1938–39 Montreal Canadiens season

	1938–39 Montreal Canadiens
Division	6th NHL
1938–39 record	15-24-9
Goals for	115
Goals against	146
Team information
General manager	Cecil Hart; Jules Dugal
Coach	Cecil Hart; Jules Dugal
Captain	Babe Siebert
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Toe Blake (24)
Assists	Paul Haynes (33)
Points	Toe Blake (47)
Penalty minutes	Stewart Evans (58)
Wins	Wilf Cude (8)
Goals against average	Claude Bourque (2.65)
	← 1937–38 1939–40 →

The 1938–39 Montreal Canadiens season was the 30th season in club history. The Canadiens finished 6th in the league and lost in the first round to the Detroit Red Wings 2 games to 1.

Regular Season[]

1938-Dec15-Bruins-Habs — Bruins-Habs action in front of Frank Brimsek, December 5, 1938.

A tight-checking game in Montreal against the Boston Bruins on December 15, 1938 saw the "B's" without Bill Cowley and Jack Shewchuk, who'd been sent back to the minors. Scoreless until the third period, when Cooney Weiland deked out Walter Buswell and then flipped the puck over Claude Bourque, the Habs then turned it on. After firing a shot at Frank Brimsek, Babe Siebert bowled him over, clearing the net but Eddie Shore stopped the rebound. Canadiens coach Cecil Hart played four forwards for the last six minutes of the game. Rod Lorrain had the best scoring chance as he fired a shot from in close that Brimsek was screened on but managed to kick out. The Bruins held on for a 1-0 win, Brimsek's fourth shutout in five games and fifth consecutive victory.

The Habs came to the Hub on January 24 with Cooney Weiland still out and acting as coach. Canadiens GM/coach Cecil Hart professed that he had the formula to defeat the Bruins, by coming out hard for the first 10 minutes of the game.^[1] The Bruins took Hart's advice, dominated the game early and built a 3-1 lead going into the third period. However, Montreal tied it up and as momentum shifted to their favour, Roy Conacher took a penalty. Weiland sent Milt Schmidt and Flash Hollett out to kill it off. They did so and then some as Schmidt scored shorthanded, followed by Hollett 29 seconds later. The teams then traded goals as the Bruins won 6-4. Hart was fired following the game and replaced with Jules Dugal.^[2]

1939-Feb16-Lorrain goal — Rod Lorrain scores Montreal's only goal, February 16, 1939.

Before the Bruins headed to Montreal for a game on February 16, 1939, Jack Shewchuk was sent to the minors. After Bobby Bauer put Boston up early in the first, the game turned rough, resulting in a slew of injuries. Habs Jimmy Ward dislocated his shoulder and was lost for the season while Walter Buswell suffered a concussion and Babe Siebert a hip injury, knocking all three players out of the game. By 10:35 of the third period, Rod Lorrain cut the "B's" lead to 2-1, but then referee Norm Lamport gave two Habs misconducts. Down five men, several fans went so enraged they jumped onto the ice after Lamport and had to be stopped by the players of both teams. Roy Conacher, Jack Portland and Dit Clapper scored in the last five minutes, resulting in a 5-1 Bruins win. After the game, it was discovered that Eddie Shore had played with a broken toe.^[3]

