1942-43
OFFSEASON
The biggest news heading into 1942-43 is the arrival of Maurice Richard. The 20 year old will join the Montreal Canadiens this season. Other rookies arriving this year are Ted Kennedy and Bud Poile in Toronto, along with Detroit defenseman Bill Quackenbush.
The only retirement of note is the decision by longtime Toronto Maple Leaf defensman Red Horner to walk away from the game. Horner was a part of 9 Stanley Cup winning teams with the Leafs and won the Norris Trophy twice. He played 578 regular season games and scored 305 points including 69 goals. The 33 year old also had 56 points in 105 playoff contests.
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Americans franchise has folded up operations leaving the NHL with 6 teams.
Just before the regular season started the Boston Bruins learned they would be without goaltender Frank Brimsek for at least a month. Brimsek suffered a knee injury in training camp and the Bruins will be forced to rely on 39 year old Tiny Thompson to get them through the early part of the season.
REGULAR SEASON
Syl Apps returned in a big way from the injury that cost him most of last season. He set an NHL record with an 18 game point streak during the season, a run that also saw the 28 year old score at least one goal in 11 straight games.
Veteran Boston defenseman Dit Clapper became the second player in NHL history to reach 600 career points. By the time the season ended the 36 year old had 638 career points, trailing only Charlie Conacher who presently sits at 744.
Montreal rookie Maurice Richard had quite an NHL debut, scoring twice in his first game as the Canadiens doubled Boston 4-2 at the Gardens. Both Richard goals came in the third period against Tiny Thompson to snap a 2-2 tie and give the Canadiens the win. Despite missing 9 games with fractured ribs the Rocket ended the season with 26 goals and 53 points.
While they might have lost their season opener the Boston Bruins easily withstood the early absence of Brimsek and went on to post the league's best record. The Bruins had the most potent offense in the league led by 26 year old Roy Conacher, who established a new NHL single season record for assists (57) and points (80).
Code:
GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 50 36 6 8 80
Montreal Canadiens 50 28 13 9 65
Detroit Red Wings 50 24 19 7 55
Toronto Maple Leafs 50 18 25 7 43
Chicago Black Hawks 50 14 32 4 32
New York Rangers 50 9 34 7 25
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Roy Conacher BOS 50 23 57 80
Bobby Bauer BOS 50 34 43 77
Milt Schmidt BOS 48 40 35 75
Toe Blake MON 45 31 38 69
Syl Apps TOR 50 30 37 67
Elmer Lach MON 43 20 44 64
Max Bentley CHI 44 23 40 63
Woody Dumart BOS 50 32 29 61
Doug Bentley CHI 50 23 34 57
PLAYOFFS
The game continues to have first play second and third vs fourth instead of 1v3 and 2v4 as it was in this time period so the opening round will pit Boston against Montreal and Detroit vs Toronto.
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in 5 games but the big news was the greatest single game performance ever seen. It occurred in Game Two of the series as Detroit blasted Toronto by a 9-1 score. Carl Liscombe of the Red Wings had 6 goals and 3 assists.
In the other series the Montreal Canadiens had little trouble beating the Boston Bruins in 5 games. Elmer Lach led the Habs with 7 points in the series while Rocket Richard added 3 goals.
Game One of the Stanley Cup finals needed overtime to determine a winner and Elmer Lach delivered for the Canadiens, scoring his second of the game on a pass from Richard at the 14:55 mark of the first overtime lifting Montreal to a 3-2 victory.
Game Two was another tight contest and again Montreal came out on top. Mud Bruneteau snapped a 3-3 tie with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to give Montreal a 4-3 victory after Detroit had scored 3 times earlier in the period to rally and tie the contest.
Game Three also saw Montreal pull out a late 4-3 victory as Maurice Richard sent the Olympia crowd home dejected when he scored his second of the game, assisted by Lach and Toe Blake, with 32 seconds remaining in the third period. Lach had tied the game for Montreal just two minutes earlier.
The Canadiens complete the sweep with another 4-3 victory despite a 3 assist performance from Carl Liscombe of the Red Wings. While Detroit held the line of Lach-Richard and Blake off the scoresheet the lesser lights came thru for the Habs as Buddy O'Connor, Kenny Mosdell, George Allen and Lynn Patrick scored the Montreal goals.
Detroit's Sid Abel led all playoff scorers with 18 points followed by Liscombe with 16 and Montreal's Elmer Lach with 15 points. Lach was named the playoff MVP.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Syl Apps Toronto (50 GP 30-37-67)
VEZINA TROPHY: Turk Broda Montreal (28-13-8, 2.58)
NORRIS TROPHY: Jack Stewart Detroit (50 GP,18-37-55)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Roy Conacher Boston (50 GP 23-57-80)
CALDER TROPHY: Maurice Richard Montreal (41 GP 26-27-53)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Turk Broda Montreal Frank Brimsek Boston
D Kenny Reardon Montreal Babe Pratt NY Rangers
D Jack Stewart Detroit Dit Clapper Boston
C Milt Schmidt Boston Elmer Lach Montreal
LW Roy Conacher Boston Toe Blake Montreal
RW Bobby Bauer Boston Maurice Richard Montreal