This sounds like a hell of a Red Wings lineup. Looks like there’s plenty of competition, but it’s all looking good. Hopefully Konstantinov doesn’t end up in that doomed limo this time.
99 Red Winged Balloons: A hockey TL
- Thread starter kinnikuniverse
- Start date
1992-1993 NHL Season and Neutral Site Games
The 1992 1993 NHL Season saw the league being on national TV in the US For the first tiem since the early 80s, with ESPN having signed a lucrative deal to broadcast hockey games on each of its channels, with Gary Thorne and Bill Clement hosting the games.
As part of the continued push towards more visibility in the US, The NHL Organised a couple of games hosted on neutral sites across canada and the US, in order to gauge which city might be good places for expansion or franchise relocations.
Across 15 different cities, The NHL's top clubs played in front of varying crowd sizes. Saskatoon, in saskatchewan, and indianapolis, indiana, attracted the lowest attendance, not even making 10,000. Cities located in the sun belt, such as oklahoma city, miami, orlando, atlanta and dallas, attracted somewhat decent crowds, around 12,000. Phoenix, arizona, kansas city, missouri and sacramento, california, brought in almost 13.000+, while the higest attendances belonged to Hamilton, ontario, Denver, Colorado, Seattle, Washington and, surprisingly enough, Cleveland, Ohio.
While the last 4 cities aren't anything new, since they had hockey teams from various leagues, including the NHL, in the past, Cleveland was especially eyecatching, since the richfield colisseum is 30 minutes from downtown cleveland and the barons's NHL incarnation was a total failure. Hamilton had the highest attendance, but whether or not the toronto Maple leafs would allow a third team in Ontario is another matter entirely. Denver and Seattle seems like the most likely destinations for expansion or relocations, while cleveland is a distant third in expansion/relocation choice, with many doubts surrounding a new team in ohio.
Back to on-ice action, it was a season where scoring was king. Almost all teams in the league scored over 300 goals, with Wayne gretzky's detroit red wings barely beating mario lemieux's pittsburgh penguins with 369 to 367. In fact, scoring was so absurd that Washington's Kevin Hatcher scored 34 goals...yes, you read that right, 34!
maybe it's the mullet...
Almost every division had tight title races, with only the penguins dominating the patrick division, in part thanks to an NHL record 15-game winning streak. The pens are looking like favorites to win it all, and they are motivated to avenge their loss to the new york rangers. With added depth at forward with czechs martin straka and robert lang as well as shawn mceachern, mario, jagr and kevin stevens won't be alone in their quest for a second cup.
Another game, another ass-whoopin'
Speaking of the reigning stanley cup champions, they had a post-cup hangover that season, the team struggling to find its groove for much of the season. Roger Neilson was thought to be given the axe, but Mark Messier, who was convinced of neilson's coaching ability following the cup win, gave his support to the innovative genius, and the rags would find their focus and enter a heated race for the last playoff spots in the patrick with the flyers, devils and the surprising new york islanders led by pierre turgeon and mike ricci.
The hangover is real
The flyers would benefit from a great season by its defense. Ron hextall would have one of his best seasons in front of net, while steve duchesne would be the main playmaker of the flyers, and his partners in the d-corps terry carkner, garry galley and draft pick dmitri Yushkevich would hold the blue line. Rick tocchet would have a 50-goal season for the first time in his career, largely helped by keith primeau and duchesne as well as deadline day acquisition Kevin Dineen, who left hartford after finding himself stuck on the third line. Hartford got some much needed Center depth in Murray Craven in return. On the back of those performances, The Flyers would barely beat the New Jersey Devils and the rangers for the last spot available in the patrick.
Despite barely missing the playoffs, The New York rangers extended head coach Roger Neilson, and they also confirmed their fate in the younger players, giving extensions to tony amonte, doug weight, Sergei Zubov and Darren Turcotte.
The devils have missed the playoffs, and star Brendan shanahan is becoming more and more vocal about his unhapiness in the meadowlands...
is Shanny on the way out of Joisey?
Speaking of the deadline, many big deals would take place. Apart from the aformentioned dineen-for-craven deal, The Toronto Maple Leafs, who saw themselves having an extraordinary season, challenging the red wings for first place in the norris for much of the season, would acquire buffalo's Dave Andreychuk in exchange for Grant Fuhr. The stanley cup-winning goalie found was caught using drugs and was subsequently suspended. During that time, a young quebecois goalie named Felix Potvin would emerge as an NHL starter, rendering fuhr obsolete, and the leafs gets some much needed help on the top 6.
Speaking of the top 6, it is led by Captain Wendel Clark and their incredible 1-2 punch at center of Doug Gilmour and no.1 pick Eric Lindros. The next one would live up to the hype, scoring 51 goals in his first season in the league and forming one of the most feared lines in hockey with Clark and russian Nikolai borchesvky. Gilmour would more than homd his own, not letting lindros overshadow him as he registered 125 points. Andreychuk arriving gave gilmour a much needed partner in crime, as shayne corson was relegated to third line checking duties by pat burns.
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/hockey/2016/11/12/eric-lindros-takes-road-less-travelled-to-hockey-hall-of-fame/lindros-team-canada.jpg)
Lindros lives up to the hype and then some...
The leafs and red wings would trade the lead in the norris until the final day of the season, where a red wings win over toronto sealed 1st place for hockeytown in a much anticipated showdown between gretzky and lindros. The chicago Blackhawks would secure third palce, while Hull, oates, Brind'amour and stevens's st. Louis blues would barely beat the plucky minnesota North stars for 4th place.
