The Last Good Year by Damien Cox

Author:Damien Cox
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Published: 2018-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

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AFTER STRUGGLING IN Game 3 of the ’93 conference final, the Leafs, having earned the early 2–0 lead, were again a strong, unified team in Game 4. The Kings, meanwhile, just didn’t look like the confident squad they had been in Game 3. It was that kind of series, back and forth, and would continue to be.

Gretzky tried to get his group going, retrieving a loose puck around the Leafs net during an LA power play and backhanding it high over Potvin at 12:22 of the first period to make it 2–1. It was Gretzky’s first goal of the series and the 104th playoff goal of his NHL career. But soon after, Number 99 couldn’t clear the puck high in the LA zone, and Gilmour moved it deeper into the zone to Foligno. The former Buffalo captain backhanded a short pass to Krushelnyski and headed to the net with Kurri trying to prevent Foligno from getting there. Kurri couldn’t, and Foligno tapped Krushelnyski’s return pass home at 14:52 to put the Leafs ahead 3–1. Foligno followed the goal with his characteristic two-footed leap, an enthusiastic postgoal celebration that never failed to get a chuckle from his teammates. The thirty-two-year-old veteran had supplied energy and a goal, vital ingredients Burns had been looking for when he decided to dress Foligno after he had watched the team’s listless performance in Game 3 from the press box.

Always a team that played with more confidence when it had the lead, the Leafs settled into a familiar hard-checking pattern in the second period. Burns could match lines more effectively, and he put Berg, Osborne and Manderville out against the LA line of Corey Millen, Mike Donnelly and Tony Granato, a unit that had been causing the Leafs all kinds of problems with its speed. The Leafs checking line could cycle the puck, and they forced the Millen line to play defence rather than attack. Early in the second, Berg picked up a puck behind the LA net, and when no Kings player came after him, he stepped out in front and fired a low shot that Hrudey had to stop. By the third, Melrose was trying to get the Millen line away from Berg and company.

Once more, it was apparent how the NHL game at that time was designed to allow checkers to stop offensive players simply by lassoing them with their sticks. Body position was not as important for defensive players. Using the stick to reel in an attacking player or making him take one hand off the stick was a great equalizer, even for offensive players like Gilmour and Gretzky. It was an ugly style of hockey in many ways, but to be successful a team needed players willing and able to play that way.

While the NHL had been a high-scoring league that season, this style of play could produce a slower game, and it gave a big advantage to teams able to establish a lead. The Leafs, coached by Burns, were that kind of team.

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