The 1948 Stanley Cup playoffs, the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL), began with four teams on March 4, 1948. It concluded on April 14, with the Toronto Maple Leafs defeating the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup.
Series
editAll dates in 1948
Semifinals
editThe first round of the playoffs saw third place Boston Bruins matched up with first place Toronto Maple Leafs and fourth place New York Rangers against second place Detroit Red Wings.
Toronto vs. Boston
editToronto beat Boston 4 games to 1. Although Boston kept it close. Three of the five games were decided by one goal.
| March 24 | Boston Bruins | 4-5 | OT | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | ||
| Murray Henderson (1) - 1:18 | First period | 11:29 - Bill Ezinicki (1) | ||||||
| Ed Harrison (1) - 8:39 | Second period | 17:33 - Max Bentley (1) | ||||||
| Pat Egan (1) - 2:35 Ken Smith (1) - 8:38 |
Third period | 12:03 - Syl Apps (1) 15:34 - Jimmy Thomson (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 17:03 - Nick Metz (1) | ||||||
| Frank Brimsek | Goalie stats | Turk Broda | ||||||
| March 27 | Boston Bruins | 3-5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | |||
| Johnny Peirson (1) - pp - 8:39 | First period | 5:41 - Ted Kennedy (1) 19:54 - pp - Ted Kennedy (2) | ||||||
| Pete Babando (1) - pp - 2:16 | Second period | 6:34 - Ted Kennedy (3) 12:24 - Ted Kennedy (4) | ||||||
| Milt Schmidt (1) - 10:43 | Third period | 7:37 - Max Bentley (2) | ||||||
| Frank Brimsek | Goalie stats | Turk Broda | ||||||
| March 30 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 5-1 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
| Howie Meeker (1) - 3:40 Bill Barilko (1) - 12:28 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Ted Kennedy (5) - 9:24 | Second period | 1:10 - Milt Schmidt (2) | ||||||
| Garth Boesch (1) - 7:00 Nick Metz (2) - 17:49 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Turk Broda | Goalie stats | Frank Brimsek | ||||||
| April 1 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 2-3 | Boston Bruins | Boston Garden | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 2:47 - Ed Sandford (1) | ||||||
| Bill Ezinicki (2) - 1:36 | Second period | 7:31 - Johnny Peirson (2) | ||||||
| Syl Apps (2) - 15:08 | Third period | 13:24 - Johnny Peirson (3) | ||||||
| Turk Broda | Goalie stats | Frank Brimsek | ||||||
| April 3 | Boston Bruins | 2-3 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | |||
| Jimmy Peters (1) - pp - 5:20 | First period | 8:41 - Vic Lynn (1) 16:13 - Les Costello (1) | ||||||
| Ken Smith (2) - 12:08 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 5:52 - Ted Kennedy (6) | ||||||
| Frank Brimsek | Goalie stats | Turk Broda | ||||||
| Toronto won series 4–1 | |
NY Rangers vs. Detroit
editIt looked initially to be a close series as, after the Blueshirts lost the first two games, the Wings Production line got lazy. But wingers, Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe chose follow Lindsay's recent quote —
“In this game, you have to be mean, or you're going to get pushed around.”
(Glenn Liebman, Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the Game's Funniest One Liners" (Contemporary Books, 1996) ) —
Detroit was now pursuing Lord Stanley's Mug for the fourth time in six years.