In the adams division, the story of the day was the incredible rise to the playoffs of the Quebec Nordiques. Having missed out on Eric lindros, the nords would have a blessing in disguise, as Scott Niedermayer would turn heads for his solid play in his rookie year, forming a very promising 1st pairing with adam foote. In net, Stéphane Fiset would prove himself to be reliable, if unspectacular.
But the star of the show in quebec was the offense. With an incredible center depth of Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and ray ferraro, the emergence of former eastern bloc talents such as alexei gusarov, andrei kovalenko, valeri kamensky and Peter Bondra as well as the grit of veterans gino cavallini and Nordiques Icon Michel Goulet and young power forward Owen Nolan, the nords would score almost at will, and they would finish a mear 3 points behind boston for 2nd place in the adams, where they will face their dreaded rivals, the montreal canadiens, who managed to bounce back after a poor start highlighted by a humiliating loss to the expansion ottawa senators.
The last playoff spot of the adams was hotly contested between the hartford whalers of ron francis, ulf samuelsson, scott young, andrew cassels, geoff sanderson, dave ellett, eric weinrich and markus naslund and the buffalo sabres of mogilny, hawerchuk and lafontaine. Boosted by grant fuhr's acquisition, the Sabres had the advantage heading into the final month of the season. However, an unfortunate 4-game losing streak would see buffalo get out of the playoffs by a mear 2 points over the whalers, who won their last game against the milwaukee admirals to get in.
Ronnie Franchise is back in the playoffs.
Speaking of the Admirals, they had a relatively decent season for an expansion team. Key to that is the surprisingly solid defense of roman Hamrlik, bob beers, shawn chambers and doug crossman and an unexpected breakout season by former leafs center Brian Bradley, who scored 42 goals and 44 assists!
The Smythe division was all about one flashy rookie: Young Teemu Selanne of Finland. The young rookie would tear the roof down in winnipeg, as he would record a historic 76-goals season, the most by a rookie in NHL History. He isn't alone in Winnipeg, as the Jets benefited from Dominik Hasek's excellent follow-up campaign in front of net, A revitalised Denis Savard playing alongside Selanne, the eclosion of Keith Tkachuk and a lot of depth with Young guys like Alexei Zhamnov, darrin shannon, evgeny davydov, Luciano Borsato, stu Barnes and Shjon Podein, veterans like thomas steen and Pat Elynuik and a defense led by the Housley-Numminen-olausson trio solidified by the gritty and tough Richard Matvichuk and Darius Kasparaitis. The latter turned heads in the NHL, albeit due to his fearlessness, frequently delivering big hits and getting in the face of the game's biggest stars, as highlighted by a controversial hit on Mario Lemieux that led to a bench-clearing brawl. That Fearlessness galvanised the Jets, and they would finish second in the Smythe behind the vancouver canucks of linden, nedved, larionov and Bure.
Still One of the best goal celebrations of all time.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings would finish in 4th, but the 5th placed edmonton oilers were so far behind that they were in no danger of missing the playoffs. Jimmy Carson would continue being one of the top centers in The league, feeding the puck to Luc Robitaille, who had his best season yet with 63 goals, and jari kurri, who would register 87 points in his best season since leaving edmonton. With Dmitri kristich, tomas sandstrom, tony granato, captain dave taylor as well as martin gelinas handling the secondary scoring duties, bobby carpenter a more than capable 3rd line two-way center and a defense led by their youngsters rob blake, daryl sydor and rookie alexei zhitnik surrounded by cup winners paul coffey, charlie huddy and marty mcsorley, The kings firmly believes that this year is their year, that they will finally bring the cup to california!
It's cup or bust for L.A
1993 NHL PLAYOFFS
ADAMS
Boston vs Hartford
Quebec vs Montreal
PATRICK
NY Islanders vs Washington
Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia
NORRIS
Detroit vs St. Louis
Toronto vs Chicago
SMYTHE
Vancouver vs Los Angeles
Winnipeg vs Calgary
Who will win and advance to the conference finals?
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1993 NHL Playoffs part 1: Division Semi-finals
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ADAMS SEMI-FINALS
BOSTON BRUINS VS HARTFORD WHALERS
The battle of new england is renewed, the boston bruins looking to finally give raymond bourque and cam neely the stanley cup, while the hartford whalers set their sights towards going to the conference finals.
Game 1 would start with hartford gaining an early advantage, with free agent signing randy cunneyworth and ron francis opening the scoring in the first. Ths second would see boston tie it up thanks to joe juneau and cam neely, but Markus Naslund would make his mark by scoring his first ever NHL Playoff goal at 5 seconds remaining in the period to make it 3-2 hartford.
Naslund would then score his second on a pass by pat verbeek, beating andy moog with a top netter to make it 4-2. This was where cam neely would take over, as he scored his second, then assisted Steve Heinze on the power play to tie it up 4-4 and send game 1 into overtime!
OT would be intense, as bodies flew everywhere in the boston garden and andy moog and sean burke were imperial. Finally, the game winner would come from antoher swede, michael nylander, who buries the puck in the back of the bruins net on a breakaway to qin game 1 for hartford!
Game 2 would see total domination by the whalers. Francis would score on a shorthamded goal, then scott young adds one on the power play. Naslund and Andrew Cassels would complete the scoring as sean burke stops the bruins's 34 shots on goal as bartford wins 4-0.
Game 3 at hartford would see Pat verbeek open the score on a power play, followed by murray craven, before ray bourque gets one back for the bruins.
In the third period, bob sweeney ties it up, only for andrew cassels to score almost immediately after...which was followed by cam neely tieing it up again and forcing the game into overtime, where murray craven would endear himself to the citizens of hartford and score on a power play to give hartford an unexpected 3-0 lead in the series!
