Maple Leafs plus $1.18 hosting Panthers
Spitting in the wind by taking the Maple Leafs? Toronto has lost six consecutive Game 7’s while Panthers coach Paul Maurice is 5-0 in Game 7’s.
I’m going against history, and perhaps logic, believing Toronto finally gets it done in a Game 7. I have faith in Craig Berube that I didn’t have in past Toronto coaches. Berube has a blueprint for winning this game where the Maple Leafs take advantage of their speed while countering the Panthers’ physical style.
It’s hard to call this version of the Maple Leafs chokers when they took care of business against the Senators and then in gutty fashion staved off elimination by upsetting the Panthers on the road, 2-0, in Game 6 two days ago. Goalie Joseph Wall was in net for that game. He gives Toronto its best goalie.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into that Game 6, but the defending champion Panthers didn’t seem sharp with the eye of the tiger approach they had last year. I don’t think they are as good. If they were, they would have not lost at home in a closeout game as more than a 2-to-1 favorite.
So given a plus price, I’ll back the home ‘dog.
By the way, I remember the last time the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967. I was in my early teens living in the Midwest. There were only six NHL teams then. The Blackhawks were my favorite team, Bobby Hull was my favorite player and that 1967 Blackhawks team was my favorite of all-time. Chicago finished in first place for the first time in club history that year with a franchise record 41 wins and 94 points.
Toronto, by contrast, finished the regular season in third place with 75 points. The Blackhawks were huge favorites to beat Toronto in the semifinals of the Stanley Cup, especially after winning the opening game, 5-2.
But then an awful thing occurred for Blackhawks fans. Toronto’s goalies – 42-year-old Johnny Bower and 37-year-old Terry Sawchuk – got hot. They started making miraculous save after save literally standing on their heads to stop the Blackhawks. I kept waiting for Chicago’s great hockey announcer Lloyd Pettit to shout his familiar phrase of “There’s a shot … and a goal,” whenever Bobby Hull wound up and unleashed his 100 mph slapshot, or Stan Mikita flipped his dangerous wrist shot at the net.
Goalies didn’t wear masks then. You couldn’t tell with Sawchuk. He was that ugly with scars running all across his face from the many stitches he had endured. But, man, he was great.
It broke my young heart when the Maple Leafs eliminated the Blackhawks. Toronto then went on to defeat the Canadiens in the finals. That’s the last time the Maple Leafs have reached the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s the longest-active championship drought in the NHL.
Except for Frank Mahovlich – “The Big M” – the Maple Leafs of that era didn’t have any superstar goal scorers. What they did have was an excellent coach, Punch Imlach, (who completely outcoached Blackhawks coach Billy Reay in that 1967 Stanley Cup series) and a smart, savvy bunch of veterans who were all outstanding two-way players such as Dave Keon, Bob Pulford, Red Kelly and Ron Ellis to go with tough defensemen Tim Horton (who I nicknamed Frankenstein) and Bob Baun, who once played with broken leg.
But it was Bower and Sawchuk, a pair of over-the-hill goalies that for a shining moment returned to their past glories, that stopped the Blackhawks in a year where Chicago had the best team and should have won the Stanley Cup. It has been 58 years since that happened. I haven’t forgotten it.
(I am 5-0 on my Stanley Cup side/puck line plays with three plus-price winners. I am 18-10 on my last 28 NBA sides plays and 8-1 on my past nine baseball premium plays. If you are interested in my sports service, please email me at scriber26 @gmail.com, or message via X (Twitter). All of my plays come with analysis and are emailed well ahead of game time.)
