game in the playoffs, and the last team until 1952 to win every playoff game.

Playoff Bracket
In the playoffs, Boston had a first round bye, due to finishing on top of the American Division.

Boston Bruins 3, Montreal Canadiens 0
The Bruins faced the Montreal Canadiens for the first time in the playoffs. As the winners of the Canadian Division, Montreal had also received a bye to the semi-finals in a best-of-five series.

Game 1 began at the Boston Garden where brilliant goaltending by Tiny Thompson led Boston to a 1-0 win on an early first period goal by Cooney Weiland.

Game 2 was a repeat of Game 1, an early goal by Weiland and Thompson shutting out the Habs for a 1-0 victory. However, this game was a much rougher affair with 30 minutes in penalties called.

Game 3 saw the series shift to the Montreal Forum and out do Game 2's roughness with 48 minutes in penalties called. The Habs shot out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Albert Leduc and Aurel Joliat 8 seconds apart. But the Bruins roared back in the second period with 3 straight goals by Bill Carson, Dutch Gainor and Eddie Shore to win 3-2 and sweep the series 3-0.

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1928-29 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
 * Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins
 * Cooney Weiland, Boston Bruins
 * George Owen, Boston Bruins
 * Johnny Gottselig, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Mush March, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Herbie Lewis, Detroit Cougars
 * Georges Mantha, Montreal Canadiens
 * Armand Mondou, Montreal Canadiens
 * Baldy Northcott, Montreal Maroons
 * Dave Trottier, Montreal Maroons
 * Earl Robinson, Montreal Maroons
 * Red Horner, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Andy Blair, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1928-29 (listed with their last team):
 * Cy Denneny, Boston Bruins
 * Duke Keats, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Dick Irvin, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Red Green, Detroit Cougars
 * Herb Gardiner, Montreal Canadiens
 * Punch Broadbent, New York Americans