New York Rangers 1939 - 40

Team Roster
Bottom Row L to R - Alex Shibicky, Phil Watson, Kilby MacDonald, Bryan Hextall, Dave Kerr, Mac Colville, Clint Smith, Wilbert "Dutch" Hiller, Harry Westerby (trainer).

Top Row - Frank Boucher (coach), Lynn Patrick, Neil Colville, Ott Heller, Art Coulter (captain), Walter "Babe" Pratt, Murray "Muzz" Patrick, Alf Pike, Lester Patrick (general manager).

The Rangers played a 48 game regular season, winning 27, losing 11 with 10 ties and finished 2nd in NHL standings.

Bryan Hextall led the Rangers in scoring with 24 goals and 39 points, while Phil Watson led the team with 28 assists.
Art Coulter led the team in penalties, with 68 minutes.

In the 1940 NHL playoffs, the Rangers defeated Boston Bruins 4-2 in semifinal games, then defeated Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 in games to win the Stanley Cup championship.

In the finals the Rangers won their first 2 games by scores of 2–1 and 6–2 at the Garden, before finishing the series on the road because of the circus. After dropping the first 2 games in Toronto the Rangers won a critical Game five 2–1 in overtime on Muzz Patrick's overtime goal. In Game 6 it would take overtime again as the Rangers won their 3rd Stanley Cup on Bryan Hextall's goal 2:33 into OT.

NOTE
Lynn and Murray Patrick played for the Rangers, and became the 3rd and 4th members of the Patrick family to win the Stanley Cup.

During the 1939–40 season, the mortgage on the Rangers' home arena, the 3rd Madison Square Garden (built in 1925), was paid off. The management of the Madison Square Garden Corporation then burned the mortgage in the bowl of the Stanley Cup. This led some Hockey fans to believe that the Stanley Cup, which is regarded almost as a sacred object, had been "desecrated", leading the "hockey gods" to place a curse on the Rangers.

Dutton's Curse is also in the mix, as he owned the New York Americans and was told he would be allowed to revive the team after the war. However, the NHL, with the encouragement of Madison Square Garden management, reneged on a longstanding promise to allow the Americans to return. A bitter Red Dutton declared that the Rangers would never win the Stanley Cup for as long as he lived. He died in 1987 at age 88, and the Rangers finally won the Stanley Cup again in 1994.