The 1940s featured the first two Stanley Cup Finals to require seven games. Both sets involved the same two teams, who each had a turn winning three straight elimination contests to force Game 7. One remains the only Cup final in which one party’s 3-0 series lead turned into the other’s 4-3 victory.
As with the preceding ’30s, another two championship rounds in this decade ended on an overtime goal. One of those clinching strikes completed a comeback in Game 6, thus averting Game 7.
By 1942, league membership was reduced to the Original Six. With that development, the playoffs became a straightforward four-team, two-round protocol, with both semifinals and the final being best-of-seven series.
But one year before going extinct, the best-of-three play-ins had one memorable finale. You will find that here in the company of four Cup finals and five best-of-seven semifinals. Regardless of length, a great series will always stand out through its dramatic, back-and-forth competitiveness.
10. 1948: Detroit vs. New York
Of the three 1948 playoff series, the Red Wings-Rangers semifinal was easily the most competitive. Only Detroit’s 5-2 home win in Game 2 mustered a margin larger than two tallies.
Trailing both the series and Game 4 halfway through regulation, the Rangers roared back for an unanswered three-goal outburst. But the Wings nabbed an identical 3-1 victory at their place in Game 5. They then bucked the series-long stranglehold of home ice by soaring to a 4-0 lead at Madison Square Garden.
That sugar rush provided sufficient sustenance for Detroit to close the series. Although New York’s fighting spirit translated to the third period’s lone goals, both via Don Raleigh, cutting the difference from 4-0 to 4-2.
9. 1947 Stanley Cup Final
After exchanging 6-0 and 4-0 blowouts, rivals Montreal and Toronto staged tighter tilts for the rest of the series.
Having split the first two on the road, the Maple Leafs now had the illusion of home-ice advantage. They sustained it for another night when Ted Kennedy’s last-minute dose of insurance cemented a 4-2 triumph. A subsequent come-from-behind 2-1 overtime victory in Game 4 pushed the Canadiens to the brink.
With two goals spelling the difference in a 3-1 win, the otherworldly Maurice Richard would not let Toronto clinch in his domain. In the ensuing Game 6, the Habs drew first blood within 25 seconds. But with their fans behind them again, the Leafs came back once more for another 2-1 squeaker.
8. 1943: Detroit vs. Toronto
This semifinal lasted six official contests. But with cumulative overtime, it actually logged the equivalent of seven games and change. In all, the Maple Leafs and Red Wings engaged in 79 minutes and 39 seconds of extra action, including a quadruple-overtime Game 2.
The Leafs’ 3-2 win at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium was the second of four times eventual victor trailed in the game. In one of the exceptions, Toronto filled a 2-0 pothole when facing elimination at home.
With Sweeney Schriner’s last-minute equalizer, the Leafs forced overtime in Game 6. But Detroit recovered and clinched the Cup via Adam Brown at the bonus period’s 9:21 mark.
7. 1949: Detroit vs. Montreal
Each of the first three games of this semifinal set were decided by a one-goal margin. Game 1 required three overtimes for the Wings to win at home. The Habs retorted on their own sudden-death strike in Game 2.
After Montreal usurped the lead at the Forum, the remaining four games were ended with a relatively tight 3-1 margin. The Red Wings regained home-ice advantage and the lead by coming from behind in both Games 4 and 5. The rivals subsequently alternated home victories, with Detroit prevailing in Game 7.
6. 1941: Chicago vs. Montreal
The team surrendering the first goal bounced back and prevailed in the first two games of this best-of-three quarterfinal. Montreal averted elimination with a double-overtime 4-3 win in Game 2.
Back in Chicago for the decider, the Blackhawks built a 2-0 lead within the first 33 minutes. The Habs would strike twice within 21 seconds to pull even in the penultimate minute of the middle frame.
But the hosts recovered early in the third when Cully Dahlstrom scored his second goal of the night. The resultant 3-2 edge held up as the decider through the final 16:29 of regulation.
5. 1941: Boston vs. Toronto
Looking for a do-over in the final after losing to the Rangers the year prior, the Leafs raised 2-1 and 3-2 upper hands in this best-of-seven semifinal. They pushed the Bruins to the brink with an overtime Game 5 win at the Boston Garden.
