# 1945–46 Boston Bruins season

The 1945–46 Boston Bruins season was the Boston Bruins 22nd season of operation in the National Hockey League. The Bruins made it to the 1946 Stanley Cup Finals only to lose to the rival Montreal Canadiens four games to one.

## Off-season

Art Ross, who had been coach and general manager of the Bruins since their inception, retired. Dit Clapper became the team's first playing coach, while Ross remained with the team as general manager. Several players returned from war-time duty, including goalie Frank Brimsek and the Kraut Line: Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart. The three had played with the Ottawa Commandos, winning the Allan Cup in 1943.

## Regular season
### Final standings

National Hockey League vte :
| | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts |
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 50 | 28 | 17 | 5 | 172 | 134 | +38 | 61 |
| 2 | Boston Bruins | 50 | 24 | 18 | 8 | 167 | 156 | +11 | 56 |
| 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 50 | 23 | 20 | 7 | 200 | 178 | +22 | 53 |
| 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 50 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 146 | 159 | −13 | 50 |
| 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 50 | 19 | 24 | 7 | 174 | 185 | −11 | 45 |
| 6 | New York Rangers | 50 | 13 | 28 | 9 | 144 | 191 | −47 | 35 |

### Record vs. opponents

1945–46 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 4–6 | 4–3–3 | 4–5–1 | 6–3–1 | 6–1–3 |
| Chicago | 6–4 | — | 3–4–3 | 4–5–1 | 5–2–3 | 5–5 |
| Detroit | 3–4–3 | 4–3–3 | — | 6–3–1 | 4–4–2 | 3–6–1 |
| Montreal | 5–4–1 | 5–4–1 | 3–6–1 | — | 8–1–1 | 7–2–1 |
| New York | 3–6–1 | 2–5–3 | 4–4–2 | 1–8–1 | — | 3–5–2 |
| Toronto | 1–6–3 | 5–5 | 6–3–1 | 2–7–1 | 5–3–2 | — |

## Schedule and results

Regular season results :
| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | L | October 24, 1945 | 4–5 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 0–1–0 |
| 2 | T | October 27, 1945 | 1–1 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 0–1–1 |
| 3 | L | October 28, 1945 | 0–7 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 0–2–1 |
| 4 | W | November 4, 1945 | 6–5 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 1–2–1 |
| 5 | W | November 7, 1945 | 4–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 2–2–1 |
| 6 | L | November 10, 1945 | 3–5 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 2–3–1 |
| 7 | W | November 11, 1945 | 7–1 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 3–3–1 |
| 8 | W | November 21, 1945 | 3–0 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 4–3–1 |
| 9 | W | November 25, 1945 | 5–3 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 5–3–1 |
| 10 | W | November 28, 1945 | 5–1 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 6–3–1 |
| 11 | T | December 2, 1945 | 2–2 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 6–3–2 |
| 12 | W | December 5, 1945 | 6–3 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 7–3–2 |
| 13 | L | December 9, 1945 | 3–8 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 7–4–2 |
| 14 | T | December 12, 1945 | 2–2 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 7–4–3 |
| 15 | T | December 15, 1945 | 3–3 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 7–4–4 |
| 16 | T | December 16, 1945 | 3–3 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 7–4–5 |
| 17 | W | December 19, 1945 | 8–7 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 8–4–5 |
| 18 | L | December 23, 1945 | 1–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 8–5–5 |
| 19 | W | December 29, 1945 | 4–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 9–5–5 |
| 20 | T | December 30, 1945 | 3–3 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 9–5–6 |
| 21 | W | January 1, 1946 | 4–0 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 10–5–6 |
| 22 | L | January 5, 1946 | 2–4 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 10–6–6 |
| 23 | L | January 6, 1946 | 2–4 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 10–7–6 |
| 24 | L | January 10, 1946 | 1–2 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 10–8–6 |
| 25 | W | January 12, 1946 | 4–3 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 11–8–6 |
| 26 | W | January 16, 1946 | 3–2 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 12–8–6 |
| 27 | W | January 17, 1946 | 4–2 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 13–8–6 |
| 28 | L | January 19, 1946 | 1–3 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 13–9–6 |
| 29 | W | January 20, 1946 | 3–0 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 14–9–6 |
| 30 | W | January 23, 1946 | 7–1 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 15–9–6 |
| 31 | W | January 26, 1946 | 4–2 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 16–9–6 |
| 32 | L | January 27, 1946 | 1–4 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 16–10–6 |
| 33 | W | January 30, 1946 | 4–3 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 17–10–6 |
| 34 | W | February 2, 1946 | 5–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 18–10–6 |
| 35 | L | February 3, 1946 | 1–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 18–11–6 |
| 36 | T | February 6, 1946 | 3–3 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 18–11–7 |
| 37 | L | February 10, 1946 | 0–2 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 18–12–7 |
| 38 | W | February 13, 1946 | 3–0 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 19–12–7 |
| 39 | T | February 14, 1946 | 2–2 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 19–12–8 |
| 40 | L | February 16, 1946 | 2–6 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 19–13–8 |
| 41 | L | February 20, 1946 | 3–4 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 19–14–8 |
| 42 | L | February 23, 1946 | 2–7 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 19–15–8 |
| 43 | L | February 24, 1946 | 3–4 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 19–16–8 |
| 44 | W | February 27, 1946 | 5–3 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 20–16–8 |
| 45 | L | March 3, 1946 | 3–5 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 20–17–8 |
| 46 | W | March 6, 1946 | 4–2 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 21–17–8 |
| 47 | W | March 10, 1946 | 7–3 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1945–46) | 22–17–8 |
| 48 | W | March 12, 1946 | 3–2 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 23–17–8 |
| 49 | L | March 13, 1946 | 3–5 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 23–18–8 |
| 50 | W | March 17, 1946 | 5–3 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 24–18–8 |

