Despite the Toronto Maple Leafs getting off to a strong start in what proved to be a dismal 2014-15 season, their opening loss to the Montreal Canadiens was a sign of things to come.
Tomas Plekanec scored two third period goals (the second in the final minute of the game) as Montreal defeated Toronto 4-3.
Though it had not been a string of banner regular seasons prior to last year, the Leafs had won four consecutive season opening games – all against the Montreal Canadiens.
Since 1999, 13 of the Leafs’ 15 season-opening games have been against either the Canadiens or Ottawa Senators. The Leafs have feasted on those against Montreal with a 6-2-1 record in nine games, while they are winless (0-2-2) in four season openers against the Senators.
It’s actually the two other season openers over that 15-year span that could be regarded as the most memorable for the Leafs. On Oct. 10 2002, the Leafs opened the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins in what proved to be Mario Lemieux’s last full season of games in Pittsburgh (he would play parts of the next two seasons) with the arrival of Sidney Crosby still three years away.
The Leafs posted a 6-0 shutout in Ed Belfour’s Leafs debut. Mats Sundin and Alexander Mogilny each scored twice while singles went to Nik Antropov and Karel Pilar. Darcy Tucker recorded four assists.
New Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock was on the opposing bench when his Detroit Red Wings team celebrated a pre-game banner raising of their 2009 Stanley Cup Championship on Oct. 9 2009. The visiting Leafs then rained down on the rest of the party as they posted a 3-2 season opening victory with goals by Pavel Kubina, Dominic Moore and Nikolai Kulemin.
Historically, the Leafs are a team that often plays its season-opening game on home ice. From 1927 to 1953, they played all but one of their season-opening games (1946 was the exception) in the friendly confines of Maple Leaf Gardens, while an appearance by the 48th Highlanders evolved as a regular staple of the first Leafs home game of each regular season.
Openers far away from home have not been common, and have come in unsuccessful years for the blue and white. The brief success of the offensively-charged, defensively challenged Doug Carpenter-coached team in 1990-91 immediately unraveled with a 7-0 loss in their opening game in Winnipeg on Oct. 4 1990.
The Leafs won just one of their first 12 games that season and Carpenter would be gone before American Thanksgiving.
The unfortunate sideshow was the worry that the Leafs would come dead-last and see their first-round pick used by the New Jersey Devils (traded to Lou Lamoriello’s club the previous year in exchange for Tom Kurvers) to select Eric Lindros. It was very little consolation that the Devils eventually used that pick to select future Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer third overall.
An unbalanced and abbreviated 48-game post-lockout schedule saw the Leafs open their season in Los Angeles on Jan. 20 1995. Though the game would end a 3-3 tie, the season would be the beginning of a downward trend for the Leafs after great playoff runs in ’93 and ’94.
Other Montreal openers have proven memorable.
In 1986, the Canadiens were the defending Stanley Cup champions, which made the Leafs 7-4 season opening victory over the Habs on Oct. 9 all the sweeter, especially with it being on home ice. Pat Burns’ first game as the Leafs’ head coach would be against the Washington Capitals in Toronto on Oct. 6 1992. It was a fun environment and a good Leafs effort on the ice in what unfortunately was a 6-5 loss.
The Leafs finished dead last in the 1984-85 season for the only time in the post-Original Six era. It was an almost forgotten Leafs team that lost their season opener 3-1 in Boston on Oct. 11 1985. Toronto sports fans were baseball-crazy as the Toronto Blue Jays were in the American League playoffs for the first time (sound familiar?).
During the morning skate before their opening game, Bruins general manager Harry Sinden happened upon Leafs general manager Gerry McNamara in the Boston Garden stands. Sinden was fuming. The source of his anger was a contract dispute he was having with Tom Fergus.
“I am going to trade his ass out of town,” fumed Sinden. A day later, Sinden was true to his word and McNamara acquired Fergus in exchange for Bill Derlago in one of his best trades as Leafs general manager. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
Leafs fans hope that the 2015 season opener against (once again) Montreal shows some signs of a team that could use a few breaks like Sinden provided 30 years ago.
