1976–77 Toronto Maple Leafs season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1976–77
Year:	1976
Team:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Conferencerank:	5th
Divisionrank:	3rd
Record:	33–32–15
Goalsfor:	301
Goalsagainst:	285
Altcaptain:	None
Goalsleader:	Lanny McDonald (46)
Assistsleader:	Borje Salming (66)
Pointsleader:	Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald (90)
Pimleader:	Tiger Williams (338)
Winsleader:	Mike Palmateer (23)
Gaaleader:	Mike Palmateer (3.21)

The 1976–77 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the franchise's 60th season, 50th as the Maple Leafs. The Leafs finished in third place in the Adams Division with a record of 33 wins, 32 losses and 15 ties for 81 points. In the playoffs, they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the preliminary round 2–1 before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the Quarter-finals.

Regular season

On February 2, 1977, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Ian Turnbull would be the first player in NHL history to score five goals on five shots.^[1]

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 5, 1976	2–4	@ Colorado Rockies (1976–77)	0–1–0
2	W	October 9, 1976	7–5	Boston Bruins (1976–77)	1–1–0
3	T	October 13, 1976	4–4	Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)	1–1–1
4	L	October 15, 1976	3–5	@ Boston Bruins (1976–77)	1–2–1
5	T	October 16, 1976	5–5	Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)	1–2–2
6	T	October 20, 1976	4–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)	1–2–3
7	L	October 21, 1976	3–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)	1–3–3
8	L	October 23, 1976	2–5	New York Islanders (1976–77)	1–4–3
9	L	October 27, 1976	3–5	Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)	1–5–3
10	W	October 28, 1976	3–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)	2–5–3
11	W	October 30, 1976	5–1	@ Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)	3–5–3
12	W	November 1, 1976	6–3	@ Cleveland Barons (1976–77)	4–5–3
13	L	November 3, 1976	2–6	St. Louis Blues (1976–77)	4–6–3
14	W	November 5, 1976	4–2	@ Atlanta Flames (1976–77)	5–6–3
15	L	November 6, 1976	2–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1976–77)	5–7–3
16	T	November 10, 1976	2–2	@ Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)	5–7–4
17	W	November 13, 1976	3–0	@ Vancouver Canucks (1976–77)	6–7–4
18	W	November 17, 1976	1–0	Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)	7–7–4
19	W	November 20, 1976	8–3	Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)	8–7–4
20	L	November 21, 1976	5–9	@ Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)	8–8–4
21	L	November 24, 1976	3–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)	8–9–4
22	W	November 27, 1976	4–2	Boston Bruins (1976–77)	9–9–4
23	W	November 28, 1976	5–1	Cleveland Barons (1976–77)	10–9–4
24	W	November 30, 1976	4–2	@ New York Islanders (1976–77)	11–9–4
25	W	December 1, 1976	6–3	Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)	12–9–4
26	T	December 4, 1976	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)	12–9–5
27	T	December 5, 1976	5–5	@ New York Rangers (1976–77)	12–9–6
28	L	December 8, 1976	3–4	Vancouver Canucks (1976–77)	12–10–6
29	W	December 11, 1976	4–1	New York Rangers (1976–77)	13–10–6
30	L	December 12, 1976	4–7	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)	13–11–6
31	W	December 15, 1976	4–1	St. Louis Blues (1976–77)	14–11–6
32	L	December 17, 1976	2–3	@ Washington Capitals (1976–77)	14–12–6
33	W	December 18, 1976	4–2	Colorado Rockies (1976–77)	15–12–6
34	W	December 20, 1976	6–2	Atlanta Flames (1976–77)	16–12–6
35	L	December 22, 1976	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)	16–13–6
36	L	December 23, 1976	2–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)	16–14–6
37	L	December 26, 1976	2–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)	16–15–6
38	W	December 29, 1976	6–2	@ Cleveland Barons (1976–77)	17–15–6
39	W	January 1, 1977	3–1	Washington Capitals (1976–77)	18–15–6
40	L	January 2, 1977	4–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)	18–16–6
41	W	January 5, 1977	6–4	Colorado Rockies (1976–77)	19–16–6
42	L	January 8, 1977	2–4	Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)	19–17–6
43	W	January 11, 1977	2–0	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)	20–17–6
44	W	January 12, 1977	3–2	Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)	21–17–6
45	L	January 15, 1977	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)	21–18–6
46	L	January 18, 1977	3–6	@ Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)	21–19–6
47	W	January 21, 1977	3–1	@ Vancouver Canucks (1976–77)	22–19–6
48	W	January 23, 1977	5–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)	23–19–6
49	W	January 27, 1977	2–1	@ New York Islanders (1976–77)	24–19–6
50	T	January 29, 1977	3–3	@ Boston Bruins (1976–77)	24–19–7
51	L	January 31, 1977	3–7	@ Atlanta Flames (1976–77)	24–20–7
52	W	February 2, 1977	9–1	Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)	25–20–7
53	L	February 5, 1977	5–7	Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)	25–21–7
54	W	February 9, 1977	5–1	Atlanta Flames (1976–77)	26–21–7
55	W	February 12, 1977	10–0	Washington Capitals (1976–77)	27–21–7
56	L	February 13, 1977	3–8	@ New York Rangers (1976–77)	27–22–7
57	L	February 14, 1977	2–7	@ Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)	27–23–7
58	W	February 16, 1977	5–3	@ Cleveland Barons (1976–77)	28–23–7
59	T	February 17, 1977	2–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)	28–23–8
60	T	February 19, 1977	6–6	Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)	28–23–9
61	W	February 20, 1977	10–8	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)	29–23–9
62	L	February 23, 1977	4–5	New York Rangers (1976–77)	29–24–9
63	L	February 25, 1977	2–4	@ Washington Capitals (1976–77)	29–25–9
64	L	February 26, 1977	5–6	Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)	29–26–9
65	L	March 2, 1977	1–4	Cleveland Barons (1976–77)	29–27–9
66	T	March 5, 1977	4–4	Vancouver Canucks (1976–77)	29–27–10
67	W	March 7, 1977	4–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)	30–27–10
68	T	March 9, 1977	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)	30–27–11
69	W	March 12, 1977	6–0	Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)	31–27–11
70	L	March 13, 1977	1–6	@ Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)	31–28–11
71	W	March 15, 1977	4–1	@ St. Louis Blues (1976–77)	32–28–11
72	T	March 16, 1977	4–4	@ Colorado Rockies (1976–77)	32–28–12
73	W	March 19, 1977	5–4	Atlanta Flames (1976–77)	33–28–12
74	L	March 21, 1977	2–7	Cleveland Barons (1976–77)	33–29–12
75	T	March 23, 1977	1–1	New York Islanders (1976–77)	33–29–13
76	L	March 26, 1977	5–7	Boston Bruins (1976–77)	33–30–13
77	L	March 27, 1977	4–7	@ Washington Capitals (1976–77)	33–31–13
78	T	March 30, 1977	3–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)	33–31–14
79	T	April 2, 1977	1–1	Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)	33–31–15
80	L	April 3, 1977	4–7	@ Boston Bruins (1976–77)	33–32–15

