1939–40 New York Rangers season

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)

December: 7–0–3 (Home: 6–0–2; Road: 1–0–1)

January: 10–1–0 (Home: 5–0–0; Road: 5–1–0)

February: 5–5–1 (Home: 4–1–0; Road: 1–4–1)

March: 2–1–2 (Home: 1–0–1; Road: 1–1–1)

Playoffs

Main articles: 1940 Stanley Cup playoffs and 1940 Stanley Cup Finals

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

References

Rangers on Hockey Database

↑ 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.
↑ "1939–40 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-10-23.

New York Rangers

Founded in 1926
Based in New York City, New York

Franchise

History

Personnel

Owners: The Madison Square Garden Company (James Dolan, chairman)
General manager: Glen Sather
Head coach: Alain Vigneault
Team captain: Ryan McDonagh
Current roster

Arenas

Rivalries

Affiliates

AHL: Hartford Wolf Pack

ECHL: Greenville Road Warriors

General managers

Head coaches

Media

Networks

TV	MSG Network

Radio	WEPN

Broadcasters

TV	Sam Rosen Joe Micheletti

Radio	Kenny Albert Dave Maloney

Culture and lore

New York Rangers seasons

1920s	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

Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

1939–40 NHL season

Teams	Boston Chicago Detroit Montreal Canadiens NY Americans NY Rangers Toronto

See also	Stanley Cup Finals