Saturday, November 12, 2011

Doug Gilmour's greatest moment as a Maple Leaf

The date was May 3, 1993 and I was fortunate enough to be at the game. In fact I was in the gold seats directly behind one of the nets. Unfortunately I wasn't behind the St. Louis net during the second overtime period so I had difficulty following the action at the other end. Back then there was no video screen in Maple Leaf Gardens. I didn't fully appreciate the skill involved until I got home to watch the replay.

It was very warm night for that time of the year and the Gardens had no air conditioning so it was a sauna by the second overtime period in the first game of the playoff series. The score was tied 1-1 with the Leafs outshooting the Blues 61-32 at the start of the final period but Curtis Joseph was at his best that night for St. Louis. Early in the period Gilmour had the puck behind the St. Louis net. Nikolai Borschevsky and Dave Andreychuk were jockeying for position in front of the net. Gilmour faked to his right and then to his left. Joseph committed on the second fake and Gilmour spun around followed by a wrap around tucking the puck in the open net.

Doug Gilmour was a game changer and deserving of an Hall of Fame induction.

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