The Greatest Individual Toronto Maple Leafs Performances of All-Time
There have been some great individual performances in Toronto Maple Leafs history.
The Toronto Maple Leafs may have not won any championships in the last 50 years, but their history still contains a lot of great individual moments.
Here are five of the most memorable.
Enjoy!
Number 5: Howie Meeker’s Five Goals as a Rookie
Most people of my generation remember Howie Meeker as the excitable and helium-voiced colour commentator for Hockey Night in Canada during the 1970s and 80s.
Meeker was also an MP for the Progressive Conservative party, ran a famous chain of hockey schools in Canada and the USA, and was instrumental in setting up Special Olympics Canada. Oh, yes, and before taking all this on, Howie Meeker was a WW2 vet and one heck of a hockey player.
Meeker was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the fruitful 1940s and early 50s and won three Stanley Cups as a member of the buds. He was also the winner of the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1947.
It was in his rookie season with the Leafs, on January 8, 1947, that Meeker scored five goals in a single game during a 10-4 drubbing of the Chicago Blackhawks at Maple Leaf Gardens. In doing so, he established an NHL record for most goals by a rookie in a single game.
Meeker was the first NHL rookie to pull off this feat in the Modern Era, and only Don Murdoch of the New York Rangers has equaled this mark since. Murdoch had his five goal game on October 12, 1976.
Former Leaf great and Meeker teammate, Wally Stanowski, contested Meeker’s record for many years, insisting that he had in fact scored two of those five goals on shots that Meeker was credited with redirecting.
However, due to the antiquity of the event in question, and a lack of definitive video reply evidence, Stanowski’s claims have never been proven and Meeker’s mark still stands.
Stanowski passed away in 2015 at the age of 96, and Howie Meeker is 96 as of this writing.
Number 4: Ian Turnbull’s Five Goals in a Game
Last February 2nd marked the 43rd anniversary of the greatest ever single-game goal scoring demonstration by an NHL defenceman. That demo was provided by none other than Ian Turnbull of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Back in the late 70s, Ian Turnbull was a cornerstone of perhaps the Toronto Maple Leafs greatest ever starting five lineup along with Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Errol Thompson, and Borje Salming.
Turnbull was an offensively-minded rushing defenceman with a howitzer of a slapshot. Paired with partner Borje Salming, Turnbull was half of the most lethal defensive pairing in the National Hockey League.
Turnbull did not enjoy the longevity of Salming, but he still holds the Toronto Maple Leafs records for goals in a season by a defensemen with 22, and points in a season for a defenseman with 79.
Of Turnbull’s offensive accomplishments, none is more impressive then what he accomplished on the night of February, 2, 1977. On this night Turnbull set an NHL record that the greats of his position from Bobby Orr to Paul Coffey to Nicklas Lidstrom have been unable to equal.
In a game against the Detroit Red Wings at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Toronto Maple Leafs dismantled the Red Wings by a score of 9 to 1. During the contest, Turnbull had a total of 5 shots on goal. However, for every shot Turnbull fired, he scored, and by scoring five goals in the game, he established an NHL record that stand to today.
Turnbull was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1982 as the Toronto Maple Leafs were well into their 1980s slide into oblivion following the departures of Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald. Turnbull only played two more years before retiring in 1984.
Number 3: Auston Matthews’ Four Goals in his NHL Debut
Toronto Maple Leafs management and fans alike rejoiced when the buds won the 2016 draft lottery and the opportunity to choose first overall in the 2016 entry draft.
The only question remaining was which teenage phenom the buds would opt for at number one- the Finnish phenom, Patrick Laine, or the American Swiss League superstar, Auston Matthews, of Scottsdale, Arizona.
The smart money was on Matthews going at number one, and indeed that’s the way it turned out.
As the 2016-17 season approached, Leafs Nation was giddy with anticipation, hoping that the hype surrounding Matthews was justified. Would the buds’ first overall pick since 1985 be worth the wait?
Matthews didn’t take long to answer this and any other questions with an NHL debut unlike any other in league history.
In the season opener against the Ottawa Senators, in Ottawa, on October 13, 2016, Matthews became the first NHL player of the Modern Era (post 1943) to score four goals in his first game.
Most noteworthy of these goals was his second-an impressive individual effort of skill that saw him steal the puck from Senators superstar defenceman Erik Karlsson, freeze goalie Craig Anderson and defenceman Mark Methot with a look to pass to William Nylander before snapping a shot under a stunned Anderson.
Matthews added two more goals in the second period for four in total, and he did so with only 11 minutes of ice time.
