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

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

C1

Montreal Canadiens

3

A1

Boston Bruins

2

C1

Montreal Canadiens

3

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

2

C2

Toronto Maple Leafs

3G

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

4G

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

3G

A3

New York Rangers

0G

C3

Montreal Maroons

1G

A3

New York Rangers

8G

Finals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 3	Montreal Canadiens	2	Chicago Blackhawks	1
April 5	Montreal Canadiens	1	Chicago Blackhawks	2	2OT
April 9	Chicago Blackhawks	3	Montreal Canadiens	2	3OT
April 11	Chicago Blackhawks	1	Montreal Canadiens	2
April 14	Chicago Blackhawks	1	Montreal Canadiens	2

Montreal wins best-of-five series 3–2.

NHL awards

1930–31 NHL awards
O'Brien Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Trophy:	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:	Roy Worters, New York Americans

All-Star teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Charlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks	G	Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins
Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins	D	Sylvio Mantha, Montreal Canadiens
King Clancy, Toronto Maple Leafs	D	Ching Johnson, New York Rangers
Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens	C	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Bill Cook, New York Rangers	RW	Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens	LW	Bun Cook, New York Rangers
Lester Patrick, New York Rangers	Coach	Dick 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