43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1976-77 Season

The 1976-77 season went very much like the previous season. Leafs finished in third place in the Adams Division with a record of 33 wins, 32 losses and 15 ties for 81 points. Once again they place 5th in the Prince of Wales Conference and 7th overall.

Prior to the season the first Canada Cup was held in September 1976.  The star-studded Canadian team won the tournament with Darryl Sittler scoring the winning goal in overtime against Czechoslovakia.  Sittler continued his play as one of the top forwards in the NHL along with winger Lanny McDonald. The two players finished in a tie for 8th in league scoring.  The 1976-77 season also saw the debut of Mike Palmateer and Randy Carlyle as Leaf rookies. In particular Palmateer stabilized the Leafs' goaltending situation.

On February 2, 1977, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Ian Turnbull would be the first player in NHL history to score five goals on five shots.


In the playoffs, once again the Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the preliminary round 2-1 before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the Quarter-finals. The pair of Sittler and McDonald were dominant in the playoffs,  In 9 games Sittler scored 5 goals, 16 assists and 21 points while McDonald scored 10 goals, 7 assists and 17 points.