# 1943–44 Detroit Red Wings season

The 1943–44 Detroit Red Wings season was the 18th season of the Detroit NHL franchise. The Red Wings qualified for the playoffs, losing in the first round to the Chicago Black Hawks.

## Regular season
### Final standings

National Hockey League vte :
| | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts |
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 50 | 38 | 5 | 7 | 234 | 109 | +125 | 83 |
| 2 | Detroit Red Wings | 50 | 26 | 18 | 6 | 214 | 177 | +37 | 58 |
| 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 50 | 23 | 23 | 4 | 214 | 174 | +40 | 50 |
| 4 | Chicago Black Hawks | 50 | 22 | 23 | 5 | 178 | 187 | −9 | 49 |
| 5 | Boston Bruins | 50 | 19 | 26 | 5 | 223 | 268 | −45 | 43 |
| 6 | New York Rangers | 50 | 6 | 39 | 5 | 162 | 310 | −148 | 17 |

### Record vs. opponents

1943–44 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 5–5 | 1–7–2 | 3–5–2 | 7–2–1 | 3–7 |
| Chicago | 5–5 | — | 5–5 | 0–8–2 | 7–1–2 | 5–4–1 |
| Detroit | 7–1–2 | 5–5 | — | 0–9–1 | 8–1–1 | 6–2–2 |
| Montreal | 5–3–2 | 8–0–2 | 9–0–1 | — | 9–0–1 | 7–2–1 |
| New York | 2–7–1 | 1–7–2 | 1–8–1 | 0–9–1 | — | 2–8 |
| Toronto | 7–3 | 4–5–1 | 2–6–2 | 2–7–1 | 8–2 | — |

## Schedule and results

| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | W | October 31, 1943 | 8–3 | New York Rangers (1943–44) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | T | November 4, 1943 | 5–5 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 1–0–1 |
| 3 | W | November 7, 1943 | 6–4 | Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 2–0–1 |
| 4 | T | November 11, 1943 | 2–2 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 2–0–2 |
| 5 | L | November 13, 1943 | 1–4 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 2–1–2 |
| 6 | L | November 14, 1943 | 0–2 | Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 2–2–2 |
| 7 | W | November 18, 1943 | 3–1 | @ New York Rangers (1943–44) | 3–2–2 |
| 8 | W | November 21, 1943 | 5–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 4–2–2 |
| 9 | L | November 25, 1943 | 3–4 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 4–3–2 |
| 10 | W | November 28, 1943 | 6–4 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 5–3–2 |
| 11 | L | December 2, 1943 | 5–6 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 5–4–2 |
| 12 | L | December 4, 1943 | 2–8 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 5–5–2 |
| 13 | T | December 7, 1943 | 6–6 | @ Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 5–5–3 |
| 14 | L | December 12, 1943 | 1–5 | Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 5–6–3 |
| 15 | W | December 16, 1943 | 4–1 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 6–6–3 |
| 16 | L | December 19, 1943 | 2–6 | @ New York Rangers (1943–44) | 6–7–3 |
| 17 | L | December 22, 1943 | 1–7 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 6–8–3 |
| 18 | W | December 23, 1943 | 5–3 | New York Rangers (1943–44) | 7–8–3 |
| 19 | T | December 26, 1943 | 4–4 | Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 7–8–4 |
| 20 | L | December 28, 1943 | 2–5 | @ Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 7–9–4 |
| 21 | L | December 30, 1943 | 3–8 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 7–10–4 |
| 22 | L | January 2, 1944 | 2–5 | Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 7–11–4 |
| 23 | W | January 6, 1944 | 5–0 | @ New York Rangers (1943–44) | 8–11–4 |
| 24 | W | January 9, 1944 | 4–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 9–11–4 |
| 25 | T | January 13, 1944 | 2–2 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 9–11–5 |
| 26 | W | January 15, 1944 | 6–4 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 10–11–5 |
| 27 | W | January 16, 1944 | 4–1 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 11–11–5 |
| 28 | W | January 20, 1944 | 4–3 | Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 12–11–5 |
| 29 | W | January 23, 1944 | 15–0 | New York Rangers (1943–44) | 13–11–5 |
| 30 | W | January 25, 1944 | 6–3 | @ Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 14–11–5 |
| 31 | W | January 29, 1944 | 6–1 | Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 15–11–5 |
| 32 | L | January 30, 1944 | 2–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 15–12–5 |
| 33 | W | February 3, 1944 | 12–2 | New York Rangers (1943–44) | 16–12–5 |
| 34 | L | February 5, 1944 | 1–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 16–13–5 |
| 35 | W | February 6, 1944 | 3–2 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 17–13–5 |
| 36 | W | February 10, 1944 | 8–3 | @ New York Rangers (1943–44) | 18–13–5 |
| 37 | W | February 13, 1944 | 4–1 | @ Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 19–13–5 |
| 38 | L | February 17, 1944 | 2–3 | Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 19–14–5 |
| 39 | W | February 20, 1944 | 6–5 | Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 20–14–5 |
| 40 | T | February 24, 1944 | 3–3 | @ New York Rangers (1943–44) | 20–14–6 |
| 41 | L | February 27, 1944 | 1–5 | Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 20–15–6 |
| 42 | W | March 2, 1944 | 6–5 | New York Rangers (1943–44) | 21–15–6 |
| 43 | W | March 4, 1944 | 6–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 22–15–6 |
| 44 | L | March 5, 1944 | 1–6 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 22–16–6 |
| 45 | W | March 7, 1944 | 8–4 | @ Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 23–16–6 |
| 46 | L | March 11, 1944 | 3–4 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1943–44) | 23–17–6 |
| 47 | W | March 12, 1944 | 4–1 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1943–44) | 24–17–6 |
| 48 | W | March 16, 1944 | 10–9 | Boston Bruins (1943–44) | 25–17–6 |
| 49 | W | March 18, 1944 | 6–3 | Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 26–17–6 |
| 50 | L | March 19, 1944 | 0–2 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1943–44) | 26–18–6 |

