Coach Schinkel guarantees 1976 playoff series win vs Leafs

Our next few posts will look at the Penguins' 1976 Stanley Cup Playoff Preliminary Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs...

Following their 1975 quarter-final collapse against the New York Islanders, the Penguins put up a respectable 35-33-12 record the following season and were in the playoffs once again. Their opponent in their best-of-three Preliminary Round series would be the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had finished a point ahead of the Pens and thereby owned home-ice advantage.

Ahead of Game One in Toronto, Pittsburgh coach Ken Schinkel boldly predicted in this gameday article that his team would take the series on the strength of a win at Maple Leaf Gardens and one at home. It's almost impossible to conceive of a head coach uttering such a statement these days, but that's what went on in earlier eras.

Schinkel's brashness was all the more surprising when you consider that his charges had nosedived at the end of the season, going 2-4-1 in their last seven, including a loss in their final game at home to the sad-sack Washington Capitals, owners of the league's worst record.