1939–40 New York Rangers season

1939–40 New York Rangers
Stanley Cup Champions
Division	2nd NHL
1939–40 record	27–11–10
Goals for	136
Goals against	77
Team information
General Manager	Lester Patrick
Coach	Frank Boucher
Captain	Art Coulter
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Bryan Hextall (24)
Assists	Phil Watson (28)
Points	Bryan Hextall (39)
Penalties in minutes	Art Coulter (68)
Wins	Dave Kerr (27)
Goals against average	Dave Kerr (1.54)
<1938–39 1940–41>

The 1939–40 New York Rangers season was the 14th season for the team in the National Hockey League (NHL). With new coach Frank Boucher the Rangers finish in 2nd Place again with an impressive 27–11–10 record. In the semi-finals the Rangers beat the Boston Bruins in 6 games to advance to the 1940 Stanley Cup Finals. In the finals the Rangers win their first 2 games by scores of 2–1 and 6–2 at the Garden, before finishing the series on the road because of the circus. After dropping the first 2 games in Toronto the Rangers won a critical Game five 2–1 in overtime on Muzz Patrick's overtime goal. In Game 6 it would take overtime again as the Rangers won their 3rd Stanley Cup on Bryan Hextall's goal 2:33 into OT. Following the season the Rangers would celebrate buying out their lease at Madison Square Garden by burning the lease in the historic Stanley Cup, a move that would take on greater mystery in coming years.

Regular season

Season standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
Boston Bruins	48	31	12	5	170	98	330	67
New York Rangers	48	27	11	10	136	77	520	64
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	25	17	6	134	110	485	56
Chicago Black Hawks	48	23	19	6	112	120	351	52
Detroit Red Wings	48	16	26	6	90	126	250	38
New York Americans	48	15	29	4	106	140	236	34
Montreal Canadiens	48	10	33	5	90	167	338	25

^[1]

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalty Minutes, Pts = Points
       Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and results

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

Playoffs

Stanley Cup Finals

The final series between the Rangers and the Maple Leafs was an exciting one that went back and forth with three overtime games. The Rangers took the first two at home and the Leafs took the next two in Toronto. The circus forced the Rangers to vacate Madison Square Garden after the first two games. The Rangers would score three game-winning goals in overtime, including the Cup winner. Lynn and Murray Patrick played for the Rangers, and became the third and fourth members of the Patrick family to win the Stanley Cup. Bryan Hextall scored in overtime in the final game to give the Rangers their 3rd Stanley Cup and last until 1994.

Key:      Win      Loss

1940 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Semi-finals: vs. Boston Bruins – New York Rangers win series 4–2 # Date Visitor Score Home OT Series 1 March 19 Boston Bruins 0–4 New York Rangers New York Rangers lead series 1–0 2 March 21 New York Rangers 2–4 Boston Bruins Series tied 1–1 3 March 24 New York Rangers 3–4 Boston Bruins Boston leads series 2–1 4 March 26 Boston Bruins 0–1 New York Rangers Series tied 2–2 5 March 28 New York Rangers 1–0 Boston Bruins New York Rangers lead series 3–2 6 March 30 Boston Bruins 1–4 New York Rangers New York Rangers win series 4–2 Stanley Cup Finals: vs. Toronto Maple Leafs – New York Rangers win series 4–2 # Date Visitor Score Home OT Series 1 April 2 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–2 New York Rangers OT New York Rangers lead series 1–0 2 April 3 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–6 New York Rangers New York Rangers lead series 2–0 3 April 6 New York Rangers 1–2 Toronto Maple Leafs New York Rangers lead series 2–1 4 April 9 New York Rangers 0–3 Toronto Maple Leafs Series tied 2–2 5 April 11 New York Rangers 2–1 Toronto Maple Leafs OT New York Rangers lead series 3–2 6 April 13 New York Rangers 3–2 Toronto Maple Leafs OT New York Rangers win series 4–2

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts PIM Hextall, BryanBryan Hextall 48 24 15 39 52 Colville, NeilNeil Colville 48 19 19 38 22 Watson, PhilPhil Watson 48 7 28 35 52 Shibicky, AlexAlex Shibicky 43 11 21 32 33 Hiller, WilbertWilbert Hiller 48 13 18 31 57 MacDonald, JamesJames MacDonald 44 15 13 28 19 Patrick, LynnLynn Patrick 48 12 16 28 34 Smith, ClintClint Smith 41 8 16 24 2 Colville, MacMac Colville 47 7 14 21 12 Heller, EhrhardtEhrhardt Heller 47 5 14 19 26 Pike, AlfAlf Pike 47 8 9 17 38 Pratt, WalterWalter Pratt 48 4 13 17 61 Coulter, ArthurArthur Coulter 48 1 9 10 68 Patrick, MurrayMurray Patrick 46 2 4 6 44 Smith, StanfordStanford Smith 1 0 0 0 0 Polich, JohnJohn Polich 1 0 0 0 0 Barton, CliffCliff Barton 3 0 0 0 0

Playoffs Player GP G A Pts PIM Watson, PhilPhil Watson 12 3 6 9 16 Colville, NeilNeil Colville 12 2 7 9 18 Shibicky, AlexAlex Shibicky 12 2 5 7 4 Hextall, BryanBryan Hextall 12 4 3 7 11 Hiller, WilbertWilbert Hiller 12 2 4 6 2 Colville, MacMac Colville 12 3 2 5 6 Pratt, WalterWalter Pratt 12 3 1 4 18 Pike, AlfAlf Pike 12 3 1 4 6 Smith, ClintClint Smith 12 1 3 4 2 Patrick, LynnLynn Patrick 12 2 2 4 4 Patrick, MurrayMurray Patrick 12 3 0 3 13 Heller, EhrhardtEhrhardt Heller 12 0 3 3 12 MacDonald, JamesJames MacDonald 12 0 2 2 4 Coulter, ArthurArthur Coulter 12 1 0 1 21

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Kerr, DaveDave Kerr	48	3000	27	11	10	77	1.54	8

Playoffs

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Kerr, DaveDave Kerr	12	770	8	4	20	1.56	3

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

^[2]

Note:

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

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

1940 New York Rangers Stanley Cup Champions

Dave Kerr, Art Coulter, Ott Heller, Alex Shibicky, Mac Colville, Neil Colville, Phil Watson, Lynn Patrick, Clint Smith, Muzz Patrick, Babe Pratt, Bryan Hextall, Kilby MacDonald, Dutch Hiller, Alf Pike, Stanford Smith, Lester Patrick (manager), Frank Boucher (coach), Harry Westerby (trainer)

Awards and records

• Calder Memorial Trophy: Kilby MacDonald
• Vezina Trophy: Dave Kerr

References

• Rangers on Hockey Database

1. Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al., eds. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
2. "1939–40 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-10-23.