1938–39 New York Rangers season

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)

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

Main article: 1939 Stanley Cup 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

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