The significance behind Matthew Knies’ Game 5 overtime winner wasn’t lost on anyone on Tuesday night. For one game, at least, it saved the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season, helping them outlast the Boston Bruins and survive an elimination game on the road.
But as focus rightly has shifted to Thursday’s Game 6 and another must-win situation, the historic implications of Knies’ goal have been overlooked. Of the 62 Maple Leafs playoff overtime goals in franchise history, few were scored by a player as young as the 21-year-old. The clutch efforts of the former University of Minnesota standout offer an opportunity to look back at Toronto’s history of playoff overtime heroes who were under the age of 22.
Kasperi Kapanen
OT winner: April 15, 2017 vs. WSH
Age: 20 years, 9 months
In just his second-career playoff game, Kasperi Kapanen was a critical part of helping the Maple Leafs even their 2017 first round series against the Washington Capitals at a game apiece. After notching his first career playoff goal in the second period, he ended the game in double overtime off a stellar behind-the-net pass from Brian Boyle.
Eddie Olczyk
OT winner: April 12, 1988 vs. DET
Age: 21 years, 8 months
While hockey star-turned-broadcaster Eddie Olczyk may be best remembered for his time with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he began and ended his NHL career, he enjoyed the most success in Toronto. Of his 342-career goals, 116 came as a Leaf, including 42-, 38- and 32-goal seasons. What that doesn’t include, however, is a young Olczyk’s Game 5 hat trick in the 1988 Norris Division Semifinals at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, capped off by an overtime winner 34 seconds into the extra frame.
Frank Mahovlich
OT winner: March 31, 1959 vs. BOS
Age: 21 years, 2 months
There was nearly a 30-year gap between the Kapanen and Olczyk overtime winners, and then almost another 30 years since “The Big M” Frank Mahovlich scored the first of his two-career OT clinchers. While the Hall of Famer had just turned 22 when he scored during the 1960 playoffs, he was just past his 21st birthday when he tied the semifinal series up 2-2 against the Bruins by scoring 11 minutes into overtime at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Gus Bodnar
OT winner: March 27, 1945 vs. MTL
Age: 21 years, 11 months
In year one of Gus Bodnar’s NHL career, he won the Calder Trophy. In year two, he won his first Stanley Cup as a member of the Maple Leafs, scoring three game-winning goals along the way. Not a bad start! While scoring the game winner in the series-clinching Game 6 and the lone goal in a 1-0 victory in Game 3 of the Cup Final loom large, neither proved as dramatic as Bodnar’s overtime winner to seal a 4-3 triumph in Game 4 of the semifinal against the Montreal Canadiens.
Jack McLean
OT winner: March 23, 1943 vs. DET
Age: 20 years, 2 months
Jack McLean played in just 67 games across three NHL seasons. Still, it was enough time in the league for the Winnipeg, Manitoba native to see his name engraved on the Cup and end one of the longest playoff games in Maple Leafs’ franchise history. In Game 2 of the 1943 semifinals against Detroit, McLean scored at 10:18 of the fourth overtime period to give Toronto 3-2 victory and help them tie the series. The game still stands as the second-longest in franchise history, with their 1-0 win in a six-overtime marathon in 1933 against Boston reigning supreme.
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Pep Kelly
OT winner: March 30, 1935 vs. BOS
Age: 21 years, 2 months
Back on March 30, 1935, Regis John ‘Pep’ Kelly picked an opportune time to notch his first two playoff goals. His first came in the final two minutes of regulation with the Maple Leafs trailing 1-0 to the Bruins, forcing overtime in their attempt to close out the best-of-three semifinal series. Shortly thereafter, Kelly sent Toronto into the Cup Final with the game-winner 1:36 into overtime.
Bob Gracie
OT winner: April 2, 1932 vs. MTM
Age: 21 years, 5 months
After taking on the ‘Maple Leafs’ team name in 1927, the franchise went through a significant (for the time, anyway) dry spell, winning just one Cup in their first 14 years with the new name. That one Cup wouldn’t have been possible were it not for Bob Gracie, who booked their spot in the Cup Final by scoring a series winner to outlast the Montreal Maroons.
This list of playoff goal scorers reveals a wide variety of outcomes for the futures of talented young players in Toronto, from those who remained to star with the club (Mahovlich) to those who found success elsewhere (Olczyk) to those who failed to fully capitalize on their initial success (Bodnar). While the Maple Leafs’ focus is very much in the now, there’s certainly hope that Knies’ Game 5 heroics will be a mere stepping stone towards future greatness.