33 Years Ago in Leafland; March 30, 1987

Spring of 1987. The Maple Leafs went on an improbable playoff run. They got to within a game of meeting the mighty Edmonton Oilers in the Campbell Conference Finals. I was a 15 year-old hockey mad kid enjoying the fortunes of my favourite team. What better time than now to look back at this memorable time of my youth and Leafs history.
"We never lost it. We always felt we could make it. I think we're in now." This was Leaf defenceman Todd Gill speaking perhaps a slight bit prematurely prior to Toronto's 78th game of the season against Washington. The Leafs still sat out of the playoff picture, but Steve Thomas figured," With Chicago losing Sunday night and with two games against them, I think we've got a great chance of making it. We've had a pretty good record against Chicago. If we play like we played the last two games we can beat everybody."

 Leaf defender Rick Lanz, who joined the team from Vancouver in January (for Jim Benning and Dan Hodgson) was familiar with inconsistent team performances, "It's difficult to put a finger on what it is that causes a team to do that. It could be that one person has a bad night and it throws the others off. Or it coldest start with a bad bounce of the puck. It could be one of a thousand things." Lanz concluded, "We can't afford any more bad ones."
As much as the Leafs had turned their game around with two big wins over Edmonton and Winnipeg, the truth was their rivals Minnesota and Chicago really were simply handing a playoff spot to the Leafs. Both the Black Hawks and North Stars had gone in the tank since their last victory, both of them over Toronto. Since beating the Leafs 6-3 on March 18, the Hawks had one tie in five games with three to go. Minnesota, since winning 6-2 in Toronto on March 25 had lost three straight, including blowing a 3rd period lead on March 30 at home to the Rangers, now having only two games left. The Stars and Hawks would play each other the day after Toronto's game in Washington.

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