1938–39 Detroit Red Wings season

1938–39 Detroit Red Wings
Division	5th NHL
1938–39 record	18–24–6
Goals for	107
Goals against	128
Team information
General manager	Jack Adams
Coach	Jack Adams
Captain	Ebbie Goodfellow
Arena	Olympia Stadium
Team leaders
Goals	Syd Howe (16)
Assists	Marty Barry (28)
Points	Marty Barry (41)
Penalty minutes	Charlie Conacher (39)
Wins	Tiny Thompson (16)
Goals against average	Tiny Thompson (2.53)

The 1938–39 Detroit Red Wings season was the Red Wings' 13th season. The Red Wings finished 5th in the league and lost in the Semi-finals to the Toronto Maple Leafs 2 games to 1.

Regular Season

Bill Cowley opens the scoring, November 6, 1938.

Bill Cowley's torrid pace continued on November 6, 1938 against the Red Wings. His backhand opened the scoring in the first period, then he set up Charlie Sands for a goal in the second. Mud Bruneteau narrowed it to 2-1 and then during a Detroit power play, Frank Brimsek threw the puck into the crowd. A penalty shot was awarded but Brimsek stopped Charlie Conacher, Roy's brother. A few minutes later, Ray Getliffe poked in a rebound off a Cowley shot. In the third, Woody Dumart snapped a shot between Normie Smith's legs as the Bruins won 4-1 for Brimsek's second win.

Bobby Bauer scores the winner from Eddie Shore, November 20, 1938.

Having finished a contract hold-out, Eddie Shore wasted no time making his presence felt in his first game back on November 20 against Detroit. The Red Wings had an emergency goaltender, Harvey Teno, playing his second NHL game and in the third period, he'd held the fort with Detroit leading 1-0. After Cooney Weiland tied it up, Shore made one of his patented rushes and set up Bobby Bauer for the winner. Milt Schmidt and Woody Dumart piled on as the "B's" won 4-1.

Frank Brimsek had his 5th shutout in 6 games, December 18, 1938.

During the December 8, 1938 game against the New York Americans, Eddie Wares ruptured a kidney crashing into the boards and missed 20 games. On December 18, 1938, the Bruins played Detroit in the first head-to-head match between Tiny Thompson and Frank Brimsek since Tiny's trade. The Red Wings were tied for last in the league and had a weaker defense than the "B's." Thompson stood on his head for more than 50 minutes as both teams were held scoreless. Ironically, his best friend Dit Clapper broke the ice at 11:16 of the third period. Milt Schmidt added an empty net goal in the last minute as Boston won 2-0.

Doug Young scores, January 1, 1939.

The New Year began with Tiny Thompson's return to Boston, a sellout, for the January 1, 1939 match. The ever popular Thompson was given a standing ovation on his return to the Bruins ice and put on a great show. The Bruins widely outplayed the Red Wings and led 1-0 going into the second period. Frank Brimsek had only one shot to handle in the second frame while Thompson stopped several excellent Boston scoring chances. Doug Young tied the game up at 11:04 of the third but the dam burst as goals by Mel Hill, Flash Hollett (playing center for Cowley) and Charlie Sands saw the Bruins win 4-1.

Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart battle Detroit, January 22, 1939.

Boston moved on to Detroit on January 22, 1939 for their third meeting against Tiny Thompson and the teams were held scoreless after two periods. Boston scored two quick goals in the last frame by Milt Schmidt and Charlie Sands, then played defense for ten minutes which the Red Wings couldn't penetrate. Sands then converted a Bill Cowley pass on a two man breakaway before Roy Conacher was tripped by his brother Charlie. Woody Dumart scored on the ensuing penalty shot, the first Bruins success following the modern format. Roy scored a last minute goal for a 5-0 win for Brimsek's 7th shutout.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Boston Bruins	48	36	10	2	156	76	74
New York Rangers	48	26	16	6	149	105	58
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	19	20	9	114	107	47
New York Americans	48	17	21	10	119	157	44
Detroit Red Wings	48	18	24	6	107	128	42
Montreal Canadiens	48	15	24	9	115	146	39
Chicago Black Hawks	48	12	28	8	91	132	32