In a boling hot XL Center, game 4 would be absolutely insane. Cam neely would open the scoring with a beautiful feint to beat sean burke, but scott young ties it up for the home team on the power play, only for joe juneau to give boston the lead again 5 minutes later, with peter douris and Stephen leach adding it up to make it 4-1 after one. At the start of the second, Dave Poulin would make it 5-1 to shut up the hartford crowd. Immediately after, Dave ellett would pass it to markus naslund, who immediatley finds ron francis, the captain burying it to make it 5-2. Pat verbeek would make it 5-3.
What would follow is one of the most insane periods in NHL Playoffs history. Scott Young would make it 5-4 after Eric Weinrich blocked a shot by poulin, which led to Andrew cassels picking it up and passing it to geoff sanderson who passed it to young on a 2v1 to beat andy moog. After that, hartford bombarded moog with shot after shot, only for murray craven to pass it to randy cunneyworth, who buries it to tie the game 5-5, forcing overtime!
As Francis gets tripped up by Douris, He managed to pass it to markus naslund, who delivers a beautiful deke on ray bourque, rounds the keeper and scores, sending the XL Center into a frenzy! Hartford sweeps the bruins! Unbelievable!
QUEBEC NORDIQUES VS MONTREAL CANADIENS
Meanwhile, at the colisée in quebec, the nordiques hosts their fierce provincial rivals, the montreal canadiens,in what looks to be a heated and intense series, typical of these sworn enemies.
Game 1 would see the habs draw first blood from 4th liner gilbert dionne. After that, there was a lot of physicality and defense, the scoring staying there until Brian Bellows made it 2-0 habs.
The third period would see montreal collapse in the last 2 minutes as Ray Ferraro would score on a power play and captain joe sakic would tie it up with inly one minute rmaining in the game to force overtime!
In OT, both patrick roy and stephane fiset would play unvelievably to keep their teams into the game. Eventually, Peter Bondra would score the OT winner on a tired roy to give game 1 to quebec.
Game 2 would see complete domination by the nordiques. Curtis leschysyn would score on the power play followed by two goals from peter bondra, with Claude lapointe scoring the final nordiques goal to win it 4-1, brian bellows scoring the only goal for the canadiens.
At the forum, the habs needs to answer. Game 3 started badly for them, with mats sundin scoring after only 1 minute into the game. In the second, kirk muller ties it up with a power play goal. After a tense third period, the game remaine tied and we went to overtime.
Stephane lebeau redirected a flying puck into the nords net, but the video review showed that lebeau was high sticking before the play. Later on, Kirk Muller attempted a pass to mark recchi, but the puck hit alexie gusarov's skate and entered the net! Just like that, the habs win game 3 in overtime on an own goal!
Game 4 was high octane action from beginning to end. Vincent damphousse opened the scoring on a power play goal after 5 minutes, but peter bondra woudl tie it up 4 minutes later.
The second would see 1991 1st round pick martin rucinsky give back the lead to the habs. However, joe sakic would tie it up at the end of the period.
The hero of the day would be 4th liner benoit brunet, who would do a beautiful wrap-around to beat stéphane fiset for the game winning goal as the habs unexpectedly tie up the series!
Game 5 had lots of twists and turns. Mike keane would open the scoring for the habs in the first. The second would see a quick flurry of goals by the nordiques's joe sakic and mats sundin. The habs would tie it up, however, when vincent damphousse one-timed a pass from mark recchi. Defenseman eric desjardins would give the habs the lead, but mere seconds after, owen nolan ties the game.
In the third, mats sundin scores his second of the game to give the nords a 4-3 lead. The nords defense would try to hold on, locking each and every shot...but 4th liner Gilbert dionne, who was the hero for the habs in their series agaisnt hartford last year, would do his magic again and score the tieing goal to force overtime!
Patrick roy would be unstoppable in front of net, robbing sundin, Goulet and kamensky of clear cut chances. That lacknof finishing and nervousness would cost the nords, in the end,as kirk muller would intercept a poor pass by niedermayer and score a wicked wristshot pass stephane fiset to win it in overtime!
From then on, the momentum shifted, as the nords came to the forum completely demoralised, and the habs cynically took advantage of that, completely destroying the young nordiques 6-2, with 4th liner paul dipietro scoring a hat trick and stéphane richer scoring his first goal of the playoffs to seal a huge upset by the habs!
PATRICK SEMI-FINALS
The patrick would see the pittsburgh penguins comfortably beating the philadelphia flyers 4-1, with their only defeat being a hotly contested game 4 where the flyers won 4-3.
The washington-islanders series, however, would be one for the ages, as the isles would win 3 straight overtime games to upset the capitals in 6 games. A huge point of controversy was the dirty hit by dale hunter on pierre turgeon while the latter was celebrating. This led to a bench-clearing brawl at the nasseau colisseum.
Young mike ricci would be the hero of the islanders, scoring 2 OT winners and carrying turgeon's burden. The pens awaits in the next round. Can the isles pull it off, once again?
NORRIS SEMI-FINALS
The detroit red wing sand the St. Louis blues face off in a very competitive series. While the wings would eventually sweep the blues as revenge for their upset loss last season, alm the games were competitive and ended with only a one goal difference, with wayne gretzky delivering a killer pass to nicklas lidstrom, who fires it pass curtis joseph to win game 4 in overtime 4-3 and complete the sweep, the hull, oates, brind'amour and stevens blues once again massively underachieving.
