1941 – 42 Toronto Maple Leafs season The 1941 – 42 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the club ' s twenty - fifth season in the NHL . The Maple Leafs were coming off a very solid season in 1940 – 41 , finishing with their second highest point total in club history , as they had a 28 – 14 – 6 record , earning 62 points , which was two fewer than the 1934 – 35 team accumulated . Toronto would then beat the Detroit Red Wings in the Final by 4 wins to 3 after losing the first three games . It was their first win since 1932 . Off - season . Before Smythe left to take up training with his 30th Battery , he signed up three rookies to the Maple Leafs : Bob Goldham , Ernie Dickens and John McCreedy . Lorne Carr ' s contract was purchased from the New York Americans . The final addition to the team was Pete Langelle , who made the team after playing part - time in previous seasons . Regular season . Toronto got off to a quick start , winning 14 of their first 19 games , battling with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers for top spot in the NHL . A 4 – 7 – 3 slump in their next 14 games saw Toronto fall behind the Bruins and Rangers , however , the Leafs followed up their slump by posting a 7 – 1 – 0 record in their next 8 games , before dropping 5 of final 7 games to end the season . Toronto finished the year with a record of 27 – 18 – 3 , recording 57 points , and finishing in second place in the NHL , three points behind the first place New York Rangers . The Leafs offense was led by Syl Apps , who despite missing 10 games to injuries , finished tied for the club lead in points with 41 . Gordie Drillon also finished with 41 points , and he scored a team best 23 goals , while Billy Taylor had a club high 26 assists . Sweeney Schriner managed to join Drillon in the 20 goal club , as he managed to get 20 goals and earned 36 points . Bucko McDonald led the Leafs blueline , recording 21 points , while Rudolph Kampman provided the team toughness , getting 67 penalty minutes . In goal , Turk Broda got all the action , winning 27 games and posting a 2 . 76 GAA , along with earning 6 shutouts . The Maple Leafs would open the playoffs against the best team in the league , the New York Rangers in a best of seven semi - final series . The Leafs opened the series with a victory at Maple Leaf Gardens with a solid 3 – 1 win , then managed to go up two games by defeating the Rangers 4 – 2 at Madison Square Garden . New York managed to take the third game , shutting out Toronto 3 – 0 , however , the Leafs would go up 3 – 1 in the series , winning the fourth game 2 – 1 at home . New York staved off elimination in the fifth game , holding off Toronto for a 3 – 1 win , however , the Leafs ended the series in the sixth game , hanging on for a 3 – 2 victory , and a spot in the Stanley Cup finals . Toronto ' s opponent in the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals was the Detroit Red Wings , who finished the year with a weak 19 – 25 – 4 record , ending up in fifth in the league . Detroit defeated the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins to earn a spot in the finals . The Wings surprised Toronto in the series opener , winning the game 3 – 2 , then Detroit managed to take the second game by a 4 – 2 score to go home with a 2 – 0 series lead . The Red Wings stayed hot , winning the third game at the Detroit Olympia 5 – 2 , pushing the Leafs to the brink of elimination . Toronto responded in the fourth game , narrowly defeating Detroit 4 – 3 to cut the Wings series lead to 3 – 1 . The Leafs returned home for the fifth game , and dominated Detroit , winning the game 9 – 3 and now were down 3 – 2 in the series . Turk Broda stole the show in the sixth game , shutting out Detroit 3 – 0 to even the series up , and the Leafs completed their miracle comeback with a 3 – 1 victory in the seventh and deciding game in front of a record breaking crowd of over 16 , 000 fans to win the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in club history , and first time since the 1931 – 32 season . This comeback was never repeated in a stanley cup finals since .