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.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	November 6, 1938	1–4	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	0–1–0
2	L	November 10, 1938	1–2	New York Americans (1938–39)	0–2–0
3	L	November 13, 1938	3–4	New York Rangers (1938–39)	0–3–0
4	L	November 15, 1938	0–2	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	0–4–0
5	W	November 17, 1938	7–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	1–4–0
6	L	November 20, 1938	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	1–5–0
7	W	November 24, 1938	4–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	2–5–0
8	L	November 26, 1938	0–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	2–6–0
9	L	November 27, 1938	2–3	Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	2–7–0
10	W	December 1, 1938	4–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	3–7–0
11	W	December 4, 1938	1–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	4–7–0
12	T	December 8, 1938	1–1 OT	New York Americans (1938–39)	4–7–1
13	L	December 11, 1938	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	4–8–1
14	L	December 13, 1938	1–5	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	4–9–1
15	L	December 18, 1938	0–2	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	4–10–1
16	L	December 20, 1938	2–6	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	4–11–1
17	T	December 22, 1938	3–3 OT	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	4–11–2
18	L	December 24, 1938	0–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	4–12–2
19	W	December 25, 1938	4–1	Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	5–12–2
20	W	December 29, 1938	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	6–12–2
21	L	January 1, 1939	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	6–13–2
22	L	January 2, 1939	0–3	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	6–14–2
23	T	January 5, 1939	6–6 OT	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	6–14–3
24	T	January 8, 1939	1–1 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	6–14–4
25	W	January 10, 1939	3–0	Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	7–14–4
26	W	January 15, 1939	1–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	8–14–4
27	W	January 19, 1939	4–3	New York Rangers (1938–39)	9–14–4
28	L	January 22, 1939	0–5	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	9–15–4
29	W	January 26, 1939	1–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	10–15–4
30	L	January 28, 1939	0–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	10–16–4
31	T	January 29, 1939	2–2 OT	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	10–16–5
32	W	February 5, 1939	7–3	New York Americans (1938–39)	11–16–5
33	L	February 9, 1939	2–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	11–17–5
34	L	February 12, 1939	0–1	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	11–18–5
35	L	February 14, 1939	1–2	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	11–19–5
36	T	February 16, 1939	1–1 OT	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	11–19–6
37	W	February 19, 1939	4–1	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	12–19–6
38	L	February 21, 1939	3–7	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	12–20–6
39	L	February 23, 1939	2–4	New York Rangers (1938–39)	12–21–6
40	W	February 26, 1939	5–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	13–21–6
41	W	March 2, 1939	7–3	New York Americans (1938–39)	14–21–6
42	W	March 5, 1939	4–2	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	15–21–6
43	L	March 7, 1939	0–3	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	15–22–6
44	L	March 9, 1939	2–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	15–23–6
45	L	March 11, 1939	1–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	15–24–6
46	W	March 12, 1939	2–1	Montreal Canadiens (1938–39)	16–24–6
47	W	March 14, 1939	3–2	New York Rangers (1938–39)	17–24–6
48	W	March 19, 1939	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	18–24–6

Playoffs

Toronto Maple Leafs 2, Detroit Red Wings 1

Gordie Drillon scored the series winning goal in overtime in Game 3.

