# 1940–41 Detroit Red Wings season

The 1940–41 Detroit Red Wings season was the 15th season for the Detroit NHL franchise, ninth as the Red Wings. The Red Wings made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Boston Bruins.

## Regular season
### Final standings

National Hockey League :
| | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
| Boston Bruins | 48 | 27 | 8 | 13 | 67 | 168 | 102 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 28 | 14 | 6 | 62 | 145 | 99 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 48 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 53 | 112 | 102 |
| New York Rangers | 48 | 21 | 19 | 8 | 50 | 143 | 125 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 48 | 16 | 25 | 7 | 39 | 112 | 139 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 48 | 16 | 26 | 6 | 38 | 121 | 147 |
| New York Americans | 48 | 8 | 29 | 11 | 27 | 99 | 186 |
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.

### Record vs. opponents

1940–41 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYA | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 4–2–2 | 3–0–5 | 5–2–1 | 7–0–1 | 4–2–2 | 4–2–2 |
| Chicago | 2–4–2 | — | 2–6 | 3–4–1 | 3–2–3 | 4–3–1 | 2–6 |
| Detroit | 0–3–5 | 6–2 | — | 4–3–1 | 5–1–2 | 3–2–3 | 3–5 |
| Montreal | 2–5–1 | 4–3–1 | 3–4–1 | — | 4–3–1 | 2–5–1 | 1–6–1 |
| N.Y. Americans | 0–7–1 | 2–3–3 | 1–5–2 | 3–4–1 | — | 1–6–1 | 1–4–3 |
| N.Y. Rangers | 2–4–2 | 3–4–1 | 2–3–2 | 5–2–1 | 6–1–1 | — | 3–5 |
| Toronto | 2–4–2 | 6–2 | 5–3 | 6–1–1 | 4–1–3 | 5–3 | — |

## Schedule and results

| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | W | November 3, 1940 | 4–2 | New York Americans (1940–41) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | L | November 9, 1940 | 0–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 1–1–0 |
| 3 | T | November 10, 1940 | 2–2 OT | New York Rangers (1940–41) | 1–1–1 |
| 4 | T | November 16, 1940 | 3–3 OT | @ New York Rangers (1940–41) | 1–1–2 |
| 5 | W | November 17, 1940 | 2–0 | @ New York Americans (1940–41) | 2–1–2 |
| 6 | T | November 19, 1940 | 4–4 OT | @ Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 2–1–3 |
| 7 | W | November 21, 1940 | 2–1 | Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 3–1–3 |
| 8 | T | November 24, 1940 | 1–1 OT | Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 3–1–4 |
| 9 | W | November 29, 1940 | 3–1 | Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 4–1–4 |
| 10 | L | December 1, 1940 | 1–3 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 4–2–4 |
| 11 | W | December 5, 1940 | 5–1 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 5–2–4 |
| 12 | L | December 7, 1940 | 2–3 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 5–3–4 |
| 13 | W | December 8, 1940 | 3–1 | @ New York Rangers (1940–41) | 6–3–4 |
| 14 | W | December 13, 1940 | 3–2 OT | New York Rangers (1940–41) | 7–3–4 |
| 15 | L | December 15, 1940 | 1–2 OT | Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 7–4–4 |
| 16 | L | December 17, 1940 | 2–3 OT | @ New York Americans (1940–41) | 7–5–4 |
| 17 | T | December 19, 1940 | 1–1 OT | New York Americans (1940–41) | 7–5–5 |
| 18 | L | December 22, 1940 | 3–5 | Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 7–6–5 |
| 19 | W | December 25, 1940 | 3–2 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 8–6–5 |
| 20 | W | December 29, 1940 | 2–1 | Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 9–6–5 |
| 21 | W | January 1, 1941 | 4–1 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 10–6–5 |
| 22 | W | January 4, 1941 | 3–1 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 11–6–5 |
| 23 | W | January 5, 1941 | 3–0 | Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 12–6–5 |
| 24 | T | January 7, 1941 | 1–1 OT | @ Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 12–6–6 |
| 25 | T | January 9, 1941 | 3–3 OT | @ New York Americans (1940–41) | 12–6–7 |
| 26 | L | January 12, 1941 | 1–2 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 12–7–7 |
| 27 | T | January 14, 1941 | 3–3 OT | @ New York Rangers (1940–41) | 12–7–8 |
| 28 | L | January 18, 1941 | 1–2 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 12–8–8 |
| 29 | L | January 19, 1941 | 1–2 | New York Rangers (1940–41) | 12–9–8 |
| 30 | W | January 24, 1941 | 4–2 OT | New York Americans (1940–41) | 13–9–8 |
| 31 | L | January 26, 1941 | 0–2 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 13–10–8 |
| 32 | L | January 30, 1941 | 1–2 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 13–11–8 |
| 33 | T | February 6, 1941 | 4–4 OT | @ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 13–11–9 |
| 34 | T | February 9, 1941 | 2–2 OT | Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 13–11–10 |
| 35 | L | February 11, 1941 | 0–4 | @ Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 13–12–10 |
| 36 | W | February 14, 1941 | 2–1 | Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 14–12–10 |
| 37 | W | February 16, 1941 | 2–1 | Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 15–12–10 |
| 38 | L | February 22, 1941 | 2–6 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 15–13–10 |
| 39 | W | February 23, 1941 | 3–0 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1940–41) | 16–13–10 |
| 40 | L | February 27, 1941 | 0–1 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 16–14–10 |
| 41 | W | February 28, 1941 | 5–4 | New York Americans (1940–41) | 17–14–10 |
| 42 | W | March 2, 1941 | 4–2 OT | New York Rangers (1940–41) | 18–14–10 |
| 43 | L | March 4, 1941 | 0–6 | @ New York Rangers (1940–41) | 18–15–10 |
| 44 | W | March 6, 1941 | 6–1 | @ New York Americans (1940–41) | 19–15–10 |
| 45 | W | March 8, 1941 | 4–0 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41) | 20–15–10 |
| 46 | W | March 13, 1941 | 3–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41) | 21–15–10 |
| 47 | T | March 16, 1941 | 2–2 OT | Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 21–15–11 |
| 48 | L | March 18, 1941 | 1–4 | @ Boston Bruins (1940–41) | 21–16–11 |

