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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Top 10 Playoff series ever

Best Toronto Playoff Series ever.
I would say one of the most exciting series I can remember was the 92-93 Division Finals between Toronto and St.Louis. Curtis Joseph and Felix Potvin were dynamite in that series and it went right down to the wire. Clark was incrediably physical during that whole years playoff run. Then we all know what happened in Gm.6 of the L.A-TO series......damn Gretzky. Whats your opinion of the best playoff series since the 90's?
I won't name 10 I will let you all do that k
Best Play-off series would have to be that of the STANLEY CUP FINAL in 1967....For I believe that was tha series where they fell behind to tha Detroit Red Wings 3-0 in tha series but then battled back to take tha series dramatically and win tha CUP in tha process....if I am wrong about tha year then sorry for tha mistake
OK, the STL series was good, but it ended in game 7 with a complete rout of the Blues, I think the score was 6-1 or 6-0, something like that. It was a real anti-climactic finish to what had been a good series up to that point. The best series I remember? The one before that, the Norris semis vs. Detroit. It was a back and forth match the whole way, with game 7 in Detroit. The Leafs were down by one when Gilmour tied it up with about 2 min to go in the 3rd, and then Borschevsky tipped a Rouse point shot for the winner in OT. I was at a field party watching it on the fuzziest 12" B&W TV with rabbit ears, and when they scored that goal, well, I have never seen an entire party stop like that to celebrate a hockey game, I mean there were about 5000 there(by OPP estimates). I can't wait to see the reactions when we WIN THE CUP!!!!
The series that has to rank as the greatest ever and the one that really defined the Leafs as an organization would have to be:

1942- Stanley Cup finals vs. Detroit

This is actually the series the other guy was thinking of where the Leafs rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to win the Cup. To this date, no team has duplicated that feat in the finals, and only the '75 Islanders managed to do it in any playoff round. Before that win, the Leafs had a reputation as chokers, talented but never able to win the big one.

1951- Finals vs. Montreal

Bill Barilko scores in overtime to win the Cup in game five. Every game in the series went into OT.

1967- Finals vs. Montreal

Until the '92 Wings, this was the oldest Stanley Cup winner on record.

1978- Semifinals vs. NY Islanders

Lanny McDonald provided the heroics in OT in game 7, and took the Leafs into the final four.

1987- First round vs. St. Louis

Dan Daoust was given the job of shadowing future Leafs star Doug Gilmour, and succeeded in taking him off his game.

1993- First round vs. Detroit

Had their asses handed to them in the first two games at the Joe, but beat the heavily favoured Wings in game 7 on Borchevsky's tip in. That goal officially ended the Harold Ballard era in Toronto.

1993- Semifinal vs. LA

We lost this one, but what an entertaining, emotional series it was. The Leafs were back in the spotlight playing against the Great One. Lots of great individual battles with Granato and Gilmour, the McSorley- Clark fight; Blake vs. Andreychuk in the crease.

2001- First round vs. Ottawa

Distracted all season by Lindros rumours, the experts said we had no chance. The Sens had beaten us like rented mules in the regular season, sweeping all five meetings. The maligned Leafs D limited Ottawa to just three goals in the entire series and rendered Alexei Yashin pointless. The poor Sens had "Na na Goodbye" sung to them in their own building.

2002- Second round vs. Ottawa

Patrick Lalime was red-hot going into this series, and Mats Sundin was on the shelf. After losing 5-0 a home in the opener, the Leafs weren't given much of a hope. But Gary Roberts dominated the rest of the way, and the Leafs rebounded to win games six and seven.

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