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	2–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	0–1–0
2	L	November 10, 1938	0–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	0–2–0
3	L	November 12, 1938	1–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	0–3–0
4	L	November 13, 1938	3–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	0–4–0
5	L	November 17, 1938	1–7	Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	0–5–0
6	L	November 20, 1938	1–2	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	0–6–0
7	L	November 22, 1938	3–7	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	0–7–0
8	T	November 24, 1938	2–2 OT	New York Americans (1938–39)	0–7–1
9	W	November 27, 1938	3–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	1–7–1
10	W	December 1, 1938	2–0	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	2–7–1
11	W	December 3, 1938	3–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	3–7–1
12	L	December 8, 1938	5–6	New York Rangers (1938–39)	3–8–1
13	W	December 11, 1938	4–2	Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	4–8–1
14	L	December 13, 1938	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	4–9–1
15	L	December 15, 1938	0–1	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	4–10–1
16	L	December 18, 1938	2–5	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	4–11–1
17	L	December 22, 1938	2–5	New York Rangers (1938–39)	4–12–1
18	L	December 25, 1938	1–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	4–13–1
19	L	December 27, 1938	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	4–14–1
20	W	January 1, 1939	4–3 OT	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	5–14–1
21	T	January 3, 1939	2–2 OT	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	5–14–2
22	T	January 5, 1939	2–2 OT	New York Rangers (1938–39)	5–14–3
23	T	January 8, 1939	1–1 OT	Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	5–14–4
24	L	January 10, 1939	0–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	5–15–4
25	L	January 12, 1939	4–9	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	5–16–4
26	T	January 14, 1939	1–1 OT	New York Americans (1938–39)	5–16–5
27	T	January 15, 1939	1–1 OT	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	5–16–6
28	W	January 19, 1939	1–0	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	6–16–6
29	L	January 22, 1939	3–7	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	6–17–6
30	L	January 24, 1939	4–6	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	6–18–6
31	W	January 29, 1939	1–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	7–18–6
32	L	February 2, 1939	2–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	7–19–6
33	W	February 9, 1939	5–2	New York Americans (1938–39)	8–19–6
34	T	February 11, 1939	3–3 OT	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	8–19–7
35	L	February 12, 1939	3–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	8–20–7
36	L	February 16, 1939	1–5	Boston Bruins (1938–39)	8–21–7
37	W	February 18, 1939	7–2	New York Americans (1938–39)	9–21–7
38	W	February 19, 1939	5–4	@ New York Americans (1938–39)	10–21–7
39	T	February 25, 1939	1–1 OT	New York Rangers (1938–39)	10–21–8
40	W	February 26, 1939	3–0	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	11–21–8
41	L	February 28, 1939	2–6	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	11–22–8
42	W	March 2, 1939	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–39)	12–22–8
43	W	March 5, 1939	2–1 OT	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	13–22–8
44	T	March 7, 1939	2–2 OT	@ New York Rangers (1938–39)	13–22–9
45	W	March 9, 1939	3–2	Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	14–22–9
46	L	March 12, 1939	1–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1938–39)	14–23–9
47	W	March 16, 1939	5–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1938–39)	15–23–9
48	L	March 19, 1939	5–7 OT	@ Boston Bruins (1938–39)	15–24–9

^[4]

Playoffs[]

Detroit Red Wings 2, Montreal Canadiens 1[]

The NHL revised its playoff format and six of seven teams qualified for the playoffs. In the first round, the Canadiens met the Detroit Red Wings, who had finished in fifth place.

Date	Visitor	Home	Score	Record
March 21	Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	2 - 0	1 - 0
March 23	Montreal Canadiens	Detroit Red Wings	3 - 7	1 - 1
March 24	Montreal Canadiens	Detroit Red Wings	0 - 1	1 - 2

Player Stats[]

Regular Season[]

Scoring

#	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
6	Blake, ToeToe Blake	LW	48	24	23	47	10
10	Haynes, PaulPaul Haynes	C	47	5	33	38	27
14	Gagnon, JohnnyJohnny Gagnon	RW	45	12	22	34	23
9	Cain, HerbHerb Cain	LW	45	13	14	27	26
12	Trudel, LouLou Trudel	LW	31	8	13	21	2
5	Lorrain, RodRod Lorrain	RW	38	10	9	19	0
4	Drouin, PollyPolly Drouin	LW	28	7	11	18	2
1	Siebert, BabeBabe Siebert	LW/D	44	9	7	16	36
11	Summerhill, BillBill Summerhill	RW	43	6	10	16	28
12	Mantha, GeorgesGeorges Mantha	D/LW	25	5	5	10	6
3	Buswell, WaltWalt Buswell	D	46	3	7	10	10
17	Mondou, ArmandArmand Mondou	LW	34	3	7	10	2
15	Brown, GeorgeGeorge Brown	C	18	1	9	10	10
8	Evans, StewartStewart Evans	D	43	2	7	9	58
18	Ward, JimmyJimmy Ward	RW	36	4	3	7	0
15	Smith, DesDes Smith	D	16	3	3	6	8
2	Wentworth, CyCy Wentworth	D	45	0	3	3	12
5	Tremblay, MarcelMarcel Tremblay	RW	10	0	2	2	0
	Raymond, PaulPaul Raymond	RW	11	0	2	2	4
16	Goupille, RedRed Goupille	D	18	0	2	2	24
11	Gracie, BobBob Gracie	C/LW	7	0	1	1	4
16	Mancuso, GusGus Mancuso	RW	2	0	0	0	0
16	Willson, DonDon Willson	C	4	0	0	0	0
4, 17, 24	Cude, WilfWilf Cude	G	23	0	0	0	0
19	Bourque, ClaudeClaude Bourque	G	25	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Cude, WilfWilf Cude	1440	23	8	11	4	77	3.21	2
Bourque, ClaudeClaude Bourque	1560	25	7	13	5	69	2.65	2
Team:	3000	48	15	24	9	146	2.92	4

Playoffs[]

