1940 Stanley Cup Final

The 1940 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. New York would win the series 4–2 to win their third Stanley Cup. The Rangers would not win another for 54 years, a circumstance termed the Curse of 1940.

1940 Stanley Cup Final
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total New York Rangers 2* 6 1 0 2** 3* 4 Toronto Maple Leafs 1* 2 2 3 1** 2* 2
* – Denotes overtime period(s)
Location(s)	New York City: Madison Square Garden (1, 2) Toronto: Maple Leaf Gardens (3–6)
Coaches	New York: Frank Boucher Toronto: Dick Irvin
Captains	New York: Art Coulter Toronto: Red Horner
Dates	April 2–13, 1940
Series-winning goal	Bryan Hextall (2:07, OT)
Hall of Famers	Rangers: Neil Colville (1967) Art Coulter (1974) Bryan Hextall (1969) Lynn Patrick (1980) Babe Pratt (1966) Clint Smith (1991) Maple Leafs: Syl Apps (1961) Turk Broda (1967) Gordie Drillon (1975) Red Horner (1965) Sweeney Schriner (1962) Coaches: Frank Boucher (1958, player) Dick Irvin (1958, player)
← 1939 Stanley Cup Final 1941 →

Paths to the Finals

New York defeated the Boston Bruins in a best-of-seven 4–2 to advance to the Finals. The Maple Leafs had to play two best-of three series; winning 2–0 against the Chicago Black Hawks, and 2–0 against the Detroit Red Wings to advance to the Finals.

Game summaries

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 to become the third and fourth members of the Patrick family to win the Stanley Cup.^[1]

April 2	Toronto Maple Leafs		1–2	OT	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden III	Recap
Red Heron (2) - 11:01		First period			9:09 - pp - Art Coulter (1)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		First overtime period			15:30 - Alf Pike (2)
Turk Broda		Goalie stats			Dave Kerr

April 3	Toronto Maple Leafs		2–6		New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden III	Recap
Billy Taylor (1) - 5:01 Hank Goldup (4) - 6:01		First period			15:14 - Bryan Hextall
No scoring		Second period			3:57 - Babe Pratt (3) 19:48 - pp - Bryan Hextall (2)
No scoring		Third period			6:26 - Bryan Hextall (3) 12:21 - pp - Dutch Hiller (2) 13:09 - pp - Lynn Patrick (2)
Turk Broda		Goalie stats			Dave Kerr

April 6	New York Rangers		1–2		Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
Phil Watson (3) - 18:19		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			10:32 - Gordie Drillon (2) 13:40 - Hank Goldup (5)
Dave Kerr		Goalie stats			Turk Broda

April 9	New York Rangers		0–3		Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
No scoring		First period			19:20 - Gus Marker (1)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			16:03 - Wally Stanowski (1) 19:26 - Gordie Drillon (3)
Dave Kerr		Goalie stats			Turk Broda

April 11	New York Rangers		2–1	2OT	Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
Neil Colville (1) - 12:21		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			16:55 - Syl Apps (4)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Muzz Patrick (3) - 11:43		Second overtime period			No scoring
Dave Kerr		Goalie stats			Turk Broda

April 13	New York Rangers		3–2	OT	Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
No scoring		First period			6:52 - Syl Apps (5)
No scoring		Second period			4:51 - Nick Metz (1)
Neil Colville (2) - 8:08 Alf Pike (3) - 10:01		Third period			No scoring
Bryan Hextall (4) - 2:07		First overtime period			No scoring
Dave Kerr		Goalie stats			Turk Broda

New York won series 4–2

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1940 Stanley Cup was presented to Rangers captain Art Coulter by NHL President Frank Calder following the Rangers 3–2 overtime win over the Maple Leafs in game six.

The following Rangers players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1939–40 New York Rangers

Players

  Centres

• 6 Neil Colville
• 7 Phil Watson
• 10 Clint Smith
• 16 Alf Pike

  Wingers

• 4 Alex Shibicky
• 5 Mac Colville
• 8 Wilbert Dutch Hiller
• 9 Lynn Patrick
• 12 Bryan Hextall Sr.
• 14 James Kilby MacDonald

  Defencemen

• 2 Art Coulter (Captain)
• 3 Erhardt Ott Heller
• 8 Walter Babe Pratt
• 15 Murray Muzz Patrick

  Goaltenders

• 1 Dave Kerr

Coaching and administrative staff

• John Reed Kilpatrick (President/Owner), Lester Patrick (Manager)
• Frank Boucher (Coach), Harry Westerby (Trainer)
• Stanton Griffis* (Vice President/Owner)

* Missing from Stanley Cup, but qualified to be on it.

Stanley Cup engraving

• #17 Stanford Smith (C) played in 1 regular season game and 1 Finals game. Despite playing in the Finals, his name was left off the Stanley Cup engraving.
• Frank Boucher was 6th NHL rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup.
• Lester Patrick and Frank Boucher became the first (and to this date, the only) duo to win the Stanley Cup together as players and then as a coach-managerial team, having won as players on the Rangers in 1928.^[2]
• A new ring was added to the Stanley Cup. This large ring had room to hold 7 winning Stanley Cup teams.

See also

• 1939–40 NHL season