# 1944–45 Boston Bruins season

The 1944–45 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 21st season in the NHL.

## Regular season
### Final standings

National Hockey League vte :
| | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts |
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 50 | 38 | 8 | 4 | 228 | 121 | +107 | 80 |
| 2 | Detroit Red Wings | 50 | 31 | 14 | 5 | 218 | 161 | +57 | 67 |
| 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 50 | 24 | 22 | 4 | 183 | 161 | +22 | 52 |
| 4 | Boston Bruins | 50 | 16 | 30 | 4 | 179 | 219 | −40 | 36 |
| 5 | Chicago Black Hawks | 50 | 13 | 30 | 7 | 141 | 194 | −53 | 33 |
| 6 | New York Rangers | 50 | 11 | 29 | 10 | 154 | 247 | −93 | 32 |

### Record vs. opponents

1944–45 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 7–3 | 0–9–1 | 0–10 | 4–3–3 | 5–5 |
| Chicago | 5–5 | — | 5–5 | 0–8–2 | 7–1–2 | 5–4–1 |
| Detroit | 9–0–1 | 7–3 | — | 1–8–1 | 6–2–2 | 8–1–1 |
| Montreal | 10–0 | 7–1–2 | 8–1–1 | — | 9–1 | 4–5–1 |
| New York | 3–4–3 | 3–3–4 | 2–6–2 | 1–9 | — | 2–7–1 |
| Toronto | 5–5 | 6–3–1 | 1–8–1 | 5–4–1 | 7–2–1 | — |

## Schedule and results

Regular season schedule :
| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | L | October 28, 1944 | 2–3 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 0–1–0 |
| 2 | L | October 29, 1944 | 1–7 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 0–2–0 |
| 3 | L | November 4, 1944 | 2–7 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 0–3–0 |
| 4 | W | November 5, 1944 | 6–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 1–3–0 |
| 5 | T | November 12, 1944 | 5–5 | @ New York Rangers (1944–45) | 1–3–1 |
| 6 | W | November 14, 1944 | 7–5 | Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 2–3–1 |
| 7 | L | November 18, 1944 | 3–6 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 2–4–1 |
| 8 | L | November 19, 1944 | 3–4 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 2–5–1 |
| 9 | L | November 21, 1944 | 1–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 2–6–1 |
| 10 | W | November 23, 1944 | 5–1 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 3–6–1 |
| 11 | W | November 26, 1944 | 8–4 | New York Rangers (1944–45) | 4–6–1 |
| 12 | L | November 28, 1944 | 3–6 | Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 4–7–1 |
| 13 | W | November 30, 1944 | 7–2 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 5–7–1 |
| 14 | W | December 3, 1944 | 5–4 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 6–7–1 |
| 15 | L | December 5, 1944 | 1–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 6–8–1 |
| 16 | W | December 9, 1944 | 5–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 7–8–1 |
| 17 | L | December 10, 1944 | 6–7 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 7–9–1 |
| 18 | W | December 12, 1944 | 7–5 | New York Rangers (1944–45) | 8–9–1 |
| 19 | L | December 16, 1944 | 5–8 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 8–10–1 |
| 20 | L | December 19, 1944 | 3–6 | Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 8–11–1 |
| 21 | W | December 28, 1944 | 2–1 | Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 9–11–1 |
| 22 | L | December 31, 1944 | 2–3 | @ New York Rangers (1944–45) | 9–12–1 |
| 23 | L | January 2, 1945 | 3–6 | Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 9–13–1 |
| 24 | L | January 7, 1945 | 4–8 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 9–14–1 |
| 25 | L | January 11, 1945 | 1–5 | @ New York Rangers (1944–45) | 9–15–1 |
| 26 | L | January 13, 1945 | 1–2 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 9–16–1 |
| 27 | L | January 14, 1945 | 1–4 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 9–17–1 |
| 28 | W | January 16, 1945 | 5–3 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 10–17–1 |
| 29 | W | January 21, 1945 | 14–3 | New York Rangers (1944–45) | 11–17–1 |
| 30 | L | January 23, 1945 | 4–5 | Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 11–18–1 |
| 31 | L | January 27, 1945 | 3–11 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 11–19–1 |
| 32 | L | January 28, 1945 | 1–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 11–20–1 |
| 33 | L | January 30, 1945 | 3–5 | Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 11–21–1 |
| 34 | W | February 3, 1945 | 4–2 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 12–21–1 |
| 35 | T | February 4, 1945 | 3–3 | New York Rangers (1944–45) | 12–21–2 |
| 36 | L | February 6, 1945 | 1–5 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 12–22–2 |
| 37 | L | February 11, 1945 | 2–3 | Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 12–23–2 |
| 38 | W | February 13, 1945 | 3–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 13–23–2 |
| 39 | W | February 17, 1945 | 6–1 | New York Rangers (1944–45) | 14–23–2 |
| 40 | L | February 18, 1945 | 1–2 | @ New York Rangers (1944–45) | 14–24–2 |
| 41 | L | February 21, 1945 | 0–5 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 14–25–2 |
| 42 | T | February 25, 1945 | 4–4 | @ New York Rangers (1944–45) | 14–25–3 |
| 43 | L | March 4, 1945 | 4–10 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 14–26–3 |
| 44 | L | March 6, 1945 | 2–5 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 14–27–3 |
| 45 | L | March 8, 1945 | 2–3 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 14–28–3 |
| 46 | L | March 10, 1945 | 2–9 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1944–45) | 14–29–3 |
| 47 | W | March 11, 1945 | 7–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 15–29–3 |
| 48 | T | March 13, 1945 | 2–2 | Detroit Red Wings (1944–45) | 15–29–4 |
| 49 | W | March 15, 1945 | 5–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1944–45) | 16–29–4 |
| 50 | L | March 18, 1945 | 2–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1944–45) | 16–30–4 |

