1944 – 45 Toronto Maple Leafs season The 1944 – 45 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the club ' s twenty - eighth season in the NHL . Toronto had a mediocre 1943 – 44 season , finishing the year with a 23 – 23 – 4 record , earning 50 points , and a third place finish in the NHL standings . The Leafs were then quickly eliminated by their arch rivals , the Montreal Canadiens , in the first round of the playoffs . Regular season . Toronto was a very streaky club during the regular season , where they started off very hot , winning their first six games , and 10 of their first 14 , before a mid - season slump , when they managed a 5 – 10 – 2 record in 17 games . The Leafs would continue to be a streaky club for the remainder of the year , which included a five game winning streak , and a seven game winless streak . Overall , the Maple Leafs managed to end the season with a 24 – 22 – 4 record , earning 52 points , and third place in the NHL standings . The Leafs offense was led teenage superstar Ted Kennedy , who turned 19 during the season , and had a club high 29 goals and 54 points . Gus Bodnar , who was also 19 years old , led the club with 36 assists , while Lorne Carr put together another solid season , scoring 21 goals and adding 25 assists for 46 points . Sweeney Schriner , who only appeared in 26 games , managed to score 22 goals and 37 points . Babe Pratt led the Leafs defense , scoring 18 goals and 41 points , while fellow blueliner Reg Hamilton had 15 points , and a team high 41 penalty minutes . In goal , rookie Frank McCool had all the action , winning 24 games and posting a 3 . 22 GAA , while earning 4 shutouts . McCool would win the Calder Trophy for his efforts . The Maple Leafs would open the playoffs against the heavily favoured and defending Stanley Cup champions , the Montreal Canadiens in a best of 7 series . The Canadiens dominated the league , as they had a record of 38 – 8 – 4 , recording 80 points , which was 28 more than the Leafs . Toronto stunned the Canadiens in the series opener at the Montreal Forum , as Frank McCool shut out the Habs in a 1 – 0 Leafs victory . The Leafs then went up 2 – 0 in the series , winning a close game by a 3 – 2 score . The series shifted to Maple Leaf Gardens , however , the Canadiens roared back , easily defeating Toronto 4 – 1 to cut the Leafs series lead to 2 – 1 . The fourth game was decided in overtime , and it was the Leafs who were victorious , winning 4 – 3 , and taking a commanding 3 – 1 series lead . The series moved back to Montreal for the fifth game , and the Canadiens easily dismantled the Leafs , winning 10 – 3 , and sending the series back to Toronto for the sixth game . The Maple Leafs would complete the upset , hanging on for a 4 – 3 win in the game , and win the series 4 – 2 . Toronto ' s opponent in the 1945 Stanley Cup Finals was the Detroit Red Wings , who finished the regular season with a 31 – 14 – 5 record , earning 67 points , which was 15 higher than the Leafs . The Red Wings had defeated the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round . Toronto , led by Frank McCool , would shutout the Red Wings in the first two games held at the Detroit Olympia for an early series lead . The Maple Leafs returned home for the third game , and took a 3 – 0 series lead as McCool would earn another shutout as Toronto won the game 1 – 0 . The Red Wings managed to finally find the back of the net in the fourth game , winning 5 – 3 to avoid the sweep . Detroit goaltender Harry Lumley then shutout the Leafs in the fifth game by a score of 2 – 0 , and he would once again earn a shutout in the sixth game , as Detroit won the game 1 – 0 in overtime to set up a seventh and deciding game . Toronto , led by goaltender Frank McCool and Babe Pratt , who scored the series winning goal , managed to hang on for a 2 – 1 victory in the seventh game to win the Stanley Cup for the fifth time in club history , and their first title in three years . Transactions . 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Champions . Don Metz , Frank McCool , Wally Stanowski , Reg Hamilton , Elwin Morris , John McCreedy , Tommy O ' Neill , Ted Kennedy , Babe Pratt , Gus Bodnar , Art Jackson , Jack McLean , Mel Hill , Nick Metz , Bob Davidson ( captain ) , Dave Schriner , Lorne Carr , Conn Smythe ( manager ) , Hap Day ( coach ) , Frank Selke ( business manager ) , Tim Daly ( trainer )