1940–41 Chicago Black Hawks season

1940–41 Chicago Black Hawks
1940–41 Chicago Black Hawks
League	5th NHL
1940–41 record	16–25–7
Home record	11–10–3
Road record	5–15–4
Goals for	112
Goals against	139
Team information
General manager	Frederic McLaughlin
Coach	Paul Thompson
Captain	Earl Seibert
Arena	Chicago Stadium
Team leaders
Goals	George Allen (14)
Assists	Doug Bentley (20)
Points	Bill Thoms (32)
Penalty minutes	Joe Cooper (66)
Wins	Sam LoPresti (9)
Goals against average	Paul Goodman (2.50)
	← 1939–40 1941–42 →

The 1940–41 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's 15th season in the NHL, and they were coming off a very good regular season in 1939–40, finishing above .500 for the first time in 4 seasons, however, they were quickly eliminated in 2 games by the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs.

The Black Hawks would have a rough regular season in 1940–41, slipping to a 16–25–7 record, good for 39 points and 5th place in the NHL, and a 2nd straight playoff berth. The Hawks would score 112 goals, the 2nd fewest in the 7 team league, and they would allow 139 goals, which was the 3rd most.

Bill Thoms would lead the club in scoring with 32 points, while George Allen would get a team high 14 goals, and Doug Bentley would lead the club with 20 assists. Team captain Earl Seibert would anchor the blueline, earning 20 points, while fellow defenceman Joe Cooper had a club high 66 penalty minutes.

In goal, Paul Goodman would start the season, however, after a 7–10–4 start and a 2.50 GAA, he would be replaced by Sam LoPresti. LoPresti would go on to a 9–15–3 record and a GAA of 3.02.

Chicago would play the 6th place team, the Montreal Canadiens in a best of 3 series in the 1st round of the playoffs, and in a close fought series, with all 3 games being decided by a goal, the Black Hawks would defeat the Canadiens and earn a 2nd round matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings, who finished 14 points ahead of Chicago, would sweep the Black Hawks in 2 games, eliminating the Hawks from the playoffs.

Season standings

National Hockey League
	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Boston Bruins	48	27	8	13	67	168	102
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	28	14	6	62	145	99
Detroit Red Wings	48	21	16	11	53	112	102
New York Rangers	48	21	19	8	50	143	125
Chicago Black Hawks	48	16	25	7	39	112	139
Montreal Canadiens	48	16	26	6	38	121	147
New York Americans	48	8	29	11	27	99	186

^[1]

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

1940–41 NHL Records ^[2]
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MTL	NYA	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	4–2–2	3–0–5	5–2–1	7–0–1	4–2–2	4–2–2
Chicago	2–4–2	—	2–6	3–4–1	3–2–3	4–3–1	2–6
Detroit	0–3–5	6–2	—	4–3–1	5–1–2	3–2–3	3–5
Montreal	2–5–1	4–3–1	3–4–1	—	4–3–1	2–5–1	1–6–1
N.Y. Americans	0–7–1	2–3–3	1–5–2	3–4–1	—	1–6–1	1–4–3
N.Y. Rangers	2–4–2	3–4–1	2–3–2	5–2–1	6–1–1	—	3–5
Toronto	2–4–2	6–2	5–3	6–1–1	4–1–3	5–3	—

Schedule and results

Regular season

1940–41 regular season^[3]

November

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Points
1	November 7	New York Americans	1–0	Chicago Black Hawks	0–1–0	0
2	November 10	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	Montreal Canadiens	1–1–0	2
3	November 12	Chicago Black Hawks	6–5	Boston Bruins	2–1–0	4
4	November 14	Chicago Black Hawks	2–2	New York Americans	2–1–1	5
5	November 17	Montreal Canadiens	4–4	Chicago Black Hawks	2–1–2	6
6	November 21	Boston Bruins	2–0	Chicago Black Hawks	2–2–2	6
7	November 23	Chicago Black Hawks	1–0	Toronto Maple Leafs	3–2–2	8
8	November 24	Toronto Maple Leafs	4–2	Chicago Black Hawks	3–3–2	8
9	November 29	Chicago Black Hawks	1–3	Detroit Red Wings	3–4–2	8