The toronto maple leafs, back to the playoffs for the first time since the late 80s, would not pull their punches, eric lindros and doug gilmour dominating agaisnt the chicago blackhawks as the leafs swept them with eery ease. Detroit vs toronto. Gretzky vs lindros. The norris final looks very promising!
SMYTHE SEMI-FINALS
The winnipeg jets and the calgary flames faced off in the first smythe semi-final. Winnipeg would win game 1 6-3 on the back of a teemu selanne hat trick, while calgary would answer back with heavy 9-4 and 5-2 wins in games 2 and 3.
Back in winnipeg, dominik hasek, who got rocked in the last two games, would find his focus, putting out the flames in a 3-0 shutout. The jets offense would then take over, winnipeg winning games 5 and 6 9-2 to eliminate calgary in 6. Teemu selanne and denis savard where the top scorers for the jets, scoring a whopping ten goals between them in the series, with keith tkachuk not far behind them, scoring 4 goals, tied with phil housley.
The vancouver canucks and the los angeles kings would also take part in a shootout of their own, an incredible 41 goals were scored in total. After trailing 3-1 in the series, jimmy carson would carry the kings to an incredible comeback, martin gelinas scoring two straight overtime goals to force a game 7, where carson, robitaille and kurri dominated, the kings's first line scoring all 4 goals in a 4-0 route as the canucks blew a 3-1 series lead to L.A! Now that is humiliating!
DIVISION FINALS
ADAMS
Hartford Whalers vs Montreal Canadiens
PATRICK
Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders
NORRIS
Detroit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple Leafs
SMYTHE
Winnipeg Jets vs Los Angeles Kings
Who will win and advance to the conference finals??
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OK this timeline is awesome. You gave the Whale a Stanley Cup and the Rangers ended their curse two years early. Are we going to see Gretzky vs. Messier in the 1994 Cup finals, with Gretzky in Detroit and Messier in New York? That would elevate hockey's ratings like nothing else. I'm definitely watching this one! IRL, the Red Wings finished atop the West in 1994 without the Great One, but were stunned by the expansion San Jose Sharks in 7 games in the first round of the playoffs
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Thanks man! I can't guarantee you anything. Plus, something far bigger than that is gonna happen soon...
I actually posted the north stars's fate ITTL before. The north stars were bought by Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfenson, the owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and they have moved to the Target Center. They'll most likely stay there until the Xcel Energy center opens in 1999.
As for the other three, stay tuned....
1993 NHL Division Finals
ADAMS FINAL
Hartford Whalers vs Montreal Canadiens
The habs and the whalers once again meet in the playoffs, hartford looking to avenge their 7-game loss to the francophones. Game 1, however, would start with stéphane richer opening the scoring for montreal on a powerplay goal.
One minute later, Scott young would tie it up with a wristshot pass patrick roy's legs. Roy would then stop all shot attempts by the whalers, while the habs defense, led by petr svoboda, Mathieu schneider, eric desjardins and sylvain lefevbre, would hold the fort. Lefevbre would poke check randy cunneyworth and pass it to vincent damphousse, who lobs it to a charging kirk muller, who buries the puck pass sean burke on a powerplay goal to give back the lead to the canadiens.
In the second, the habs would continue in their good run of form as 4th line center Paul Dipietro would score his 4th goal of the playoffs. Hartford would get one back thanks to ron francis, and finally tie the game two minutes later thanks to geoff sanderson.
Finally, vincent damphousse would score the game winning goal to win game 1 for the habs.
In game 2, damphousse would score first for montreal on the power play, but Hartford would tie it up after only 30 seconds thanks to a Norm Maciver slap shot. Late in the period, Andrew Cassels would score a power play goal to give hartford the lead after 1.
In the second, kirk muller ties it up on a pp goal of his own before damphousse give the habs the lead 3 minutes later. Dave ellett would tie the game up mere seconds into the third period, and hartford would hold the fort to force the game into overtime.
Unfortunately, that strategy would backfire on them, as habs captain guy carbonneau would score on a rebound to win game 2.
Game 3 would take place at the XL Center. Kirk muller opens the scorig after only 14 seconds. Ten minutes later, vincent damphousse scores on a power play to make it 2-0 habs after one. The whalers would come back at the end of the second with goals by dave ellett and Eric Weinrich. Guy carbonneau would give the lead back to the habs woth a short-handed goal. Ronnie franchise, however, would save the whalers again, scoring with 10 minutes remaining to force overtime again, where gilbert dionne would score the game winner to give the habs a 3-0 series lead!
In a boiling hot XL Center, hartford scores first, with dave ellett burying a pass from scott young. Later on, Lyle Odelein, subbibg for patrice brisebois, would tie it up for the habs.
The second period was all habs, as vincent damphousse and sylvain lefevbre would make it 3-1 montreal.
Ron francis rallied his troops in the third, scoring on a powerplay goal to bring the XL Center and the team alive. Form then on, the whalers bombarded patrick roy, the habs goalie being imperial in front of net...until he let in an uncharacteristically soft goal from michael Nylander to have hartford force overtime!
And once again, the habs win in overtime thanks to captain kirk. The montreal canadiens sweeps the hartford whalers and are back to the conference finals for the first time since their 24th stanley cup in 1989!
PATRICK DIVISION FINALS
Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders
Well, holy moly, no one saw it coming! Not even mario, jagr and certainly not scotty bowman!
Against all odds, the new york Islanders beat the heavily-favorited pittsburgh penguins in 7 games to advance to their first conference finals since 1984! Mike Ricci (who did a phenomenal job shadowing lemieux), pierre turgeon, steve thomas and derek king have certainly become household names in long island! So monumental is this upset that, almost as soon as the day after came, there were rumours that mario wanted out of pittsburgh! Of course, le magnifique immediately refuted these silly claims, claiming that series loss was just a fluke...and the upset loss against the rangers in 92, what about it?
