1938–39 New York Rangers season

1938–39 New York Rangers
1938–39 New York Rangers
League	2nd NHL
1938–39 record	26–16–6
Home record	13–8–3
Road record	13–8–3
Goals for	149
Goals against	105
Team information
General manager	Lester Patrick
Coach	Lester Patrick
Captain	Art Coulter
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Alex Shibicky (24)
Assists	Ott Heller (23)
Points	Clint Smith (41)
Penalty minutes	Muzz Patrick (64)
Wins	Dave Kerr (26)
Goals against average	Dave Kerr (2.12)
	← 1937–38 1939–40 →

The 1938–39 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 13th season. New York finished second in the NHL in regular season points with 58, and qualified for the playoffs. In the league semi-finals, the Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games.^[1]

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Boston Bruins	48	36	10	2	156	76	74
New York Rangers	48	26	16	6	149	105	58
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	19	20	9	114	107	47
New York Americans	48	17	21	10	119	157	44
Detroit Red Wings	48	18	24	6	107	128	42
Montreal Canadiens	48	15	24	9	115	146	39
Chicago Black Hawks	48	12	28	8	91	132	32

^[2]

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Record vs. opponents

1938–39 NHL Records ^[3]
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MTL	NYA	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	8–0	7–1	6–2	5–2–1	5–3	5–2–1
Chicago	0–8	—	1–5–2	4–4	2–4–2	3–4–1	2–3–3
Detroit	1–7	5–1–2	—	4–3–1	3–3–2	2–6	3–4–1
Montreal	2–6	4–4	3–4–1	—	3–2–3	1–4–3	2–4–2
N.Y. Americans	2–5–1	4–2–2	3–3–2	2–3–3	—	2–5–1	4–3–1
N.Y. Rangers	3–5	4–3–1	6–2	4–1–3	5–2–1	—	4–3–1
Toronto	2–5–1	3–2–2	4–3–1	4–2–2	3–4–1	3–4–1	—

Schedule and results

1938–39 regular season^[4]

November: 5–2–0 (home: 3–1–0; road: 2–1–0)

Game	November	Opponent	Score	Record
1	13	@ Detroit Red Wings	4–3	1–0–0
2	15	Detroit Red Wings	2–0	2–0–0
3	17	@ Chicago Black Hawks	1–0	3–0–0
4	20	Montreal Canadiens	2–1	4–0–0
5	22	@ Boston Bruins	4–2	4–1–0
6	24	Toronto Maple Leafs	6–2	5–1–0
7	27	Chicago Black Hawks	1–0	5–2–0

December: 7–3–1 (home: 2–2–1; road: 5–1–0)

Game	December	Opponent	Score	Record
8	4	@ New York Americans	6–1	6–2–0
9	8	@ Montreal Canadiens	6–5	7–2–0
10	11	Boston Bruins	3–0	7–3–0
11	15	New York Americans	1 – 1 OT	7–3–1
12	17	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	3–2	8–3–1
13	18	@ Chicago Black Hawks	5–0	8–4–1
14	20	Detroit Red Wings	6–2	9–4–1
15	22	@ Montreal Canadiens	5–2	10–4–1
16	25	@ Boston Bruins	1–0	11–4–1
17	26	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–0	11–5–1
18	31	Boston Bruins	2 – 1 OT	12–5–1

January: 5–3–2 (home: 5–1–0; road: 0–2–2)

Game	January	Opponent	Score	Record
19	2	Detroit Red Wings	3–0	13–5–1
20	5	@ Montreal Canadiens	2 – 2 OT	13–5–2
21	8	New York Americans	5–2	14–5–2
22	10	@ New York Americans	1 – 0 OT	14–6–2
23	12	Chicago Black Hawks	6–0	15–6–2
24	15	@ Chicago Black Hawks	1 – 1 OT	15–6–3
25	19	@ Detroit Red Wings	4–3	15–7–3
26	22	Montreal Canadiens	7–3	16–7–3
27	26	New York Americans	1–0	16–8–3
28	31	Chicago Black Hawks	3–2	17–8–3

February: 6–3–2 (home: 2–2–1; road: 4–1–1)