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Barry, MartyMarty Barry	C	48	13	28	41	4
Howe, SydSyd Howe	C/LW	48	16	20	36	11
Liscombe, CarlCarl Liscombe	LW	41	8	18	26	13
Conacher, CharlieCharlie Conacher	RW	40	8	15	23	39
Giesebrecht, GusGus Giesebrecht	C	28	10	10	20	2
Kilrea, HecHec Kilrea	LW	48	8	9	17	8
Goodfellow, EbbieEbbie Goodfellow	C/D	48	8	8	16	36
Wares, EddieEddie Wares	D/RW	28	8	8	16	10
Lewis, HerbieHerbie Lewis	LW	42	6	10	16	8
Motter, AlexAlex Motter	C	44	5	11	16	17
Kelly, PetePete Kelly	RW	32	4	9	13	4
Bruneteau, MudMud Bruneteau	RW	20	3	7	10	0
Young, DougDoug Young	D	42	1	5	6	16
Bowman, RalphRalph Bowman	D	43	2	3	5	26
Deacon, DonDon Deacon	LW	8	1	3	4	2
Abel, SidSid Abel	C/LW	15	1	1	2	0
Grosso, DonDon Grosso	LW/C	1	1	1	2	0
Trottier, DaveDave Trottier	LW	11	1	1	2	16
Aurie, LarryLarry Aurie	RW	1	1	0	1	0
Brown, ConnieConnie Brown	C	2	1	0	1	0
Keating, JackJack Keating	LW	1	1	0	1	2
Besler, PhilPhil Besler	RW	5	0	1	1	2
Jones, BuckBuck Jones	D	11	0	1	1	6
Mason, CharleyCharley Mason	RW	6	0	1	1	0
Stewart, JackJack Stewart	D	32	0	1	1	18
Kilrea, KenKen Kilrea	LW	1	0	0	0	0
Sherf, JohnJohn Sherf	LW	3	0	0	0	0
Thomson, BillBill Thomson	C/RW	4	0	0	0	0
Bush, EddieEddie Bush	D	8	0	0	0	0
McDonald, BuckoBucko McDonald	D	14	0	0	0	2
Smith, NormieNormie Smith	G	4	0	0	0	0
Teno, HarveyHarvey Teno	G	5	0	0	0	0
Thompson, TinyTiny Thompson	G	39	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Thompson, TinyTiny Thompson	2397	39	16	17	6	101	2.53	4
Teno, HarveyHarvey Teno	300	5	2	3	0	15	3.00	0
Conacher, CharlieCharlie Conacher	3	1	0	0	0	0	0.00	0
Smith, NormieNormie Smith	240	4	0	4	0	12	3.00	0
Team:	2940	48	18	24	6	128	2.61	4

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Conacher, CharlieCharlie Conacher	RW	5	2	5	7	2
Barry, MartyMarty Barry	C	6	3	1	4	0
Howe, SydSyd Howe	C/LW	6	3	1	4	4
Deacon, DonDon Deacon	LW	2	2	1	3	0
Grosso, DonDon Grosso	LW/C	3	1	2	3	7
Kilrea, HecHec Kilrea	LW	6	1	2	3	0
Lewis, HerbieHerbie Lewis	LW	6	1	2	3	0
Abel, SidSid Abel	C/LW	6	1	1	2	2
Kilrea, KenKen Kilrea	LW	3	1	1	2	4
Giesebrecht, GusGus Giesebrecht	C	6	0	2	2	0
Young, DougDoug Young	D	6	0	2	2	4
Wares, EddieEddie Wares	D/RW	6	1	0	1	8
Jones, BuckBuck Jones	D	6	0	1	1	10
Motter, AlexAlex Motter	C	4	0	1	1	0
Sherf, JohnJohn Sherf	LW	3	0	0	0	0
Kelly, PetePete Kelly	RW	4	0	0	0	0
Bowman, RalphRalph Bowman	D	5	0	0	0	0
Bruneteau, MudMud Bruneteau	RW	6	0	0	0	0
Goodfellow, EbbieEbbie Goodfellow	C/D	6	0	0	0	8
Liscombe, CarlCarl Liscombe	LW	6	0	0	0	2
Thompson, TinyTiny Thompson	G	6	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Thompson, TinyTiny Thompson	374	6	3	3	15	2.41	1
Team:	374	6	3	3	15	2.41	1

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts

Awards and Records

• The Red Wings did not receive any awards this season.

Gallery

Tiny Thompson's return to Boston, January 1, 1939.

Action around Tiny Thompson, Game 1 of the 1939 Semi-finals, March 28, 1939.

See Also

• 1938–39 NHL season

References

Detroit Red Wings
Team	Franchise • Players • Coaches • GMs • Seasons • Draft Picks • Little Caesars Arena
Stanley Cups	1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008
Affiliates	Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL), Toledo Walleye (ECHL)