Correction regarding 1977 playoff story: Leafs versus Flyers

In my post earlier today on the playoff series between the Leafs and the Flyers in 1977, I was mistaken in writing that Roger Neilson was the Leaf coach that season.

Of course it was still Red Kelly, who the year before had the Leafs (or at least the media and the fans) almost believing in “Pyramid Power”, which is a story for another day. That year, the underdog Leafs made it to Game 7 against the then two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Flyers, but lost.

As I wrote today, they also lost in the spring of 1977 and Kelly was replaced a while after that series. The Leafs then brought in a young, creative coach, Roger Neilson, who had a great track record as a Junior A coach, and spent a year in the Maple Leaf minor-league system coaching Dallas in the old Central Hockey League.

Neilson was one of the first to rely heavily on video analysis of games to assess his own players’ performance, as well as prepare for opponents. In his first year behind the bench in April, 1978, Neilson led the Leafs to that stunning playoff upset of the New York Islanders.