1930–31 NHL season

The 1930–31 NHL season was the fourteenth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks three games to two in a best-of-five Stanley Cup final for their second Cup win in a row.

Art Ross bitterly complained about the Stanley Cup final setup. His team had been beaten in two games in a row by the Montreal Canadiens in 1929–30. As a result, the Board of Governors decided to make the final a best of five series.

Regular season
Final standings
GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold
 Canadian Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM Montreal Canadiens  44  26  10  8  60  129  89  602 Toronto Maple Leafs  44  22  13  9  53  118  99  540 Montreal Maroons  44  20  18  6  46  105  106  568 New York Americans  44  18  16  10  46  76  74  495 Ottawa Senators  44  10  30  4  24  91  142  486

 American Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM Boston Bruins  44  28  10  6  62  143  90  403 Chicago Black Hawks  44  24  17  3  51  108  78 416 New York Rangers  44  19  16  9  47  106  87  514 Detroit Falcons  44  16  21  7  39  102  105  429 Philadelphia Quakers  44  4  36  4  12  76  184  477

Scoring leaders
GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes
 Player Team GP G A Pts PIM Howie Morenz Montreal Canadiens  39  28  23  51  49 Ebbie Goodfellow Detroit Red Wings  44  25  23  48  32 Charlie Conacher Toronto Maple Leafs  37  31  12  43  78 Bill Cook New York Rangers  43  30  12  42  39 Ace Bailey Toronto Maple Leafs  40  23  19  42  46 Joe Primeau Toronto Maple Leafs  38  9  32  41  18 Nels Stewart Montreal Maroons  42  25  14  39  75 Frank Boucher New York Rangers  44  12  27  39  20 Cooney Weiland Boston Bruins  44  25  13  38  14 Bun Cook New York Rangers  44  18  17  35  72 Aurel Joliat Montreal Canadiens  43  13  22  35  73

Stanley Cup playoffs
On 26 March, during the second game of the best-of-five series between the Bruins and Canadiens, Art Ross of Boston pulled his goaltender for an extra player while down 1–0 with 40 seconds left in the final period. This marked the first time in NHL history that a goalie was pulled for an extra attacker.

In the finals, the Chicago Black Hawks took an early two games to one lead in the newly expanded best-of-five Stanley Cup finals but the Montreal Canadiens came back and won the series three games to two for their second consecutive Stanley Cup win.

Playoff bracket

Finals
Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Blackhawks
 Date Away Score Home Score NotesApril 3Montreal Canadiens2Chicago Blackhawks1April 5Montreal Canadiens1Chicago Blackhawks2 2OTApril 9Chicago Blackhawks3Montreal Canadiens2 3OTApril 11Chicago Blackhawks1Montreal Canadiens2 April 14Chicago Blackhawks1Montreal Canadiens2 
Montreal wins best-of-five series 3–2.

NHL awards
 1930–31 NHL awardsO'Brien Trophy:  Montreal CanadiensPrince of Wales Trophy:  Boston BruinsHart Memorial Trophy:  Howie Morenz, Montreal CanadiensLady Byng Trophy:  Frank Boucher, New York RangersVezina Trophy:  Roy Worters, New York Americans

All-Star teams
 First Team    Position    Second TeamCharlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks GTiny Thompson, Boston BruinsEddie Shore, Boston Bruins DSylvio Mantha, Montreal CanadiensKing Clancy, Toronto Maple Leafs DChing Johnson, New York RangersHowie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens CFrank Boucher, New York RangersBill Cook, New York Rangers RWDit Clapper, Boston BruinsAurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens LWBun Cook, New York RangersLester Patrick, New York Rangers CoachDick Irvin, Chicago Black Hawks

First games
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1930–31 (listed with their first team, stars(*) mark start in playoffs):
Art Chapman, Boston Bruins
Doc Romnes, Chicago Black Hawks
John Sorrell, Detroit Falcons
Johnny Gagnon, Montreal Canadiens
Paul Haynes, Montreal Maroons
Dave Kerr, Montreal Maroons
Alex Levinsky, Toronto Maple Leafs
Bob Gracie, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1930–31 (listed with their last team):
Frank Fredrickson, Detroit Falcons
Bert McCaffrey, Montreal Canadiens
Joe Simpson, New York Americans
Babe Dye, Toronto Maple Leafs

References
Hockey Database
NHL.com

Category:1931 in North America
Category:1930
Category:National Hockey League seasons
Category:1931 in sports
Category:1930 in sports