Nitzy's Hockey Den

                                                                                                                             Pep Kelly This has been a helluva Qualifying Round for the Toronto Maple Leafs. One day after they blew a 3-0 lead to Columbus, the Leafs, on the brink of elimination, turned the tables. Starting the comeback with under four minutes remaining, this was the latest a team had ever erased a 3-0 deficit in an elimination game since 1936. The previous record was when the very same Maple Leafs came back from 3-0 with just under seven minutes left in their season. On April 9, 1936, Toronto was down two games to one against the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final. Back then, the Final was a best-of-five affair. In Game Three at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Leafs faced a 3-0 deficit with 8:45 remaining in the 3rd period. Detroit goals by Ralph Bowman, Mud Bruneteau and Syd Howe gave the Wings a seemingly insurmountable lead and their first ever Stanley Cup. Joe Primeau

Let's concentrate on the positives of the Maple Leafs Game 3 of the Qualifying Round. Rookie, Nick Robertson scored his first NHL goal, as an 18-year old...in the Playoffs. Amazingly, it was over 76 years ago since a Maple Leaf did that.  On March 28, 1944 in Game Four of the Semi-Finals at Maple Leaf Gardens, 18-year old future captain, Teeder Kennedy scored his first NHL goal. The goal was assisted by George Boothman and Babe Pratt and proved to be the final Maple Leafs goal scored that season. The 4-1 loss in Game Four was followed by an 11-0 drubbing at the Forum to give Montreal a 4-1 series win. Incidentally, this was also the series in which Maurice Richard scored all five goals in a 5-1 Game Two victory which garnered him all three star selections. Below is a photo from the following day's Toronto Daily Star of the rookie Kennedy. Unlike young Robertson's first goal, it appears that Kennedy was not a thing of beauty. The Star stated (below) that Canadiens winger Phi

Two penalty shots in one playoff game. In the first game of the Qualifying Round between Montreal and Pittsburgh, there were indeed two penalty shots awarded, both Brandon Rust and Jonathan Drouin missing miserably. It doesn't seem like this should be such a rare occurrence, but apparently it happens about once every one hundred years. The last time two penalty shots were awarded in an NHL playoff game (these Qualifying Round games are being considered as playoff stats by the NHL) was in 1923. On March 29, 1923 in game one of the Stanley Cup final between the original NHL Ottawa Senators and the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada Hockey League there were actually THREE penalty shots awarded in the game. The Cup final took place at Vancouver's Denman Street Arena, and this first game was witnessed by 7,000 spectators. Bill Steadman of the Vancouver Sun described the affair thusly, "The Ottawa Senators carried the issue into overtime and then drew first blood at the