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38-39MtlCan
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)

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[]

Farm Team[]

New Haven Eagles, International-American Hockey League

Game Ads[]

See Also[]

References[]

  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.
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