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

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Don Gallinger | C | 50 | 17 | 23 | 40 | 18 |
| Woody Dumart | LW | 50 | 22 | 12 | 34 | 2 |
| Bep Guidolin | LW | 50 | 15 | 17 | 32 | 62 |
| Milt Schmidt | C/D | 48 | 13 | 18 | 31 | 21 |
| Herb Cain | LW | 48 | 17 | 12 | 29 | 4 |
| Bill Shill | RW | 45 | 15 | 12 | 27 | 12 |
| Bill Cowley | C | 26 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 6 |
| Terry Reardon | C/RW | 49 | 12 | 11 | 23 | 21 |
| Bobby Bauer | RW | 39 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 4 |
| Jack McGill | C | 46 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 21 |
| Pat Egan | D | 41 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 32 |
| Jack Crawford | D | 48 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 10 |
| Murray Henderson | D | 48 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 30 |
| Jack Church | D | 43 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 28 |
| Ken Smith | LW | 23 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0 |
| Dit Clapper | RW/D | 30 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Roy Conacher | LW | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Paul Bibeault | G | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frank Brimsek | G | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gordie Bruce | LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Armand Delmonte | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fern Flaman | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike McMahon | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
| Frank Brimsek | 2040 | 34 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 111 | 3.26 | 2 |
| Paul Bibeault | 960 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 45 | 2.81 | 2 |
| Team: | 3000 | 50 | 24 | 18 | 8 | 156 | 3.12 | 4 |

### Playoffs
#### Scoring

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Milt Schmidt | C/D | 10 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
| Bep Guidolin | LW | 10 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| Bobby Bauer | RW | 10 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| Woody Dumart | LW | 10 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Don Gallinger | C | 10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| Terry Reardon | C/RW | 10 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Bill Cowley | C | 10 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Ken Smith | LW | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Pat Egan | D | 10 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Jack Crawford | D | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Bill Shill | RW | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Murray Henderson | D | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Herb Cain | LW | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Frank Brimsek | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Church | D | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Dit Clapper | RW/D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Roy Conacher | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack McGill | C | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | GA | GAA | SO |
| Frank Brimsek | 651 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 29 | 2.67 | 0 |
| Team: | 651 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 29 | 2.67 | 0 |
    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;