Anyways, the islanders will face the montreal canadiens (who no doubt breathed a sigh of relief after learning of the pens being eliminated!) I the eastern conference finals.
NORRIS DIVISION FINALS
Deteoit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple leafs.
This was the most anticipated matchup in the playoffs. Detroit vs toronto, two teams looking to end years of misery and pain.
More importantly, it was wayne gretzky, the great one, against the next one, Eric Lindros.
Game 1 would start with Wings captain steve yzerman opening the scori g after 5 minutes. Eric lindros would make his mark at 10 minutes in the period, scoring after shaking off a big hit by chris chelios and feinting felix potvin to tie up the game.
The second period would start with ray sheppard giving back the lead to detroit on a power play goal via a great pass by wayne gretzky. From then on, the wings dominated the rest of the game, winning it 6-3. Game two ended in a similar result for detroit.
Game 3 would see toronto get one back, with two goals from dave andreychuk in the first, a power play goal by wendel clark in the second and a rob pearson empty netter to seal a 4-2 win. Andrey chuck would once again be the hero in game 4, scoring two goals and assiting eric lindros on the power play as the leafs tie up the series.
Bck at the joe louis arena, the leafs would force overtime after wayne gretzky completely destroyed them all game long, and 4th liner mike foligno would score an incredible overtime winner to have the leafs lead 3-2!
At the maple leaf garden, however, gretzky, yzerman and co. Would not go down easily, as they would dominate the leafs 7-3 thanks to a hat trick of goals from dino ciccarelli and a hat trick of assits for wayne gretzky.
The pivotal game 7 at the joe louis arena was a thriller. Glen anderosn and bob rouse would give the elafs a 2-0 lead,but the wings entire 3rd line of pual ysebaert, shawn burr and dallas drake would carry the team on their shoulders, scoring 3 quick goals to give the wings the lead geading into the third period. That's where, with only three minutes remaining in the game, doug gilmour would tie it up to force overtime, where eric lindros would take over, looking like a man among men as he delivered a great pass to nikolai borchevsky, who buries it in the back of the net to win the game and the series for toronto!
This gretzky vs lindros series delivered on the hype, with both men shining bright. Lindros surprised many by scoring more assits than goals, no doubt he is taking in the influence of the team-first mentality of coach pat burns and linemate wendel clark.
SMYTHE DIVISION FINALS
It was a rather low-scoring affair int he smythe division finals, no doubt thaks to the jets's dominik hasek and the kings's kelly hrudey playing out of their minds throughout the series. Los angeles would take games 1 and 2, but a teemu selanne hat trick would win game 3 for winnipeg. The kings would strike back in winnipeg, winning game 4 3-1 and lead 3-1 in the series. The jets would tae game 5 in overtime thanks to selanne and denis savard, but alas, hasek and the Jets ran out of steam in game six, as martin gelinas continued being clutch as he scored the game winner in overtime to have the kings move on to their first conference finals since the miracle run of 1989!
EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Montreal Canadiens vs New York Islanders
WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Los Angeles Kings!
Who will advance to the 100th Stanley cup finals?
Hartford Whalers vs Montreal Canadiens
The habs and the whalers once again meet in the playoffs, hartford looking to avenge their 7-game loss to the francophones. Game 1, however, would start with stéphane richer opening the scoring for montreal on a powerplay goal.
One minute later, Scott young would tie it up with a wristshot pass patrick roy's legs. Roy would then stop all shot attempts by the whalers, while the habs defense, led by petr svoboda, Mathieu schneider, eric desjardins and sylvain lefevbre, would hold the fort. Lefevbre would poke check randy cunneyworth and pass it to vincent damphousse, who lobs it to a charging kirk muller, who buries the puck pass sean burke on a powerplay goal to give back the lead to the canadiens.
In the second, the habs would continue in their good run of form as 4th line center Paul Dipietro would score his 4th goal of the playoffs. Hartford would get one back thanks to ron francis, and finally tie the game two minutes later thanks to geoff sanderson.
Finally, vincent damphousse would score the game winning goal to win game 1 for the habs.
In game 2, damphousse would score first for montreal on the power play, but Hartford would tie it up after only 30 seconds thanks to a Norm Maciver slap shot. Late in the period, Andrew Cassels would score a power play goal to give hartford the lead after 1.
In the second, kirk muller ties it up on a pp goal of his own before damphousse give the habs the lead 3 minutes later. Dave ellett would tie the game up mere seconds into the third period, and hartford would hold the fort to force the game into overtime.
Unfortunately, that strategy would backfire on them, as habs captain guy carbonneau would score on a rebound to win game 2.
Game 3 would take place at the XL Center. Kirk muller opens the scorig after only 14 seconds. Ten minutes later, vincent damphousse scores on a power play to make it 2-0 habs after one. The whalers would come back at the end of the second with goals by dave ellett and Eric Weinrich. Guy carbonneau would give the lead back to the habs woth a short-handed goal. Ronnie franchise, however, would save the whalers again, scoring with 10 minutes remaining to force overtime again, where gilbert dionne would score the game winner to give the habs a 3-0 series lead!
In a boiling hot XL Center, hartford scores first, with dave ellett burying a pass from scott young. Later on, Lyle Odelein, subbibg for patrice brisebois, would tie it up for the habs.
The second period was all habs, as vincent damphousse and sylvain lefevbre would make it 3-1 montreal.