Despite losing the game 5-4, Matthews had shown Leafs Nation that things were about to change quicky and better days were finally…. coming.
Number 2: Darryl Sittler Scores Five Goals in a Playoff Game
Toronto Maple Leafs centre and captain, Darryl Sittler, was no stranger to the NHL record book by the spring of 1976, as he equaled or bettered NHL regular season and playoff records during that magical year.
Sittler is best remembered as the Maple Leaf who scored 10 points in a single game on February 7, 1976.
That feat is undeniably remarkable, but it overshadows another stellar Sittler performance that was accomplished under far more pressure in a bitter playoff battle against the nefarious Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL Quarter Finals of 1976.
The Toronto Maple Leafs of 1976 were a pretty fine hockey club, however, they were considered serious underdogs going up against the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers of the time were better known by their menacing moniker, the “Broad Street Bullies.” The Flyers had home ice advantage in the series, and they were nearly infallible at home. This was a situation that made them a lock to win the series.
However, the 1976 playoffs coincided with coach Red Kelly’s discovery of Pyramid Power, and he employed this phenomenon to provide his Toronto Maple Leafs with some measure of hope in dealing with the Flyers.
After dropping the first two games in Philadelphia, Kelly placed some small pyramids under the Leafs bench prior to game three, the first game back on home ice at Maple Leaf Gardens. Oblivious to Kelly’s act, the Leafs went on to win the next two games and tie the series. Upon learning of Kelly’s secret weapon, some players, including Sittler, were intrigued enough by the pyramid concept to experiment themselves. Sittler placed his game sticks under a pyramid prior to the start of game six.
Trailing in the series three games to two, Sittler and the Leafs took to the ice at the friendly confines of Maple Leaf Gardens on April 22nd, 1976, needing a win to avoid elimination. That night, on home ice, Sittler tallied five goals during an 8-5 victory, tying Rocket Richard’s record for most goals in an NHL playoff game.
Sittler’s performance forced a game seven in Philadelphia which the buds sadly lost, and the Philadelphia Flyers eventually moved on to the Stanley Cup finals again, this time, destined to lose against the Montreal Canadiens.
Sittler’s five-goal playoff performance was historic and has only been equaled since by Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers and Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
By April of 1976, writing Rocket Richard out of the NHL record book had already become old hat for Darryl Sittler as we shall see with our number one individual Toronto Maple Leafs performance.
Number One: Darryl Sittler Records 10 points in a Single Game
Of all the great individual performances by Toronto Maple Leafs’ players over the years, there can be little doubt about number one. Darryl Sitttler’s feat of recording ten points in a single NHL game is an anomaly on par with Wilt Chamberlain recording 100 points in an NBA game.
To briefly recap, it was February 7, 1976, and the Toronto Maple Leafs were hosting the Boston Bruins at Maple Leaf Gardens. What was about to unfold was unprecedented in NHL history, although there was nothing about this mid-winter regular-season contest that predicted it. The starting goaltender for the Bruins that night was Dave Reece, who was getting the nod over veteran goalie, Gerry Cheevers. Reece had no idea that he was to become a sad footnote in one of the most stunning tilts in NHL history.
In the first period of the game, Sittler recorded assists on goals by Lanny McDonald and Ian Turnbull for two points. A fine period, for sure, but in no way indicative of what was to come.
The second period changed all that with an offensive explosion by Sittler as he recorded a hat trick in the frame, while Borje Salming scored a pair of goals. Sittler assisted on both Salming tallies giving him seven points through the first two periods.
During the second intermission, Toronto Maple Leafs statistician Stan Obodiac came to the Leafs’ dressing room to inform Sittler that he had seven points through two periods and was only a point away from tying Rocket Richard all-time points in a game record
Sittler started the third period fully aware that another point would tie Richard’s record, and he only took 44 seconds to do just that by scoring a gorgeous goal while blazing past a bruin defender on his off wing and scoring on his forehand.
Nine minutes later it were guard his fist full of the game what’s an assist from Errol Thompson breaking the Rockets record. With three and a half minutes remaining in the game killer was parked behind the Bruins net Settler’s pass bounced off the Lego Brad Park or his six-goal to go along with four assists for 10 points.
In the 44 years since Sittler’s big night, some of the best hockey players in history have come and gone-Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Yzerman and other superstars have had long careers in the NHL, but were never able to touch Sittler’s single game mark.
Next. Top 5 Worst Draft Picks In Leafs History. dark
Gretzky and Lemieux both hit the eight point mark twice and three times, respectively, but only number 27 has ever seen double digits in points in a single night.