## Playoffs
### (3) Detroit Red Wings vs. (4) New York Rangers

New York Rangers vs Detroit Red Wings :
| Date | Visitors | Score | Home | Score |
| Mar 20 | New York R. | 1 | Detroit | 2 (OT) |
| Mar 23 | Detroit | 1 | New York R. | 3 |
| Mar 25 | New York R. | 2 | Detroit | 3 |
Detroit wins best-of-three series 2–1.

### (3) Detroit Red Wings vs. (5) Chicago Black Hawks

Chicago Black Hawks vs Detroit Red Wings :
| Date | Visitors | Score | Home | Score |
| Mar 27 | Chicago | 1 | Detroit | 3 |
| Mar 30 | Detroit | 2 | Chicago | 1 (OT) |
Detroit wins best-of-three series 2–0.

### (1) Boston Bruins vs. (3) Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings vs Boston Bruins :
| Date | Visitors | Score | Home | Score |
| Apr 6 | Detroit | 2 | Boston | 3 |
| Apr 8 | Detroit | 1 | Boston | 2 |
| Apr 10 | Boston | 4 | Detroit | 2 |
| Apr 12 | Boston | 3 | Detroit | 1 |
Boston wins the Stanley Cup 4–0.

## Player statistics
### Regular season
#### Scoring

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Syd Howe | C/LW | 48 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 8 |
| Sid Abel | C/LW | 47 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 29 |
| Mud Bruneteau | RW | 45 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 12 |
| Eddie Wares | D/RW | 42 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 34 |
| Alex Motter | C | 47 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 18 |
| Gus Giesebrecht | C | 43 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 7 |
| Ebbie Goodfellow | C/D | 47 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 35 |
| Carl Liscombe | LW | 33 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
| Don Grosso | LW/C | 45 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 14 |
| Joe Fisher | RW | 27 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 11 |
| Jimmy Orlando | D | 48 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 99 |
| Jack Stewart | D | 47 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 56 |
| Bill Jennings | RW | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 |
| Joe Carveth | RW | 19 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Connie Brown | C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Les Douglas | C | 18 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Art Herchenratter | LW | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Ken Kilrea | LW | 15 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Eddie Bruneteau | RW | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Bob Whitelaw | D | 23 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Arch Wilder | LW | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Dick Behling | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harold Jackson | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnny Mowers | G | 48 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
| Johnny Mowers | 3040 | 48 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 102 | 2.01 | 4 |
| Team: | 3040 | 48 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 102 | 2.01 | 4 |

### Playoffs
#### Scoring

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Syd Howe | C/LW | 9 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| Carl Liscombe | LW | 8 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| Don Grosso | LW/C | 9 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Sid Abel | C/LW | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Bill Jennings | RW | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Alex Motter | C | 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Mud Bruneteau | RW | 9 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Gus Giesebrecht | C | 9 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Jack Stewart | D | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Connie Brown | C | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Jimmy Orlando | D | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 31 |
| Joe Fisher | RW | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Ebbie Goodfellow | C/D | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Eddie Bruneteau | RW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Kilrea | LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnny Mowers | G | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Eddie Wares | D/RW | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Whitelaw | D | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | GA | GAA | SO |
| Johnny Mowers | 561 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 2.14 | 0 |
| Team: | 561 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 2.14 | 0 |
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;