## Playoffs

The Detroit Red Wings finished second in the league with 67 points. The Boston Bruins finished fourth with 36 points. This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams with Detroit winning the two of the three previous series. They last met in the 1943 Stanley Cup Finals where the Red Wings won in four games. Detroit won this season's ten-game regular-season series earning nineteen of twenty points.
* Detroit won series 4–3

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

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Bill Cowley | C | 49 | 25 | 40 | 65 | 12 |
| Herb Cain | LW | 50 | 32 | 13 | 45 | 16 |
| Ken Smith | LW | 49 | 20 | 14 | 34 | 2 |
| Bill Jennings | RW | 39 | 20 | 13 | 33 | 25 |
| Frank Mario | C | 44 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 24 |
| Armand Gaudreault | LW | 44 | 15 | 9 | 24 | 27 |
| Bill Cupolo | RW | 47 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 10 |
| Jack Crawford | D | 40 | 5 | 19 | 24 | 10 |
| Dit Clapper | RW/D | 46 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 16 |
| Pat Egan | D | 48 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 86 |
| Jean-Paul Gladu | LW | 40 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 2 |
| Gino Rozzini | C | 31 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 |
| Art Jackson | C | 19 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 10 |
| Jack Shewchuk | D | 47 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 31 |
| Jack McGill | C | 14 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Bill Thoms | C | 17 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Norm Calladine | C | 11 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Tom Brennan | RW | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Murray Henderson | D | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Harvey Bennett | G | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Bibeault | G | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcel Fillion | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fern Flaman | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Leswick | W | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
| Harvey Bennett | 1470 | 25 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 103 | 4.20 | 0 |
| Paul Bibeault | 1530 | 26 | 6 | 18 | 2 | 116 | 4.55 | 0 |
| Team: | 3000 | 50 | 16 | 30 | 4 | 219 | 4.38 | 0 |

### Playoffs
#### Scoring

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Herb Cain | LW | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Ken Smith | LW | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Bill Cowley | C | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Jack McGill | C | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Jack Crawford | D | 7 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Jean-Paul Gladu | LW | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Bill Jennings | RW | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Bill Cupolo | RW | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Gino Rozzini | C | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Pat Egan | D | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Armand Gaudreault | LW | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Murray Henderson | D | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Paul Bibeault | G | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dit Clapper | RW/D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Thoms | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | GA | GAA | SO |
| Paul Bibeault | 437 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 22 | 3.02 | 0 |
| Team: | 437 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 22 | 3.02 | 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;