Ron francis rallied his troops in the third, scoring on a powerplay goal to bring the XL Center and the team alive. Form then on, the whalers bombarded patrick roy, the habs goalie being imperial in front of net...until he let in an uncharacteristically soft goal from michael Nylander to have hartford force overtime!
And once again, the habs win in overtime thanks to captain kirk. The montreal canadiens sweeps the hartford whalers and are back to the conference finals for the first time since their 24th stanley cup in 1989!
PATRICK DIVISION FINALS
Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders
Well, holy moly, no one saw it coming! Not even mario, jagr and certainly not scotty bowman!
Against all odds, the new york Islanders beat the heavily-favorited pittsburgh penguins in 7 games to advance to their first conference finals since 1984! Mike Ricci (who did a phenomenal job shadowing lemieux), pierre turgeon, steve thomas and derek king have certainly become household names in long island! So monumental is this upset that, almost as soon as the day after came, there were rumours that mario wanted out of pittsburgh! Of course, le magnifique immediately refuted these silly claims, claiming that series loss was just a fluke...and the upset loss against the rangers in 92, what about it?
Anyways, the islanders will face the montreal canadiens (who no doubt breathed a sigh of relief after learning of the pens being eliminated!) I the eastern conference finals.
NORRIS DIVISION FINALS
Deteoit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple leafs.
This was the most anticipated matchup in the playoffs. Detroit vs toronto, two teams looking to end years of misery and pain.
More importantly, it was wayne gretzky, the great one, against the next one, Eric Lindros.
Game 1 would start with Wings captain steve yzerman opening the scori g after 5 minutes. Eric lindros would make his mark at 10 minutes in the period, scoring after shaking off a big hit by chris chelios and feinting felix potvin to tie up the game.
The second period would start with ray sheppard giving back the lead to detroit on a power play goal via a great pass by wayne gretzky. From then on, the wings dominated the rest of the game, winning it 6-3. Game two ended in a similar result for detroit.
Game 3 would see toronto get one back, with two goals from dave andreychuk in the first, a power play goal by wendel clark in the second and a rob pearson empty netter to seal a 4-2 win. Andrey chuck would once again be the hero in game 4, scoring two goals and assiting eric lindros on the power play as the leafs tie up the series.
Bck at the joe louis arena, the leafs would force overtime after wayne gretzky completely destroyed them all game long, and 4th liner mike foligno would score an incredible overtime winner to have the leafs lead 3-2!
At the maple leaf garden, however, gretzky, yzerman and co. Would not go down easily, as they would dominate the leafs 7-3 thanks to a hat trick of goals from dino ciccarelli and a hat trick of assits for wayne gretzky.
The pivotal game 7 at the joe louis arena was a thriller. Glen anderosn and bob rouse would give the elafs a 2-0 lead,but the wings entire 3rd line of pual ysebaert, shawn burr and dallas drake would carry the team on their shoulders, scoring 3 quick goals to give the wings the lead geading into the third period. That's where, with only three minutes remaining in the game, doug gilmour would tie it up to force overtime, where eric lindros would take over, looking like a man among men as he delivered a great pass to nikolai borchevsky, who buries it in the back of the net to win the game and the series for toronto!
This gretzky vs lindros series delivered on the hype, with both men shining bright. Lindros surprised many by scoring more assits than goals, no doubt he is taking in the influence of the team-first mentality of coach pat burns and linemate wendel clark.
SMYTHE DIVISION FINALS
It was a rather low-scoring affair int he smythe division finals, no doubt thaks to the jets's dominik hasek and the kings's kelly hrudey playing out of their minds throughout the series. Los angeles would take games 1 and 2, but a teemu selanne hat trick would win game 3 for winnipeg. The kings would strike back in winnipeg, winning game 4 3-1 and lead 3-1 in the series. The jets would tae game 5 in overtime thanks to selanne and denis savard, but alas, hasek and the Jets ran out of steam in game six, as martin gelinas continued being clutch as he scored the game winner in overtime to have the kings move on to their first conference finals since the miracle run of 1989!
EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Montreal Canadiens vs New York Islanders
WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Los Angeles Kings!
Who will advance to the 100th Stanley cup finals?
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1993 NHL Conference Finals
EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Montreal Canadiens vs New York Islanders
Game 1 was dominated by the habs at home 4-1, with two goals by john leclair and one from Brian Bellows on a power play being key.
Game 2 would be much tighter. The isles's pierre turgeon would open the scoring on a power play goal. Afterwards, stephane richer and paul dipietro would give the habs the lead.
Steve thomas and david volek would give the lead back to long islands before dipietro would save the habs and tie it up to force overtime, where stéphan Lebeau would score on a rebound in the second OT to win the game for the canadiens.
In a low scoring game 3, turgeon would once again open the scoring in the second. Bith patrick roy and glen healy played marvelously in front of goal,but alas, vincent damphousse woudl tie it up late in the third to force overtime. Captain guy carbonneau would score as the habs lead 3-0.
Despite a crushing 4-1 win at the nasseau colisseum, the isles couldnt bring the habs down, as the french canadian club would tear them down limb from limb in game 5 by a score of 5-2 to head to their first stanley cup final since 1989!
WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Los Angeles Kings
Eric lindros would open the scoring late in the first period of game 1. After that, it was all maple leafs from there, with glenn anderson and doug gilmour adding their names to the scoresheet as the leafs win game 1 4-1. L.A would get one back in game 2, winning 3-2 thanks to an inspired performance by their second line of Tony Granato, Dmitri Kristich and Tomas Sandstrom. The kings would later take game 3 at home 4-2.