Game	February	Opponent	Score	Record
29	2	@ New York Americans	7–0	18–8–3
30	4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	4–2	19–8–3
31	5	Toronto Maple Leafs	5 – 5 OT	19–8–4
32	9	Boston Bruins	4–2	19–9–4
33	12	@ Boston Bruins	3–2	20–9–4
34	16	New York Americans	2–1	21–9–4
35	18	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	2–1	21–10–4
36	21	Detroit Red Wings	7–3	22–10–4
37	23	@ Detroit Red Wings	4–2	23–10–4
38	25	@ Montreal Canadiens	1 – 1 OT	23–10–5
39	26	Montreal Canadiens	3–0	23–11–5

March: 3–5–1 (home: 1–2–1; road: 2–3–0)

Game	March	Opponent	Score	Record
40	2	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	23–12–5
41	5	@ Boston Bruins	5 – 3 OT	23–13–5
42	7	Montreal Canadiens	2 – 2 OT	23–13–6
43	9	@ Chicago Black Hawks	8–3	24–13–6
44	12	Boston Bruins	4–2	24–14–6
45	14	@ Detroit Red Wings	3–2	24–15–6
46	16	@ New York Americans	11–5	25–15–6
47	18	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	2–1	25–16–6
48	19	Toronto Maple Leafs	6–2	26–16–6

Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point)

Playoffs

1939 Stanley Cup playoffs^[4]

Semifinals vs. (1) Boston Bruins – Boston wins 4–3

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	March 21	Boston Bruins	2–1	New York Rangers	OT	Boston leads series 1–0
2	March 23	New York Rangers	2–3	Boston Bruins	OT	Boston leads series 2–0
3	March 25	New York Rangers	1–4	Boston Bruins		Boston leads series 3–0
4	March 28	Boston Bruins	1–2	New York Rangers		Boston leads series 3–1
5	March 30	New York Rangers	2–1	Boston Bruins	OT	Boston leads series 3–2
6	April 1	Boston Bruins	1–3	New York Rangers		Series tied 3–3
7	April 2	New York Rangers	1–2	Boston Bruins	OT	Boston wins series 4–3

Legend: Win Loss

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Clint Smith	48	21	20	41	2
Neil Colville	47	18	19	37	12
Phil Watson	48	15	22	37	42
Bryan Hextall	48	20	15	35	18
Alex Shibicky	48	24	9	33	24
Wilbert Hiller	48	10	19	29	22
Lynn Patrick	35	8	21	29	25
Mac Colville	48	7	21	28	26
Cecil Dillon	48	12	15	27	6
Ehrhardt Heller	48	0	23	23	42
Walter Pratt	48	2	19	21	20
George Allen	19	6	6	12	10
Arthur Coulter	44	4	8	12	58
Murray Patrick	48	1	10	11	64
Joe Krol	1	1	1	2	0
Bill Carse	1	0	1	1	0
Larry Molyneaux	43	0	1	1	18

Playoffs
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Alex Shibicky	7	3	1	4	2
Walter Pratt	7	1	2	3	9
Mac Colville	7	1	2	3	4
Clint Smith	7	1	2	3	0
Bill Carse	6	1	1	2	0
Arthur Coulter	7	1	1	2	6
Lynn Patrick	7	1	1	2	0
Phil Watson	7	1	1	2	7
Neil Colville	7	0	2	2	2
Murray Patrick	7	1	0	1	17
Ehrhardt Heller	7	0	1	1	10
Wilbert Hiller	7	1	0	1	9
Bryan Hextall	7	0	1	1	4
George Allen	7	0	0	0	4
Cecil Dillon	1	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Dave Kerr	48	2970	26	16	6	105	2.12	6

Playoffs
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Bert Gardiner	6	433	3	3	12	1.66	0
Dave Kerr	1	119	0	1	2	1.01	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

^[5]

Note:

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;

References

^ "1938–39 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved June 4, 2009.
^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ ^a ^b "1938-39 New York Rangers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
^ "1938–39 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

[hr-1] "1938–39 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved June 4, 2009.

[standings-ref-2] Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.

[3] "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

[Gamelog-4] "1938-39 New York Rangers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 1, 2025.

[5] "1938–39 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e New York Rangers seasons
1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 1938–39 NHL season
Teams	Boston Chicago Detroit Montreal NY Americans NY Rangers Toronto
See also	1939 Stanley Cup Finals Transactions