Stories Of Darryl Sittler

What follows are four stories from the Hockey Hall of Fame NHL career of Darryl Sittler. Starting with his first NHL goal, we also look back on a huge playoff game, a four goal game against Dave Keon and the Hartford Whalers and his first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Below, Sittler’s career stats are included, along with a hockey card video and some Darryl Sittler focused hockey trivia.

Darryl Sittler Regular Season Stats

Darryl Sittler Playoff Stats

NHL Hockey Card Legends: Darryl Sittler

Darryl Sittler NHL Hockey Trivia

Hockey Card Collection

Toronto Maple Leafs highly touted rookie waits 20 games to score 1^st NHL goal

In today’s media world, they’d be all over the fact that the 8^th overall pick didn’t score a single goal over his first 19 games. Back in 1970-71, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to ease their future superstar into action. In his 20^th game in the NHL, Darryl Sittler was finally able to find the back of the net.

On November 28, 1970, the Buds were hosting the Detroit Red Wings at Maple Leaf Gardens. It had been a dismal start to the 1970-71 NHL season for the Leafs, winning just five of their first 20 games. In this game, things went their way and the score was 6-0 before Detroit got on the board with 31 seconds left in the second period.

At 1:41 of the third, Sittler scored his first career goal in the National Hockey League, assisted by Mike Walton and Jim McKenny, to make the score 7-2. Darryl would later assist on a Ron Ellis goal for a two point night. Both points came on Detroit goalie Don McLeod who had replaced Roy Edwards for the third period.

Sittler went on to score nine more goals in his injury shortened rookie campaign while playing a total of 49 games. The star power came through and he ended his career with 484 over 1,096 games with the Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings while maintaining a more than point per game pace.

Darryl Sittler’s Biggest Game of the 1975-76 NHL Season (Hint: Not His 10 Point Performance)

On February 7, 1976, Darryl Sittler set the mark with six goals and four assists for ten points in a 11-4 win over the Boston Bruins. Boston goalie Dave Reece allowed all eleven goals while facing 40 shots and was not pulled by Bruins head coach Don Cherry. It was the last of 14 career NHL games he would play.

However, this was not Sittler’s biggest game of the season. On April 22, 1976, the Maple Leafs were facing the Philadelphia Flyers in game 6 of the quarter-finals. The Flyers were up 3-2 in the series and over the first eight games of the playoffs, Sittler had yet to score a single goal.

Facing elimination against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the captain came through. Darryl scored five goals, including the game winning goal, while adding an assist on the final goal of the game by Claire Alexander for a six point night in an 8-5 win. It was not a 14 game NHL veteran in net for the Flyers, either. Bernie Parent was in for the duration, facing 39 shots, eleven off the stick of Sittler.

The performance tied Newsy Lalonde and Maurice Richard for the most goals by a player in a single playoff game. Later in the 1975-76 playoffs, Reggie Leach of the Flyers would equal the mark. Mario Lemieux would become the fifth and final player to score five in a playoff game in 1988-89.

As for the Maple Leafs and Darryl Sittler, their luck would run out in game seven. Sittler did not score a goal and the Buds were eliminated from the post season. The Flyers went on to the Stanley Cup final for the third consecutive season, this time falling to the Montreal Canadiens.

Darryl Sittler Scores 4 In 1981 Game Vs. Dave Keon And The Whalers

At the start of the 1975-76 NHL season, Darryl Sittler took over the captain’s role with the Toronto Maple Leafs after the bitter departure of Dave Keon to the WHA. On January 24, 1981, Hartford came to Toronto for a game at Maple Leaf Gardens and it was a bitter loss for Keon, falling 7-4 to the Buds.

After the first period, the score was tied at 2-2. Sittler scored Toronto’s second goal with his 27^th of the 1980-81 NHL season, assisted by Borje Salming and Wilf Paiement. It was a power play marker with Hartford’s Ray Neufeld in the box for hooking. Any thoughts of a Whalers victory were dashed quickly with an offensive burst by the Leafs to start the second period.

Darryl scored his second of the game just 21 seconds into the second frame, unassisted. Ian Turnbull scored 1:32 later and Wilf Paiement scored what would be the game winner at 4:31, shorthanded and unassisted with Barry Melrose off for hooking. Sittler closed out the period with his hat trick goal, setup by Terry Martin and Salming.