| March 24 | New York Rangers | 1-2 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 15:04 - Ted Lindsay (1) 19:06 - pp - Jim Conacher (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Tony Leswick (1) - 3:35 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Chuck Rayner | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| March 26 | New York Rangers | 2-5 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Edgar Laprade (1) - 14:53 | First period | 4:00 - Jim McFadden (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 4:57 - Jim McFadden (2) 8:18 - pp - Marty Pavelich (1) | ||||||
| Neil Colville (1) - 10:51 | Third period | 10:04 - Leo Reise (1) 14:49 - Marty Pavelich (2) | ||||||
| Chuck Rayner | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| March 28 | Detroit Red Wings | 2-3 | New York Rangers | Madison Square Garden III | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 3:32 - Phil Watson (1) 10:35 - Phil Watson (2) | ||||||
| Ted Lindsay (2) - 19:40 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jack Stewart (1) - 16:03 | Third period | 9:02 - Tony Leswick (2) | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Chuck Rayner | ||||||
| March 30 | Detroit Red Wings | 1-3 | New York Rangers | Madison Square Garden III | Recap | |||
| Jim McFadden (3) - 3:41 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 10:08 - pp - Bryan Hextall (1) 10:41 - Eddie Kullman (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 13:32 - Tony Leswick (3) | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Chuck Rayner | ||||||
| April 1 | New York Rangers | 1-3 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 4:02 - pp - Red Kelly (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 14:13 - pp - Pete Horeck (1) | ||||||
| Buddy O'Connor (1) - 12:49 | Third period | 13:55 - Red Kelly (2) | ||||||
| Chuck Rayner | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| April 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 4-2 | New York Rangers | Madison Square Garden III | Recap | |||
| Red Kelly (3) - pp - 13:46 Gordie Howe (1) - pp - 14:30 Pat Lundy (1) - 17:51 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jim McFadden (4) - 10:49 | Third period | 12:49 - Don Raleigh (1) 19:08 - Don Raleigh (2) | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Chuck Rayner | ||||||
| Detroit won series 4–2 | |
Finals
edit
| April 7 | Detroit Red Wings | 3-5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | |||
| Jim McFadden (5) - 7:20 | First period | 8:21 - Harry Watson (1) 9:04 - Joe Klukay (1) 18:24 - Syl Apps (3) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 14:31 - Gus Mortson (1) 19:21 - Howie Meeker (2) | ||||||
| Jim Conacher (2) - 4:28 Ted Lindsay (3) - 5:25 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Turk Broda | ||||||
| April 10 | Detroit Red Wings | 2-4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Maple Leaf Gardens | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 13:31 - Max Bentley (3) | ||||||
| Pete Horeck (2) - 18:18 | Second period | 3:38 - pp - Bill Ezinicki (3) 17:16 - pp - Max Bentley (4) 18:50 - Harry Watson (2) | ||||||
| Fern Gauthier (1) - pp - 17:18 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Harry Lumley | Goalie stats | Turk Broda | ||||||
| April 11 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 2-0 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Harry Watson (3) - 19:42 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Vic Lynn (2) - 15:16 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Turk Broda | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| April 14 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 7-2 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Ted Kennedy (7) - pp - 2:51 Garth Boesch (2) - sh - 5:03 Harry Watson (4) - 11:13 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Syl Apps (4) - 4:26 Ted Kennedy (8) - 9:42 Harry Watson (5) - sh - 11:38 |
Second period | 2:41 - Leo Reise (2) | ||||||
| Les Costello (2) - pp - 14:37 | Third period | 18:48 - Pete Horeck (3) | ||||||
| Turk Broda | Goalie stats | Harry Lumley | ||||||
| Toronto won series 4–0 | |
Playoff bracket
edit| Semifinals | Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||
| 1 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 4 | |||||||
| 3 | Boston Bruins | 1 | |||||||
| 1 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 4 | |||||||
| 2 | Detroit Red Wings | 0 | |||||||
| 2 | Detroit Red Wings | 4 | |||||||
| 4 | New York Rangers | 2 | |||||||
Playoff scoring leaders
editGP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ted Kennedy | Toronto Maple Leafs | 9 | 8 | 6 | 14 |
| Max Bentley | Toronto Maple Leafs | 9 | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| Pete Horeck | Detroit Red Wings | 10 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Jim McFadden | Detroit Red Wings | 10 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Syl Apps | Toronto Maple Leafs | 9 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Harry Watson | Toronto Maple Leafs | 9 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Milt Schmidt | Boston Bruins | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 |