The night the 60s Leafs were born

By LANCE HORNBY -- Toronto Sun As the chariot scene in Ben Hur kept movie crowds on the edge of their seats in 1959, the Maple Leafs were in their own suspense-filled horse race that spring.
It involved one of the most remarkable regular-season comebacks in team history. With five games remaining, Toronto sat seven points out of a playoff berth in the old six-team National Hockey League.
That's when rookie coach Punch Imlach's team, a club that had missed the playoffs the previous two seasons, showed what it was made of.
"We came out of nowhere and went all the way to the final," former Leafs' great Dick Duff recalled of upsetting second-place Boston in the first round before losing to Montreal. "All young teams have to go through something like that before they become great."
In Toronto's case, the Leafs would build on the experience to net four Stanley Cups in the 1960s, a golden era for Toronto hockey fans and the last great hurrah for the team this century.
Imlach had taken over from Billy Reay the previous November, talking his way into dual roles of general manager and coach. Until Pat Quinn took both jobs this summer, no other man in team history has carried both titles.
The Leafs had actually been in last place at Christmas, but by the time they commenced a home-and-home series with the Rangers on March 14-15, they were just seven points behind fourth-place New York.
Even after the Rangers blew the two games in hand they held on Toronto, they still needed just one win to eliminate the Leafs.
But they didn't get it in the fateful series, with Johnny Bower blanking them 5-0 in Toronto and the Leafs hanging on for a 6-5 win at Madison Square Garden.
The Leafs filled the net again a few nights later in Montreal, 6-3, while the Rangers lost to Boston.
By the time the last night of the schedule arrived on March 22, the Leafs had swamped Chicago 5-1 and needed a win in Detroit while New York, clinging to a one-point lead, played host to Montreal. News of the Habs' 4-2 win reached the Leafs' room in the second intermission at the Olympia, where'd they had fought back from a 2-0 deficit to make it 4-4.
"I've always maintained the baby was born that night that would lead to (the 1960s dynasty)," Duff said. "I scored the fifth (and winning) goal and Billy Harris the sixth."
Duff praised Imlach for not letting the Leafs get discouraged in the dark days of that season and said all corners of the dressing room did their parts in the amazing rally.
"It was as much Bob Pulford as it was Frank Mahovlich, Carl Brewer, Tim Horton or Larry Regan," Duff said. "Punch was brash and we all fell in behind him. He preached confidence, which is what we young players needed."
A thrilling seven-game semi-final series with the Bruins followed with Mahovlich and Gerry Ehman scoring overtime goals in Games 3 and 4 and Toronto winning 3-2 in the deciding match. Duff added one OT goal against the Habs in the final, but it was Toronto's only victory as Montreal rolled to its fourth of five consecutive Cups.

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