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
RW	80	46	44	90	77	12	16	4	5
C	73	38	52	90	89	8	12	1	5
D	80	22	57	79	84	47	4	2	0
D	76	12	66	78	46	45	1	0	0
C	66	15	30	45	7	5	0	3	1
D	76	14	31	45	36	−26	3	0	3
LW	77	18	25	43	338	11	1	0	0
C	76	19	23	42	24	−14	3	0	4
LW	78	24	17	41	16	8	5	0	3
LW	41	21	16	37	8	−10	8	1	2
C/RW	80	18	18	36	107	13	3	0	1
LW	70	17	16	33	16	−17	3	0	5
C	65	11	19	30	14	2	1	0	2
C	69	9	20	29	83	−18	3	0	1
C	50	9	15	24	24	0	0	2	0
D	48	1	12	13	12	−4	0	0	0
D	69	1	10	11	73	−1	0	0	0
C	15	2	5	7	4	2	0	0	1
D	26	2	3	5	24	5	0	0	0
D	45	0	5	5	51	−19	0	0	0
C/LW	7	1	1	2	19	3	0	0	0
D	10	1	1	2	4	4	0	0	0
G	50	0	2	2	8	0	0	0	0
D	13	0	2	2	4	−4	0	0	0
D	11	0	1	1	8	−7	0	0	0
G	33	0	1	1	4	0	0	0	0
D	1	0	0	0	2
G	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
	2877	50	23	18	8	154	3.21	4
	1803	33	10	13	6	116	3.86	1
	120	2	0	1	1	9	4.50	0
Team:	4800	80	33	32	15	279	3.49	5

Playoffs

Scoring

Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	GWG
C	9	5	16	21	4	3	0
RW	9	10	7	17	6	3	1
D	9	3	6	9	6	2	0
LW	9	3	6	9	29	0	1
D	9	4	4	8	10	4	0
LW	9	1	3	4	6	1	0
C/RW	9	0	4	4	17	0	0
C	7	2	1	3	0	1	1
C	9	0	3	3	7	0	0
LW	9	2	0	2	0	0	1
D	9	0	2	2	2	0	0
D	9	0	2	2	4	0	0
C	9	1	0	1	4	0	0
D	9	0	1	1	20	0	0
C	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
C/LW	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
D	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
LW	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
G	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
D	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
G	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
D	2	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA
	360	6	3	3	16	2.67
	202	4	1	2	12	3.56
Team:	562	9	4	5	28	2.99

^[2]

Transactions

The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 1976–77 season.

Trades

September 9, 1976	To St. Louis Blues FA Signing of Rod Seiling	To Toronto Maple Leafs 2nd round pick in 1978 – Joel Quenneville Cash
September 15, 1976	To Colorado Rockies Doug Favell	To Toronto Maple Leafs Cash
September 27, 1976	To Washington Capitals Cash	To Toronto Maple Leafs Blair MacKasey
September 28, 1976	To Chicago Black Hawks Jim Harrison	To Toronto Maple Leafs 2nd round pick in 1977 – Bob Gladney
March 8, 1977	To Colorado Rockies 3rd round pick in 1977 – Randy Pierce	To Toronto Maple Leafs Tracy Pratt

Free agents

Player	New Team
	St. Louis Blues
	Boston Bruins

Awards and records

Lanny McDonald, Right Wing, NHL Second All-Star Team
Borje Salming, Defence, NHL First All-Star Team

Draft picks

Toronto's draft picks at the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft held in Montreal.

Round		Player	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	30	Randy Carlyle	Sudbury Wolves (OMJHL)
3	48	Alain Belanger	Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
3	52	Gary McFayden	Hull Festivals (QMJHL)
4	66	Tim Williams	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
5	84	Greg Hotham	Kingston Canadians (OMJHL)
6	102	Dan Djakalovic	Kitchener Rangers (OMJHL)
7	116	Charlie Skjodt	Windsor Spitfires (OMJHL)

Notes and References

Hockey's Book of Firsts, p. 27, James Duplacey, JG Press, .
Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-05-28 . 1976-77 Toronto Maple Leafs Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.