1949 Maple Leafs defied odds to win Cup for third straight year

Legendary hockey reporter and analyst Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
This week, Stan looks at the 1948-49 Toronto Maple Leafs, who overcame a poor regular season to win their third straight Stanley Cup championship and become the NHL's first dynasty.

An NHL team that finishes under .500 during the regular season is not one ordinarily associated with a dynasty. There is, however, one exception: the 1948-49 Toronto Maple Leafs.
"My last club was the greatest team we ever had," owner-general manager Conn Smythe said after Toronto won the Cup in 1948, repeating their accomplishment of the previous year. "Maybe the NHL's best of all time."
But after the taste of champagne had evaporated, the Maple Leafs got the stunning news that center
Syl Apps
, their captain and the face of the franchise, had decided to retire. Apps, who had a banner season in 1947-48, surprised many by suddenly hanging up his skates at age 33. Though his teammates begged the future Hall of Famer to return, Apps stuck to his decision.
Forward
Nick Metz
, a four-time Cup winner with the Maple Leafs, also retired to his wheat farm in Wilcox, Saskatchewan. That left coach Hap Day without his leader and his best penalty-killer. Toronto also traded defenseman
Wally Stanowski
, another four-Cup man, to the New York Rangers for center
Cal Gardner
, who was supposed to replace Apps.

Still, Smythe liked his chances for an unheard-of third straight title. He liked the fact that young forwards
Bill Ezinicki
,
Ted Kennedy
,
Howie Meeker
and
Vic Lynn
were playoff-hardened, as were defensemen
Gus Mortson
,
Bill Barilko
and
Jimmy Thomson
. He also had future Hall of Fame goalie
Turk Broda
.
But training camp changed Smythe's mind. The rookies were too green, and Smythe realized that replacing Apps, Metz and Stanowski would be a formidable challenge. On opening night, Smythe exercised his inalienable right to change his mind and solemnly declared, "We're going to ask (coach) Hap Day to perform a miracle."
Before there were any miracles, there was mediocrity. Toronto
lost its season opener
, 4-1 at home to the Boston Bruins on Oct. 16. Five nights later, the Montreal Canadiens
defeated the Maple Leafs 5-0
at the Forum. They won three of their next four games, although that proved more illusory than anything. Gardner wasn't nearly as good as Apps, and the all-round play of Metz was missed.
"A lot of times they may think they're playing well out there on the ice, but you know they're really terrible," Day told author Jack Batten in "The Leafs in Autumn." "When a mental lag comes, it hits the whole team at once."
The Toronto media demanded improvements. A rumor circulated that the Maple Leafs would offer the Canadiens $100,000 for star forward
Maurice Richard
. The Globe and Mail even ran a photo of Richard with a Maple Leafs jersey superimposed on him.

Smythe was further unnerved when a photo of Ezinicki made the papers. The hard-hitting forward, also a championship golfer, was shown holding a 5-iron at the New Uplands Golf Club in the middle of the hockey season. He announced he had become the new golf pro and posed on the club's steps with owner William Kojola. It didn't help Smythe's disposition that Ezinicki was having a subpar season.
The news wasn't all bad. Center
Max Bentley
continued to excel on a line between
Joe Klukay
and rookie
Ray Timgren
. After a 3-1 midseason win against the Bruins, Smythe likened them to a trio of "dancing bantamweight boxers." Bentley played so well in a subsequent game that horse breeder Charlie Hemstead gave Max a 2-year old racehorse.
Despite all that, the Maple Leafs remained a sub-.500 team and finished 22-25 with 13 ties, The one piece of good news was that they were still good enough to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs by finishing fourth in the six-team NHL, seven points ahead of the fifth-place Chicago Blackhawks. That earned Toronto a matchup against the second-place Bruins in the Semifinals.
Boston was favored by most, but the Maple Leafs laughed off their critics. "None of the players were worried," Meeker said. "The fans were, and management and the writers. But we didn't really doubt we'd come out smelling sweet.
"Hap proved you could take 15 guys and discipline them to check and work hard in their own end. We always looked at the goals-against column. We were as happy allowing one goal and with scoring three. Day made us feel that way."
The Bruins were confident entering Game 1 at Boston Garden. "We'll win," captain
Milt Schmidt
said, "because we have the better club."

On paper, they might have. But when the puck dropped, the Maple Leafs looked like defending champions rather than a sub-.500 team.
Harry Watson, who Smythe enthusiastically had touted in training camp, beat goalie Frank Brimsek 5:15 into the first period and at 7:25 of the second. Bentley's goal at 7:50 of the third completed the
3-0 win
.
"They looked like they were saving their best efforts for the playoffs," Jim Coleman wrote in the Globe and Mail.
The Maple Leafs trailed 2-1 after two periods of Game 3, but Watson scored twice in the third period, including the game-winner with 1:19 left for a
3-2 win
and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series, which moved to Maple Leaf Gardens for Game 3.
"When the guys returned home from Boston there was a sparkle in the eyes of everyone," Meeker said, "and I knew then that we would be just fine."
The Bruins
won 5-4 in overtime
in Game 3, but Toronto
won 3-1 in Game 4
and closed out the best-of-7 series with a
3-2 win at Boston Garden
. The Maple Leafs' well-balanced offense proved decisive.
"Each of our three forward lines scored five goals," Day said. "Eight were scored by left wingers, four by centers and three by right wingers. Gus Mortson was the lone defenseman to score."
Another plus was a revived Ezinicki. "I've been trying for some time to dig and open up," he said. "It'll come if I keep on digging."
The Detroit Red Wings advanced to the Cup Final by
defeating Montreal 3-1 in Game 7
of the other Semifinal. The Red Wings had finished 18 points ahead of Toronto during the regular season and were favored to win their first championship since 1943.
Smythe was still wondering about his team. "I want to see whether we're playing for the Lady Byng Trophy or the Stanley Cup," he said.
It proved to be the latter as Klukay deflected a shot past Detroit goalie
Harry Lumley
at 17:31 of overtime for a
3-2 win in Game 1
at Olympia Stadium.
"We followed Hap's philosophy," Meeker said. "He believed that the team we were playing should only score one goal a game against us on their own merits. Then we give them one more on our own dumb mistakes."
Toronto
won 3-1 in Game 2
, with forward
Sid Smith
, promoted from Pittsburgh of the American Hockey League, scoring all three goals for a natural hat trick. Back at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Maple Leafs
won 3-1 in Game 3
, putting them one victory away from sweeping the Red Wings in the Cup Final for the second straight year.
But Smythe knew that no NHL team had won three straight championships, and the fact that his team was so close to making history turned him into a nervous wreck. "End it, kid," he urged Bentley, "I can't stand much more of this!"
Bentley followed orders. Toronto led 2-1 in the third period when he took a perfect feed from Timgren and
beat Lumley with 4:50 remaining
to ensure Toronto's third consecutive championship, the first modern-era dynasty in NHL history.
The sweep by the Maple Leafs after a sub-.500 regular season left pundits wondering how they'd done it. There were plenty of suggestions, but the best answer might have come from veteran Toronto trainer Tim Daly.
"I don't know why you guys are so excited at winning the Stanley Cup," he said to the media in the winning dressing room. "We do it every year!"