1942 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1942 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings.
After losing the first three games, the Maple Leafs won the next four to upset the Red Wings in seven games, winning their fourth Stanley Cup and becoming the first team in North American sports history to overcome a 3–0 series deficit to win a playoff series.
The Red Wings had to play two best-of three series; winning 2–1 against the Montreal Canadiens, and 2–0 against the Boston Bruins to advance to the Finals.
Toronto came back from a 3–0 series deficit to win the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals, commonly known as a "reverse sweep."
Detroit's Don Grosso opened the scoring in the second minute before John McCreedy tied it for Toronto.
His replacement, Pat McReavy, scored the winning goal early in the second, and Syd Howe added another to put the Wings up 4–2 after two.
Toronto coach Hap Day pulled Gordie Drillon and Bucko McDonald, replacing them with Don Metz and Hank Goldup.
In the final minute, Detroit's Eddie Wares drew a misconduct penalty and then a $50 fine for arguing and refusing to leave the ice.
Referee Mel Harwood dropped the puck for the faceoff while Wares was still on the ice and promptly called a too-many-men penalty on Don Grosso.
At the end of the game Detroit coach Jack Adams then attacked Harwood, punching him in the face following an profanity-laced outburst.
Although the team had lost the momentum of the series, the Detroit players promised it would be a different outcome from game five, especially the first period, where the Wings had drawn penalties leading to two power-play goals by the Leafs.
The closest to an incident came in the third period when Jack Stewart of the Wings and Bingo Kampman of the Leafs collided and almost came to blows.
Turk Broda held off the Red Wings for the rest of the game to record the series' only shutout.
Rookie Gaye Stewart, who had joined the club for the fifth game of the final,[9] became the youngest player to win the Stanley Cup as he was still 18 years of age.
