Former Toronto Maple Leafs center George Ferguson, a first-round pick of the club in 1972, died Monday at age 67 according to a tweet Tuesday from the team's alumni department. No cause of death was announced.
Ferguson played with Toronto from 1972-78 but holds a place as a key villain in Sabres history from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On April 14, 1979, Ferguson stunned a Saturday matinee crowd in Memorial Auditorium with a goal at 47 seconds of overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory in the decisive Game 3 of a preliminary round playoff series.
RIP George Ferguson, who scored 195 points in 310 GP for #Penguins, 1978-1982.
Fun Fergy Flyer Fact: George not only scored the OT series winner vs Sabres in 1979 prelim. round, but also the game-tying goal in the 3rd that sent it to OT. pic.twitter.com/KU9K8bKmFe
— Penguins History (@penguinshistory) December 17, 2019
It was the first time in Sabres history their season ended on an overtime goal and one of only two times that happened in the Aud (Kirk Muller completed Montreal's sweep in 1993 with a Game 4 OT goal).