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

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Carl Liscombe | LW | 50 | 36 | 37 | 73 | 17 |
| Syd Howe | C/LW | 46 | 32 | 28 | 60 | 6 |
| Joe Carveth | RW | 46 | 21 | 35 | 56 | 6 |
| Mud Bruneteau | RW | 39 | 35 | 18 | 53 | 4 |
| Don Grosso | LW/C | 42 | 16 | 31 | 47 | 13 |
| Adam Brown | LW | 50 | 24 | 18 | 42 | 56 |
| Murray Armstrong | C | 28 | 12 | 22 | 34 | 4 |
| Harold Jackson | D | 50 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 76 |
| Pat Egan | D | 23 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 40 |
| Flash Hollett | D | 27 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 34 |
| Bill Quackenbush | D | 43 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 6 |
| Bill Jennings | RW | 33 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 10 |
| Cully Simon | D | 46 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 52 |
| Bill Thomson | C/RW | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Ken Kilrea | LW | 14 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Nakina Smith | C | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Hy Buller | D | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Billy Reay | C | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Carl Smith | RW | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Jud McAtee | LW | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Bernie Ruelle | LW | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Frank Bennett | LW/D | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Eddie Bruneteau | RW | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Tony Bukovich | LW/C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Roly Rossignol | RW | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lude Check | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connie Dion | G | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jimmy Franks | G | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Francis Kane | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry Lumley | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vic Lynn | LW/D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| John Sherf | LW | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Gordon Sherritt | D | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Normie Smith | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rudy Zunich | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
| Connie Dion | 1560 | 26 | 17 | 7 | 2 | 80 | 3.08 | 1 |
| Jimmy Franks | 1020 | 17 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 69 | 4.06 | 1 |
| Normie Smith | 300 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3.00 | 0 |
| Harry Lumley | 120 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 6.50 | 0 |
| Team: | 3000 | 50 | 26 | 18 | 6 | 177 | 3.54 | 2 |

### Playoffs
#### Scoring

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Syd Howe | C/LW | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Joe Carveth | RW | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Mud Bruneteau | RW | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Murray Armstrong | C | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Don Grosso | LW/C | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Carl Liscombe | LW | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Bill Quackenbush | D | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Adam Brown | LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Connie Dion | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Flash Hollett | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Harold Jackson | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Bill Jennings | RW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Kilrea | LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cully Simon | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bill Thomson | C/RW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | GA | GAA | SO |
| Connie Dion | 300 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 3.40 | 0 |
| Team: | 300 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 3.40 | 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;

## Awards and records

NHL Record: highest scoring shutout, 15–0