The leafs would strike back in game 4 with a 4-2 win of their own. The leafs would then win game 5 in ot thanks to glen anderson on a pass by Eric Lindros.
Game 6 would be one of the all-time great playoff games in NHL History. Glen anderson opens the scoring after only 57 seconds. Tony granato would tie it up at the end of the first, but wendel clark would give the lead back to toronto from a pass by lindros.
What followed would be disastrous: three consecutive power play goals, all scored by L.A. it was all doom and gloom for leafs fans both at home in the garden and those who traveled to the los angeles forum.
Wendel clark would not be denied.
At the tail end of the game, the captain would prove why he has the C, scoring a dramatic goal with two minutes remaining to complete his hat trick and send the game to overtime!
Overtime started and the tension was already at its peak. Cross checks, big hits, the coaches barry melrose and pat burns looking to rip each other's heads off, the crowd chanting obscenities, this atmosphere would break any who doesn't have the mental fortitude to withstand it all.
If you thought the tension was high,wait until what happened next.
As they were battling on the board, wendel clark lost the puck to tomas sandstrom, who quickly passed it to jimmy carson,who was about to fly out of his own zone when, siddenly, Eric lindros lifted his stick and hit carson right in his throat, knocking him down.
No penalty was called by referee Kerry Fraser.
The crowd in the L.A forum erupted in Pure Rage, and as Kerry forced play to stop once Carson hit the ice in pain, Everybody went after each other's throats. And i mean everybody! Players, Coaches, Assistant coaches, even fans! The only people who didn't went after one another were the goalies, who retreated to the sidelines, witnessingt his sorry spectacle. After several minutes of fighting, the officials calmed everything down and play restarted.
There, Doug Gilmour would pass it to Eric Lindros, who wrists it pass a tired kelly hrudey to send the maple leafs to the stanley cup finals, provoking the ire of the L.A Kings and their fans. Some Kings fans even rioted outside of the forums.
To canada, the whole incident didn't matter, as the two most storied franchises in hockey history will meet in the 100th stanley cup final! Montreal vs toronto. Quenec vs Ontario. Who is gonna come out of here victorious?
100TH STANLEY CUP FINAL
Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs.
Who will win the stanley cup?
Montreal Canadiens vs New York Islanders
Game 1 was dominated by the habs at home 4-1, with two goals by john leclair and one from Brian Bellows on a power play being key.
Game 2 would be much tighter. The isles's pierre turgeon would open the scoring on a power play goal. Afterwards, stephane richer and paul dipietro would give the habs the lead.
Steve thomas and david volek would give the lead back to long islands before dipietro would save the habs and tie it up to force overtime, where stéphan Lebeau would score on a rebound in the second OT to win the game for the canadiens.
In a low scoring game 3, turgeon would once again open the scoring in the second. Bith patrick roy and glen healy played marvelously in front of goal,but alas, vincent damphousse woudl tie it up late in the third to force overtime. Captain guy carbonneau would score as the habs lead 3-0.
Despite a crushing 4-1 win at the nasseau colisseum, the isles couldnt bring the habs down, as the french canadian club would tear them down limb from limb in game 5 by a score of 5-2 to head to their first stanley cup final since 1989!
WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Los Angeles Kings
Eric lindros would open the scoring late in the first period of game 1. After that, it was all maple leafs from there, with glenn anderson and doug gilmour adding their names to the scoresheet as the leafs win game 1 4-1. L.A would get one back in game 2, winning 3-2 thanks to an inspired performance by their second line of Tony Granato, Dmitri Kristich and Tomas Sandstrom. The kings would later take game 3 at home 4-2.
The leafs would strike back in game 4 with a 4-2 win of their own. The leafs would then win game 5 in ot thanks to glen anderson on a pass by Eric Lindros.
Game 6 would be one of the all-time great playoff games in NHL History. Glen anderson opens the scoring after only 57 seconds. Tony granato would tie it up at the end of the first, but wendel clark would give the lead back to toronto from a pass by lindros.
What followed would be disastrous: three consecutive power play goals, all scored by L.A. it was all doom and gloom for leafs fans both at home in the garden and those who traveled to the los angeles forum.
Wendel clark would not be denied.
At the tail end of the game, the captain would prove why he has the C, scoring a dramatic goal with two minutes remaining to complete his hat trick and send the game to overtime!
Overtime started and the tension was already at its peak. Cross checks, big hits, the coaches barry melrose and pat burns looking to rip each other's heads off, the crowd chanting obscenities, this atmosphere would break any who doesn't have the mental fortitude to withstand it all.
If you thought the tension was high,wait until what happened next.
As they were battling on the board, wendel clark lost the puck to tomas sandstrom, who quickly passed it to jimmy carson,who was about to fly out of his own zone when, siddenly, Eric lindros lifted his stick and hit carson right in his throat, knocking him down.
No penalty was called by referee Kerry Fraser.
The crowd in the L.A forum erupted in Pure Rage, and as Kerry forced play to stop once Carson hit the ice in pain, Everybody went after each other's throats. And i mean everybody! Players, Coaches, Assistant coaches, even fans! The only people who didn't went after one another were the goalies, who retreated to the sidelines, witnessingt his sorry spectacle. After several minutes of fighting, the officials calmed everything down and play restarted.
There, Doug Gilmour would pass it to Eric Lindros, who wrists it pass a tired kelly hrudey to send the maple leafs to the stanley cup finals, provoking the ire of the L.A Kings and their fans. Some Kings fans even rioted outside of the forums.
