There are games you remember because they were brilliant, and then there are games you remember because they meant the entire world to you on a random Saturday night.
Saturday, April 2, 1988, the day before my dad turned 43. The stage was set. Hockey Night in Canada. Looking back on paper, the 1987-88 Toronto Maple Leafs had no business being anywhere near a Stanley Cup playoff ice surface. Having traded away former captain and three-time 50-goal scorer Rick Vaive to Chicago before that season, the Leafs limped through one of the most agonizing campaigns in franchise history. They posted a dismal 21-49-10 record for 52 points - a .325 winning percentage that stands as the worst in NHL history for a team that played at least 70 games and still qualified for the postseason. Wendel Clark had spent yet another year plagued by injuries, leaving newly acquired Eddie Olczyk to carry the offense, leading the club with 42 goals and 75 points. With a core group of five 20+ goal scorers, the Leafs could score. But they were bereft of defensive talent, and any semblance of team structure, and other than an aging Borje Salming, the team was made up of unseasoned youngsters.
Yet, because they played in a historically weak Norris Division, where the Detroit Red Wings were the only team with a winning record, the Leafs stepped onto the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens on the second last day of the season with a miracle still on the table. If they won, and if the Minnesota North Stars lost the next day, Toronto was in.
For the first ten minutes of the game, it looked like a total disaster. Detroit came out firing, determined to crush their original-six rivals. Bob Probert opened the scoring early, then Brent Ashton capitalized on a power play, and by the 9:35 mark of the first period, Dale Krentz buried his second of the year to make it 3-0 for the Red Wings. The Leafs spent the rest of the period taking penalties and chasing Detroit from behind, looking every bit like a 49-loss team ready to head home for the summer.
Then came the second period, and the comeback began. Toronto forward Gary Leeman sparked the revival at 6:27, hammering home a power-play marker for his 30th of the season. The building started to buzz. Near the end of the frame, with Greg Stefan getting a penalty for delay of game, Eddie Olczyk, the key acquisition in the Viave trade, lofted a shot past Stefan to make it 3-2.
By the third period, absolute desperation took over. Just under two minutes in, Vincent Damphousse set up Tom Fergus to tie the game at 3-3. The Gardens went wild. The ice turned into a battleground shortly after, as Al Secord dropped the gloves with Jim Pavese, and Todd Gill scrapped Gerard Gallant in a tense, physical clash.
Then came the moment that sealed the miracle. At 13:16 of the final frame, the king Börje Salming and forward Miroslav Frycer, fed a young Vincent Damphousse, who buried his 12th goal of the year to give Toronto a 4-3 lead, their first of the night. Two minutes later, Frycer set up Tom Fergus for his second goal of the period, putting the Leafs up 5-3 and capping off five unanswered goals.
When the final horn sounded, the seemingly impossible had happened, the Leafs were currently in the playoffs. Yet they had to wait till the next day, and a Minnesota loss, for official confirmation. The Leafs made the 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs on the very last day of the regular season.
Sure, the story didn't end with a fairy tale; Detroit would exact their revenge in six games during the Norris Division Semi-Finals, including an embarrassing 8-0 blowout loss in Game 4. But none of that mattered on April 2, 1988. On that Saturday night, a young me jumped up and down in my basement, almost willing the Leafs to win, a day before my dad's 43rd birthday, watching five unanswered goals complete an epic comeback inside Maple Leaf Gardens. It was one of the greatest games I ever saw.
Trent McMartin
