1938–39 Toronto Maple Leafs season

1938–39 Toronto Maple Leafs
Division	3rd NHL
1938–39 record	19–20–9
Goals for	114
Goals against	107
Team information
General manager	Conn Smythe
Coach	Dick Irvin
Captain	Red Horner
Arena	Maple Leaf Gardens
Team leaders
Goals	Gordie Drillon (18)
Assists	Syl Apps (25)
Points	Syl Apps (40)
Penalty minutes	Red Horner (85)
Wins	Turk Broda (19)
Goals against average	Turk Broda (2.15)

The 1938–39 Toronto Maple Leafs season was Toronto's 22nd season in the NHL. The Maple Leafs finished 3rd in the league and lost in the 1939 Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins 4 games to 1.

Regular Season

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

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

Playoffs

Boston Bruins 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 1

The Leafs opponent was the Boston Bruins, who finished the season with a 36–10–2 record, earning 74 points, which was 27 points more than the Leafs. The Bruins defeated the New York Rangers 4 games to 3 in the Semi-Finals and went into the series the favorites, sporting new uniforms with gold added to the shoulders, pants and socks.

Bruins first goal, Game 1 of the 1939 Stanley Cup Finals. Note the gold in the shoulder yolks, introduced for the Finals.

Game 1 in Boston was a tight-checking affair with Woody Dumart opening the scoring at the 16:04 mark of the first period with the first playoff goal of his career. The Leafs tied it up in the third with the first of the playoffs for Red Horner but less than three minutes later, Bobby Bauer won it for the Bruins.

Game 2 in Boston saw the Leafs built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Gordie Drillon and Syl Apps. Roy Conacher and Semi-Final hero Mel Hill tied it up in the second. After a scoreless third period, Toronto had to kill off a penalty by Rudolph Kampman after which Doc Romnes scored the OT winner to knot the series 1-1.

Bruins Gord Pettinger attacks the Leafs net, Game 4 of the 1939 Stanley Cup Finals, April 13, 1939.

Game 3 in Toronto was scoreless in the second period when Eddie Shore checked Leafs star Busher Jackson, dislocating his shoulder. Jackson missed the remainder of the series. Disheartened, the Leafs gave up goals by Bauer, Conacher and defenseman Jack Crawford (first playoff goal of his career). A last minute goal by the Leafs Gus Marker wasn't enough as the Bruins won 3-1.

Game 4 in Toronto saw the Bruins go ahead 1-0 early in the game on a power play goal by Conacher, assisted by Hill. The Bruins Frank Brimsek shut the door and earned his first playoff shutout as the Bruins won 2-0 after Conacher added his second of the game, assisted by Hill and Bill Cowley.

Roy Conacher scores the 1939 Cup winner, April 16, 1939.

Game 5 in Boston saw Hill score his 6th of the playoffs at 11:40 of the first period while Gord Drillon was in the penalty box. Toronto countered with a power play marker of their own when Kampman scored at 18:40 on a point shot, that deflected off Dit Clapper's skate, with Hill in the box. With the score tied 1-1 late in the second period, Conacher broke in on a breakaway and fired the puck over Broda's left shoulder, his 6th goal of the playoffs. This put the Bruins up 2-1, which would prove to be the winner. The Leafs frantically tried to tie it up in the third and had a perfect opportunity when Eddie Shore took a penalty with 2 minutes to go. However, the Leafs Nick Metz, who'd been called up as Busher Jackson's replacement, took a penalty and the teams skated four on four. With 37 seconds left, Flash Hollett widened Boston's lead to 3-1. The Bruins took the series and the Cup 4 games to 1. Frank Brimsek held Toronto to just six goals in five games. Bill Cowley led the playoffs in scoring with 11 assists and 14 points.

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 6	Toronto Maple Leafs	1–2	Boston Bruins	1–0
2	April 9	Toronto Maple Leafs	3–2	Boston Bruins	1–1
3	April 11	Boston Bruins	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–1
4	April 13	Boston Bruins	2–0	Toronto Maple Leafs	3–1
5	April 16	Toronto Maple Leafs	1–3	Boston Bruins	4–1

For more details on this topic, see 1939 Stanley Cup Finals.