December

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Points
10	December 1	New York Rangers	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks	4–4–2	10
11	December 5	Detroit Red Wings	5–1	Chicago Black Hawks	4–5–2	10
12	December 8	Boston Bruins	2–3	Chicago Black Hawks	5–5–2	12
13	December 12	Chicago Black Hawks	2–2	New York Americans	5–5–3	13
14	December 14	Chicago Black Hawks	1–2	Toronto Maple Leafs	5–6–3	13
15	December 15	Toronto Maple Leafs	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks	5–7–3	13
16	December 19	Montreal Canadiens	0–2	Chicago Black Hawks	6–7–3	15
17	December 22	New York Rangers	1–3	Chicago Black Hawks	7–7–3	17
18	December 25	Chicago Black Hawks	3–3	New York Rangers	7–7–4	18
19	December 26	Chicago Black Hawks	5–7	Montreal Canadiens	7–8–4	18
20	December 29	Chicago Black Hawks	1–2	Detroit Red Wings	7–9–4	18

January

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Points
21	January 1	Detroit Red Wings	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks	7–10–4	18
22	January 5	Chicago Black Hawks	2–2	Boston Bruins	7–10–5	19
23	January 7	Chicago Black Hawks	3–2	New York Rangers	8–10–5	21
24	January 9	Montreal Canadiens	1–3	Chicago Black Hawks	9–10–5	23
25	January 12	Detroit Red Wings	1–2	Chicago Black Hawks	10–10–5	25
26	January 16	Chicago Black Hawks	1–5	Montreal Canadiens	10–11–5	25
27	January 19	Boston Bruins	4–4	Chicago Black Hawks	10–11–6	26
28	January 23	New York Americans	1–3	Chicago Black Hawks	11–11–6	28
29	January 26	New York Rangers	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks	12–11–6	30
30	January 28	Chicago Black Hawks	2–3	Boston Bruins	12–12–6	30
31	January 30	Chicago Black Hawks	4–5	New York Americans	12–13–6	30

February

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Points
32	February 1	Chicago Black Hawks	1–3	Toronto Maple Leafs	12–14–6	30
33	February 2	Toronto Maple Leafs	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks	13–14–6	32
34	February 6	Chicago Black Hawks	2–6	New York Rangers	13–15–6	32
35	February 9	New York Rangers	2–1	Chicago Black Hawks	13–16–6	32
36	February 13	Montreal Canadiens	6–5	Chicago Black Hawks	13–17–6	32
37	February 14	Chicago Black Hawks	1–2	Detroit Red Wings	13–18–6	32
38	February 16	New York Americans	4–5	Chicago Black Hawks	14–18–6	34
39	February 20	Chicago Black Hawks	4–2	New York Americans	15–18–6	36
40	February 22	Chicago Black Hawks	3–7	Montreal Canadiens	15–19–6	36
41	February 23	Chicago Black Hawks	1–4	New York Rangers	15–20–6	36
42	February 27	Detroit Red Wings	0–1	Chicago Black Hawks	16–20–6	38

March

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Points
43	March 2	Boston Bruins	4–3	Chicago Black Hawks	16–21–6	38
44	March 4	Chicago Black Hawks	2–3	Boston Bruins	16–22–6	38
45	March 9	New York Americans	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks	16–22–7	39
46	March 13	Chicago Black Hawks	2–3	Detroit Red Wings	16–23–7	39
47	March 15	Chicago Black Hawks	1–7	Toronto Maple Leafs	16–24–7	39
48	March 16	Toronto Maple Leafs	3–0	Chicago Black Hawks	16–25–7	39

