Lanny McDonald - Game 7 OT Goal VS Islanders 4/29/78

[Draniac]

Love the guy burning one right from his seat behind the bench. Ah the good old days

[skyroe2]

RARE VID OF BILLY SMITH SHAKING HANDS OF PLAYOFF SERIES

[dunett70]

Lanny is a little underrated and Trottier is somewhat overrated .

[Dowd34]

Great old school stuff!

[industrialsun]

1949 Leafs, 1967 Leafs, 1980 Isles: only underdog playoff teams to ever defeat #1 AND #2 team in NHL in order to win the Stanley Cup. Both teams would make underdog runs as far as the Conference Finals in 1993, but it has been all downhill for each franchise ever since. 44 years and counting for Toronto, 28 years of frustration for NYI. Maybe that is the price that they each had to pay for all the early success in their history. Glad that Lanny was able to win a Cup with Calgary in 1989.

[leafyutube]

The diagonal shoot-in @0:14 was a signature play by the Islanders.

[dzanier]

In fact I saw the Isles do it countless times over that period of time. In 1984, Anders Kallur scored a playoff OT goal vs. the Caps on a very similar play. It's a very good set play.

[jacemrva]

Dan Kelly was born to call games like this. I still miss that Irish-Canadian voice calling NHL action. Thanks for posting this.

[5inthehole]

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy if the reports we hear of Mcdonald are true. What a nice play by Turnbal, seeing Mcdonald going through the middle and feeding him through center ice. Don't feel to sorry for the Islanders, they won 3 or 4 cups in a row after this year. This was one of the great plays during this era. Great clip!

[cpac11]

Turnbull was outstanding in that series.

[leafyutube]

Gutsy game by the Leafs even without Salming. The Islanders' time would come 2 years later.

[gacci777]

This was a painful series as an Islanders fan at the time.Very very painful.The Islanders had a good team but the Leafs were hot and Palmateer was amazing,The Islanders were 2 years away from the beginning of their 4 cup dynasty.Its amazing how different the team was 2 yrs later.Smith was the goalie,and Tonelli,Morrow,Goring were on the team.The Isles needed to go thru this loss and the following year in 79 loss to the Rangers in the playoffs to eventually win the cup

[dzanier]

The 79 Islanders were the best islander team that didn't win it. Potvin: Norris Trophy & 101 pts. Bossy: league-leading 69 goals. Trottier: led the league in points & won the Hart Trophy. I'm a Ranger fan but I've no problem admitting the Isles were superior to us in 79, but for some reason the Rangers matched up well. The 78-79 Islander team won 51 lost 15 & tied 14. Only 3 home losses. Kind of a shame they didn't make the Finals & play Montreal. That would've been one whale of a match up.

[mmcckkgg]

@dzanier If you are true Ranger Fan since I am since 1962, you never have anything good to say about the Islanders. I hope they move. I'm sick of that 3rd rate org. playing in the biggest market in the country. I was at all 3 home games at the 79 semi final. I will never forget Potvin sitting in the doorway at the end. JD had a bad knee or else they would have beat the Habs in 6 and we would have not had to wait 15 years for the lame 1940 crap to end.

[dzanier]

I respect your opinion but I don't agree with you. It's shear denial to not admit the Islanders had a great team. Believe me, when we played them and lost it hurt and to watch them win 4 straight while we always lost to them on their way to winning the cup was painful. Presently, they are a third rate organization, but that rivalry is part of the fabric of metro-area pro pro hockey. That 's why I want them to stay. I'd forgotten about JD's bad knee. Montreal was ripe for picking in 79

[dzanier]

Up 1 game to 0 with a 2-0 lead early in Game 2 so much was going well for us. If we win the OT game. the 4th game where Serge Savard scored for them to win it, maybe we win the series. The Rangers actually matched up pretty well with Montreal. If we'd gotten the Bruins maybe we would've won.

[sosdkny]

@dzanier

You are correct.

[freezinteen]

I got to practice with him and the current maple leafs skating coach, really nice guy. He talks about simply enjoying every part of hockey whether it's pond or tournament, that you will remember your hockey experiences when your older so have the most fun you can.