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Apps, SylSyl Apps	C	44	15	25	40	4
Drillon, GordieGordie Drillon	RW	40	18	16	34	15
Jackson, BusherBusher Jackson	LW	41	10	17	27	12
Chamberlain, MurphMurph Chamberlain	LW	48	10	16	26	32
Romnes, DocDoc Romnes	LW/C	36	7	16	23	0
Kelly, PepPep Kelly	RW	48	11	11	22	12
Metz, NickNick Metz	LW	47	11	10	21	15
Marker, GusGus Marker	RW	29	9	6	15	11
Parsons, GeorgeGeorge Parsons	LW	43	7	7	14	14
Davidson, BobBob Davidson	LW	47	4	10	14	29
Horner, RedRed Horner	D	48	4	10	14	85
Kampman, BingoBingo Kampman	D	41	2	8	10	52
Fowler, JimmyJimmy Fowler	D	39	1	6	7	9
Hamilton, RegReg Hamilton	D	48	0	7	7	54
McDonald, BuckoBucko McDonald	D	33	3	3	6	20
Thoms, BillBill Thoms	C	12	1	4	5	4
Church, JackJack Church	D	3	0	2	2	2
Langelle, PetePete Langelle	C	2	1	0	1	0
Armstrong, MurrayMurray Armstrong	C	3	0	1	1	0
Heron, RedRed Heron	C	6	0	0	0	0
Boll, BuzzBuzz Boll	LW	11	0	0	0	0
Mann, NormNorm Mann	RW/C	16	0	0	0	2
Broda, TurkTurk Broda	G	48	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Broda, TurkTurk Broda	2990	48	19	20	9	107	2.15	8
Team:	2990	48	19	20	9	107	2.15	8

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Drillon, GordieGordie Drillon	RW	10	7	6	13	4
Apps, SylSyl Apps	C	10	2	6	8	2
Chamberlain, MurphMurph Chamberlain	LW	10	2	5	7	4
Metz, NickNick Metz	LW	10	3	3	6	6
Romnes, DocDoc Romnes	LW/C	10	1	4	5	0
Marker, GusGus Marker	RW	10	2	2	4	0
Horner, RedRed Horner	D	10	1	2	3	26
Langelle, PetePete Langelle	C	11	1	2	3	2
Davidson, BobBob Davidson	LW	10	1	1	2	6
Kampman, BingoBingo Kampman	D	10	1	1	2	20
Hamilton, RegReg Hamilton	D	10	0	2	2	4
Kelly, PepPep Kelly	RW	9	1	0	1	0
Jackson, BusherBusher Jackson	LW	7	0	1	1	2
Fowler, JimmyJimmy Fowler	D	9	0	1	1	2
Church, JackJack Church	D	1	0	0	0	0
Heron, RedRed Heron	C	2	0	0	0	4
Metz, DonDon Metz	RW	2	0	0	0	0
McDonald, BuckoBucko McDonald	D	10	0	0	0	4
Broda, TurkTurk Broda	G	10	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Broda, TurkTurk Broda	617	10	5	5	20	1.94	2
Team:	617	10	5	5	20	1.94	2

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; 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

• O'Brien Trophy: Toronto Maple Leafs
• Gordie Drillon, Right Wing, NHL First Team All-Star
• Syl Apps, Center, NHL First Team All-Star

Farm Teams

• Syracuse Stars

Gallery

Turk Broda fights off the Black Hawks in the 1938-39 season.

Alfie Moore in action against the Maple Leafs, Game 2 of the 1939 Quarter-finals, March 23, 1939.

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

The Kraut Line in action in a 1939 Finals game in Boston, assisted by #12 Flash Hollett.

Brimsek makes a save from a 1939 Finals game in Boston while #2 Shore, #10 Bauer look on.

Bruins Brimsek, #5 Clapper, #19 Crawford and #12 Hollett hold off Leafs #15 Nick Metz, Game 5 of the 1939 Finals, April 16, 1939.

See Also

• 1938–39 NHL season