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Lorrain, RodRod Lorrain	RW	3	0	3	3	0
Buswell, WaltWalt Buswell	D	3	2	0	2	2
Blake, ToeToe Blake	LW	3	1	1	2	2
Gagnon, JohnnyJohnny Gagnon	RW	3	0	2	2	10
Mondou, ArmandArmand Mondou	LW	3	1	0	1	2
Trudel, LouLou Trudel	LW	3	1	0	1	0
Drouin, PollyPolly Drouin	LW	3	0	1	1	5
Ward, JimmyJimmy Ward	RW	1	0	0	0	0
Summerhill, BillBill Summerhill	RW	2	0	0	0	2
Cain, HerbHerb Cain	LW	3	0	0	0	2
Evans, StewartStewart Evans	D	3	0	0	0	2
Haynes, PaulPaul Haynes	C	3	0	0	0	4
Mantha, GeorgesGeorges Mantha	D/LW	3	0	0	0	0
Raymond, PaulPaul Raymond	RW	3	0	0	0	2
Siebert, BabeBabe Siebert	LW/D	3	0	0	0	0
Smith, DesDes Smith	D	3	0	0	0	4
Wentworth, CyCy Wentworth	D	3	0	0	0	4
Bourque, ClaudeClaude Bourque	G	3	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Bourque, ClaudeClaude Bourque	188	3	1	2	8	2.55	1
Team:	188	3	1	2	8	2.55	1

^[5]

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[]

Hart Memorial Trophy: Toe Blake
NHL Scoring Leader: Toe Blake
Toe Blake, Left Wing, NHL First Team All-Star

Farm Team[]

New Haven Eagles, International-American Hockey League

Game Ads[]

References[]

↑ Boston Globe, p.9, January 24, 1939.
↑ Montreal Gazette, p.16, January 28, 1939.
↑ Boston Globe, p.18, February 17, 1939.
↑ 1938–39 Montreal Canadiens Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
↑ 1938-39 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.

[1] Boston Globe, p.9, January 24, 1939.

[2] Montreal Gazette, p.16, January 28, 1939.

[3] Boston Globe, p.18, February 17, 1939.

[4] 1938–39 Montreal Canadiens Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.

[5] 1938-39 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Montreal Canadiens Seasons
1900s	1909–10
1910s	1910–11 • 1911–12 • 1912–13 • 1913–14 • 1914–15 • 1915–16 • 1916–17 • 1917–18 • 1918–19 • 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 • 1921–22 • 1922–23 • 1923–24 • 1924–25 • 1925–26 • 1926–27 • 1927–28 • 1928–29 • 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 • 1931–32 • 1932–33 • 1933–34 • 1934–35 • 1935–36 • 1936–37 • 1937–38 • 1938–39 • 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 • 1941–42 • 1942–43 • 1943–44 • 1944–45 • 1945–46 • 1946–47 • 1947–48 • 1948–49 • 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 • 1951–52 • 1952–53 • 1953–54 • 1954–55 • 1955–56 • 1956–57 • 1957–58 • 1958–59 • 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 • 1961–62 • 1962–63 • 1963–64 • 1964–65 • 1965–66 • 1966–67 • 1967–68 • 1968–69 • 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 • 1971–72 • 1972–73 • 1973–74 • 1974–75 • 1975–76 • 1976–77 • 1977–78 • 1978–79 • 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 • 1981–82 • 1982–83 • 1983–84 • 1984–85 • 1985–86 • 1986–87 • 1987–88 • 1988–89 • 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 • 1991–92 • 1992–93 • 1993–94 • 1994–95 • 1995–96 • 1996–97 • 1997–98 • 1998–99 • 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 • 2001–02 • 2002–03 • 2003–04 • 2004–05 • 2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007–08 • 2008–09 • 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 • 2011–12 • 2012–13 • 2013–14 • 2014–15 • 2015–16 • 2016–17 • 2017–18 • 2018–19 • 2019–20
Bold indicates Stanley Cup Championship

Montreal Canadiens
Franchise	Franchise • Original Six • Players • Coaches • General Managers • Seasons • Records • Draft Picks • Award Winners
Arenas	Jubilee Arena • Montreal Arena • Mount Royal Arena • Montreal Forum • Bell Centre
Affiliates	Laval Rocket (AHL)

1938–39 NHL season by team
Teams	Boston • Chicago • Detroit • Montreal Canadiens • NY Americans • NY Rangers • Toronto
See also	1939 Stanley Cup Finals

1938–39 Montreal Canadiens season

Contents

Regular Season[]

Final Standings[]

Game Log[]

Playoffs[]

Detroit Red Wings 2, Montreal Canadiens 1[]

Player Stats[]

Regular Season[]

Playoffs[]

Awards and Records[]

Farm Team[]

Game Ads[]

See Also[]

References[]