Sittler’s fourth of the game was scored at 6:52 of the third, assisted by Paiement, putting Toronto up 7-2. Pat Boutette and Blaine Stoughton got pucks past Toronto goalie Jiri Crha but it wasn’t enough. As for Keon, Dave had a single point, assisting on a Mike Fidler goal in the first period.

Darryl Sittler’s 1^st game against the Toronto Maple Leafs (a sad shell of a team that he captained for several years)

On April 4, 1982, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers met at the Spectrum for the final game of the 1981-82 NHL season for both clubs. It was the first time Darryl Sittler played against the team he’d spent a decade playing for. Just a few months earlier, the Buds traded Darryl to the Flyers for Rich Costello and a 1982 2^nd round pick that turned out to be Peter Ihnacak. The trade was an obvious insult to one the team’s legends.

It was a modest success for Sittler with his new team winning easily 7-1. Darryl had a single point in the match, an assist on the opening goal by Ken Linseman at 10:25 of the first period. He had five shots in the game, scattered among the 59 that Philly fired at Toronto goalie Michel Larocque. For Pete Peeters, it was a snoozer with just 18 shots put his way.

It wasn’t all bad for Toronto. Rick Vaive was the lone goal scorer, potting his 54^th of the season. That 54 goal campaign remained a franchise record for 40 year until Auston Matthews came along. It was the first time in the history of the Maple Leafs that the 50 goal plateau had been reached.

Sittler was only involved in the one goal and it was Tim Kerr that was the star in this game for the Flyers. Kerr had a hat trick, scoring his 19^th, 20^th and 21^st goals of the season. Bobby Clarke also had a three point night, assisting on two of Kerr’s goals and one by Ilkka Sinisalo.

Darryl Sittler NHL Career Stats

Regular Season

Year	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1970-71	Toronto Maple Leafs	49	10	8	18	37
1971-72	Toronto Maple Leafs	74	15	17	32	44
1972-73	Toronto Maple Leafs	78	29	48	77	69
1973-74	Toronto Maple Leafs	78	38	46	84	55
1974-75	Toronto Maple Leafs	72	36	44	80	47
1975-76	Toronto Maple Leafs	79	41	59	100	90
1976-77	Toronto Maple Leafs	73	38	52	90	89
1977-78	Toronto Maple Leafs	80	45	72	117	100
1978-79	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	36	51	87	69
1979-80	Toronto Maple Leafs	73	40	57	97	62
1980-81	Toronto Maple Leafs	80	43	53	96	77
1981-82	Toronto Maple Leafs	38	18	20	38	24
1981-82	Philadelphia Flyers	35	14	18	32	50
1982-83	Philadelphia Flyers	80	43	40	83	60
1983-84	Philadelphia Flyers	76	27	36	63	38
1984-85	Detroit Red Wings	61	11	16	27	37
	Totals	1096	484	637	1121	948

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1970-71	Toronto Maple Leafs	6	2	1	3	31
1971-72	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	0	0	0	2
1972-73	Toronto Maple Leafs	0	0	0	0	0
1973-74	Toronto Maple Leafs	4	2	1	3	6
1974-75	Toronto Maple Leafs	7	2	1	3	15
1975-76	Toronto Maple Leafs	10	5	7	12	19
1976-77	Toronto Maple Leafs	9	5	16	21	4
1977-78	Toronto Maple Leafs	13	3	8	11	12
1978-79	Toronto Maple Leafs	6	5	4	9	17
1979-80	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	1	2	3	10
1980-81	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	0	0	0	4
1981-82	Toronto Maple Leafs	0	0	0	0	0
1981-82	Philadelphia Flyers	4	3	1	4	6
1982-83	Philadelphia Flyers	3	1	0	1	4
1983-84	Philadelphia Flyers	3	0	2	2	7
1984-85	Detroit Red Wings	2	0	2	2	0
	Totals	76	29	45	74	137

NHL Hockey Card Legends: Darryl Sittler [Video]

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NHL Hockey Trivia: Darryl Sittler

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Darryl Sittler Hockey Card Collection

1970-71 O-Pee-Chee

1971-72 O-Pee-Chee

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee

1974-75 O-Pee-Chee

1975-76 O-Pee-Chee

1976-77 O-Pee-Chee

1977-78 O-Pee-Chee

1978-79 O-Pee-Chee (Highlights)

1983-84 O-Pee-Chee