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

Playoffs

Black Hawks 2, Canadiens 1

NHL quarter-finals

(5) Chicago Black Hawks vs. (6) Montreal Canadiens

March 20	Montreal Canadiens		1 – 2	Chicago Black Hawks	Chicago Stadium	Recap
Lach (1) – (Unassisted) – 8:14		First period		16:21 – Allen (1) – (Dahlstrom)
No scoring		Second period		No scoring
No scoring		Third period		7:57 – M. Bentley (1) – (D. Bentley, March)
Gardiner (0-1)		Goalie stats		LoPresti (1-0)

March 22	Chicago Black Hawks		3 – 4	2OT	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
Dahlstrom (1) – pp – (Mariucci) – 2:33		First period			8:01 – Benoit (1) – (Blake, Quilty) 14:02 – pp – Benoit (2) – (Blake)
Cooper (1) – (March, M. Bentley) – 3:13		Second period			10:51 – Benoit (3) – (Portland)
March (1) – (M. Bentley) – 10:13		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		Second overtime period			14:03 – Sands (1) – (Getliffe, Chamberlain)
LoPresti (1-1)		Goalie stats			Gardiner (1-1)

March 25	Montreal Canadiens		2 – 3	Chicago Black Hawks	Chicago Stadium	Recap
No scoring		First period		14:56 – Allen (2) – (Mariucci, Dahlstrom)
Joe Benoit (4) – (Blake, Quilty) 18:37 Getliffe (1) – (Chamberlain) – 18:58		Second period		12:11 – Dahlstrom (2) – (Papike, Allen)
No scoring		Third period		3:31 – Dahlstrom (3) – (Papike, Allen)
Gardiner (1-2)		Goalie stats		LoPresti (2-1)

Chicago wins series 2 – 1

Red Wings 2, Black Hawks 0

NHL semi-finals

(3) Detroit Red Wings vs. (5) Chicago Black Hawks

March 27	Chicago Black Hawks		1 – 3	Detroit Red Wings	Detroit Olympia	Recap
No scoring		First period		19:59 – pp – Abel (1) – (Grosso, Howe)
No scoring		Second period		10:15 – Liscombe (2) – (Motter)
March (2) – (Mackay, M. Bentley) – 5:15		Third period		15:28 – Fisher (1) – (Liscombe, Motter)
LoPresti (2-2)		Goalie stats		Mowers (3-1)

March 30	Detroit Red Wings		2 – 1	OT	Chicago Black Hawks	Chicago Stadium	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
Motter (1) – pp – (Liscombe, Howe) – 1:25		Second period			4:02 – pp – D. Bentley (1) – (March, Dahlstrom)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Giesebrecht (2) – (Howe, Bruneteau) – 9:52		First overtime period			No scoring
Mowers (4-1)		Goalie stats			LoPresti (2-3)

Detroit wins series 2 – 0

Player statistics

Season statistics

Scoring leaders
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Bill Thoms	47	13	19	32	8
George Allen	44	14	17	31	22
Doug Bentley	46	8	20	28	12
Cully Dahlstrom	40	11	14	25	6
John Chad	44	7	18	25	16
Phil Hergesheimer	47	8	16	24	9
Bill Carse	30	5	15	20	12

Goaltending
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA
Paul Goodman	21	1320	7	10	4	55	2	2.50
Sam LoPresti	27	1670	9	15	3	84	1	3.02

Playoffs statistics

Scoring leaders
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Cully Dahlstrom	5	3	3	6	2
Mush March	4	2	3	5	0
George Allen	5	2	2	4	10
Max Bentley	4	1	3	4	2
Doug Bentley	5	1	1	2	4

Goaltending
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	GAA
Sam LoPresti	5	343	2	3	12	0	2.10

References

SHRP Sports
The Internet Hockey Database
National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007

^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ "1940-41 Chicago Black Hawks Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved March 29, 2025.

[1] Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.

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

[Gamelog-3] "1940-41 Chicago Black Hawks Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved March 29, 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Chicago Blackhawks 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 1940–41 NHL season
Teams	Boston Chicago Detroit Montreal NY Americans NY Rangers Toronto
See also	Stanley Cup Finals Transactions