That would be the second of the four straight games decided by a 2-1 margin. Facing elimination on the road in Game 6, Boston rallied in a frenzied third period. Toronto broke a scoreless tie with 10:12 remaining, only to see Bobby Bauer draw another knot 51 seconds later.
Within another 81 seconds, Herb Cain tallied the eventual decider, forcing Game 7 back home. There the B’s once again deleted a 1-0 deficit before it could turn a minute old. Afterward, clutch connoisseur Mel Hill secured another 2-1 victory with 5:43 remaining in regulation
4. 1940 Stanley Cup Final
As with the set they lost to Detroit eight years later, the Rangers broke home ice’s series-old sway in Game 6. Adding to the drama, they clinched the Cup in overtime for their third sudden-death win over Toronto.
To start, the Maple Leafs had slipped in Manhattan to the tune of a 2-1 overtime setback and a 6-2 drubbing. But they made the series a series again with 2-1 and 3-0 victories at home.
With a virtual best-of-three now at hand, Toronto forced another overtime in Game 5. The fourth period did not suffice, and the night’s stanza lasted 11:43 before Muzz Patrick restored the Rangers’ lead.
Facing elimination, the Leafs banked Game 6’s lone first- and second-period goals. Their 2-0 edge held up until the 8:08 mark of the closing frame. Within another 1:53, New York pulled even, setting up Bryan Hextall’s championship tally in sudden death.
3. 1945: Detroit vs. Boston
The visitor won each of the first four games, with only one of those ending in a multi-goal margin. By the end of Game 4 at the Garden, the Red Wings had rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to pull even in the semifinal series.
Back home, Mud Bruneteau scored in the set’s first overtime period to give Detroit the first chance to clinch. The Bruins subsequently took their turn erasing 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in Game 6, averting elimination with a 5-3 win.
But after falling behind in the last minute of Game 7’s second period, Detroit staged the last definitive regrouping act. A two-goal outburst within the first five minutes of the closing frame flip-flopped a 3-2 pothole into a 4-3 advantage. The Wings would hold on until Carl Liscombe gave them a little breathing room with six seconds to spare.
With that deceptive two-goal margin of 5-3, Detroit earned its second Stanley Cup Final date with Toronto in four years. More on both of those encounters later.
2. 1942 Stanley Cup Final
Liscombe gave the Red Wings their third lead of Game 4 at the 4:18 mark of the third period. They were now 15:42 away from sweeping the Maple Leafs and receiving the Cup in front of their home fans at Olympia Stadium
But within two minutes, Syl Apps drew a 3-3 knot. Six minutes and 30 seconds later, Nick Metz spotted Toronto its first lead of the night. The 4-3 difference would hold up, bringing the series back to Maple Leaf Gardens.
Even after inflicting decisive 9-3 and 3-0 salvos to force Game 7, the Leafs soon had their backs to the wall again. Entering the third period, Syd Howe’s goal spotted visting Detroit a 1-0 advantage.
Schriner finally got Toronto on the board with 12:13 left in regulation. Then the Leafs took a permanent lead via Pete Langelle with 10:12 remaining. An insurance strike from Schriner later cemented the 3-1 win and the historic series comeback.
1. 1945 Stanley Cup Final
Despite Toronto’s unprecedented 1942 comeback, that final featured a few lopsided contests. Conversely, the Leafs-Wings rematch three years later saw all seven games decided by one or two goals. Three of them were 1-0 shutouts, and Game 7 was a 2-1 squeaker Toronto stole from the Olympia.
That gave the series an unthinkable five visiting victories. The Leafs had started by blanking the Wings 1-0 and 2-0 in Games 1 and 2, respectively. Detroit’s scoring woes carried over to Maple Leaf Gardens, where it soon faced the same predicament it put Toronto in three years prior.
Finally, Flash Hollett got the Red Wings on the board at 8:35 of Game 4. Detroit went on to overcome 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to avert the sweep. A subsequent 2-0 home win and 1-0 overtime victory back in Toronto equaled the third time an NHL team had forced Game 7 after averting a four-game sweep.
But with their momentum ostensibly gone, the Leafs pulled off the one-goal road win. The finish was thus slightly more dramatic than their two-goal home victory at the same stage in 1942.
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