To canada, the whole incident didn't matter, as the two most storied franchises in hockey history will meet in the 100th stanley cup final! Montreal vs toronto. Quenec vs Ontario. Who is gonna come out of here victorious?
100TH STANLEY CUP FINAL
Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs.
Who will win the stanley cup?
A Habs-Leafs final? 🇨🇦
That calls for this music:
Certainly we get William Shatner, Alex Trebek and other famous Canadians on Don Cherry’s coaches corner
It'll be the highest-rated sports event in Canadian history, that's for sure!
Stay tuned...
1993 stanley cup finals: game 1 and 2
It is time for the biggest event in the hockey world: the 100th stanley cup final!
And who else to play for it but the national hockey league's most storied franchises?
The montreal canadiens are looking for their 3rd stanley cup since 1986, which would be their 25th, a league record.
The maple leafs, meanwhile, look to put an end to the dreadful harold ballard era and eneter a new age of prosperity and dominance, led by stars such as wendel clark, doug gilmour and the next on, eric lindros.
The series was one for the ages, if only from a canadian marketing and business point of view: the 1993 stanley cup final has got the entire country on hold, literally every citizen were glued to the CBC to watch this once in a lifetime event. To this day, the 93 cup final remaisn the highest-rated sports event in canadian history.
As for the on-ice action? Let's find out!
Game 1 took place at the garden, and the atmosphere was electric. The sold-out crowd forgot about the lack of air conditioning, being too enamored with their leafs to care. When eric lindros, wendel clark and gilmour took the ice in the pre-game ceremomies, a deafening roar engulped the arena, almost causing an earthquake, it seems. Of course, when the canadiens took the ice, massive boos and insults were immediately targetted at them. Its as if the series reignited some old and bitter feelings between the two major populations of canada...
And that energy was used by the leafs to galvanise themselves, as the stars of the game were the first line of wendel clark, eric lindros and nikolai borchevsky. All three scored all the goals for the leafs, with clark scoring a brace as the habs were simply outmatched physically and skillwise in a 4-1 rout.
the leafs celebrating clark's second goal
Coach Jacques Demers was very clear: the habs needed to win at the garden if the habs would have any chance at beating toronto. Game 2 would see patrick roy be his usual imperial self, but Felix potvin, who grew up idolising roy, would match him move for move, frustrating the habs offense with amazing saves.
It would be montreal who'll draw first blood, however, as eric desjardins received a pass from partner sylvain lefevbre and blast the puck past potvin, who was blinded by mike keane's effective screening. In The second period, however, pat burns, no doubt eager to beat his former team, would keep his team's heads up, and it would pay off, as Shayne Corson, acquired in exchange for vincent damphousse, would tie the game up by catching a rebound.
The third period was all leafs, as the garden's roar was once again deafening, and it became even louder as mike foligno scored the goal that would give the leafs the lead. The score would stay still at 2-1, the habs seemingly being shut down by pat burns's stiffening defensive style. It looked like the leafs will head into the forum leading 2-0 in the cup finals...
...that is, until Jacques Demers attempted a huge gamble.
Demers leading his troops
The habs coach asked for the referees to check on the stick of leafs defenseman todd gill, believing it to be illegal. After much measuring and analysis, it was determined that, indeed, gill's stick was illegal, and the habs would obtain a power play late in the game, much to leafs fans and pat burns's displeasure!
The ensuing powerplay would be legendary. Fielding doug gilmour and dave andreychuk against the first PP line of damphousse, carbonneau and richer, the leafs tried hanging on for dear life, the crowd cheering loudly for their team.
And then, the garden went silent as Carbonneau caught Gilmour with his head down, trying to carry the puck out of his zone, and deliver a massive hit on the leafs center, knocking him out cold.
From there, damphousse grabbed the puck back and backpassed it to a charging desjardins, who feints felix potvin and scores the tying goal with only 2 minutes remaining in the game!
From there, patrick roy and the habs defense would hold the fort to force overtime!
If you thought carbonneau was done, then you were wrong, as during overtime, he noticed that eric lindros often played with his head down, as he did during his junior days. This wouldn't be sustainable playing agaisnt the hard hitting men of the NHL, And carbonneau cynically took advantage of that, knocking out lindros with another massive hit at center ice, prompting a bench-clearing brawl.
Old, repressed feelings between anglos and francos ignited at the garden as both teams brawled for almost 30 minutes straight before tempers went down as they watched eric lindros struggle to get up on his feet after the carbonneau hit.
Finally, play resumed, with both teams still hitting each other hard when, after rounding the net, Mark Recchi passed it to eric desjardins, who shoots...and scores! Eric desjardins with the game-winning hat trick in overtime!!
The garden went quiet. You could hear a pin drop on the floor.
The montreal canadiens ties the series 1-1, and many people felt that they will head into the forum with the momentum shifting in their favour...
TO BE CONTINUED
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This is 4 years before concussion protocols were brought in. Gilmour and Lindross will be back in and I suspect someone will go headhunting Carbonneau in game three.
I wonder if someone will sit the 'Leafs down and show them that scene from The Untouchables:
Prepare for the Montreal bloodbath.
I wonder if someone will sit the 'Leafs down and show them that scene from The Untouchables:
Prepare for the Montreal bloodbath.
I wonder how many fights there were, and did anyone leave the bench, because by this point, bench clearers were illegal
It was pretty much equivalent to the good friday massacre in terms of fights and violence. Expect things to get more heated as we head to montreal.
But that was a bench clearer. This can't be a bench clearer or everyone is getting suspended. So it has to be like three or four line brawls. Anyway, you've set up a really entertaining Cup final, and someone on Toronto is definitely going to do something to Carbonneau first shift in Game 3