[80W42N]

Lanny was the best.

I miss not having the boards covered in advertisements.

[ranchai100]

I remember seeing this game live on CBC with my dad.it was 1 of the best games I've ever seen.It's too bad the leafs kind of fell apart after that

[xjuice207x]

Perfect shot

[LeonMcQ24]

Thanks for posting. Great memory for Leafs fans.



[dzanier]

Potvin played just about the entire OT. Wow!! He was out with Lewis, Hart and Persson. I'm not sure he ever went to the bench to change. That is stamina.

[InsaneTransAm]

Even if the Islanders won this series, there is no way they were ready yet to topple Montreal, which was in the midst of their own dynasty.

[redlackawanna]

ha ha my poor causin was pissed!!!! off!!!!

wu!wu!uwu!!

[jpwjr1199]

Despite what you hear about the "immaturity" of the 1978 Islanders and that they weren't tough enough to beat the Leafs and all of that nonsense, it is plain to see here that Mike Palmateer was THE reason that the Leafs prevailed in this series, just as John Davidson was the reason the Rangers won in 79'. Billy Smith wasn't the number 1 guy yet, and I think that it cost the Islanders in those two years before winning. (No offense to Chico Resch, but facts are facts).

[MrStones64]

tjackson76 the yankees are tougher than the islanders, youuuuu asshole!

[tjackson76]

@MrStones64 Listen Asshole, stop talking about baseball, I havn't watched baseball since 1993. But I do know that the Yankee's have to buy all their championships. Oh and any hockey player can kick any baseball players ass so don't say they're tougher thats a fuckin joke just like your comments.

[MrStones64]

the yankees win championships more often than the icelanders..

[tjackson76]

@MrStones64 This is hockey, No one here cares about your boring pussy sport.

[WEINBAUER]

@MrStones64 Or even the Rangers!

[zoltanstar]

I remember this well. It was considered an upset at the time although the leafs had a pretty good team. I'm pretty sure that Salming was injured too.

.

[TheTzdope]

i remember hearing john sterling doing the islander radiocast at the end of the overtime crying, "it's just not fair"!

now he's taking his "tool" act over to the other hated rival , the skankees!

[kbinco]

Back in the 90's, Ron Ellis was interviewed, and said we (Leafs) are only a couple of players away from really scaring some people. He was right, the Leafs had those players. They traded Randy carlyle, a 3rd dman to compliment Salming & Turnbull. George Ferguson went in that deal, Ferguson turned out to be the player the Leafs knew he would be. A few years later, the Leafs got Rick Vaive & Bill Derlago, a team like that could have beaten anybody. Ballard was an ass.

[advance140]

Wow, thanks for posting this, brings back some great memories.One of the best playoff series in Hockey

[kbinco]

I know, Ballard ruined a team that was 2 players away from winning the cup. Trading Randy Carlyle & George Ferguson for dave Burrows, was another bone head move by Ballard.

[dzanier]

They were a good team but they'd have had some stiff competition in the early 80's. They wound up being an under-500 team that regularly missed the playoffs. If Ballard hadn't been so spiteful the team might've at least been competitive like they were in the late 70's. Trading Pat Boutette wasn't too smart either. As far as this series goes, even though the Leafs matched up OK the Islanders had the better team & should've won. Palmateer was great & the Islanders best players did very little.

[scrat437]

Actually zumbaRdie, the Rangers played the Islanders in the Semifinals the next season in May 1979, Goring came along in March or April 1980. I do remember this game, I was in the 7th grade!

[leafyutube]

I was 9 when this happened. Just like yesterday.

How can you trade a heart and soul player like Lanny McDonald? Damn that Harold Ballard.

[zumbaRdie]

I remember this game. I was the only Isles fan in the room and felt the grunt of all the Leafs fans. This was the Leaf team that could have been one player away from going to Final. Too bad Harold Ballard owns the club and hired Punch Imlach that blew up the team. The Isles traded for Butch Goring the following year and won a series of Cup after that.

[quentin36]

Greatest Leaf moment for me until the 93 Leafs

[noose4]

I remember that I was 13 years old and an Islanders fan, Lanny made me cry. lol