The Vaunted 1993 Playoffs

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Over the course of this postseason, they've been drawing comparisons to "the great 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs." I know that the Montreal Canadiens beat the L.A. Kings in a Patrick Roy-Wayne Gretzky duel, but I don't know what else happened that was so great. Can someone put up the results of this year?

 

Personally, I'd compare our final to the year where they didn't award a Cup because everyone was sick or something. They might as well not give it out.

[Guest bob_barron]

Pittsburgh beat NJD 4-1

Montreal beat Quebec 4-2

Islanders beat Washington 4-2

Buffalo beat Boston 4-0

 

Islanders beat Pittsburgh 4-3

Montreal beat Buffalo ???

 

Montreal beat NYI 4-1

 

TO beat Detroit 4-3

St. Louis beat Chicago 4-0

Vancouver beat Winnipeg 4-2

LA beat ???

 

LA beat Vancouver 4-2

TO beat St. Louis 4-3

 

LA beat TO 4-3

 

Montreal beat LA 4-1

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Thanks a million Bob! I'm thinking the mystery team must be Calgary, Edmonton, or San Jose.

 

Watching the Patrick Roy marathon? This is great hockey. Thems was the days.

[Guest bob_barron]

It's not Edmonton and it wouldn't be San Jose since they were still young

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Thanks a million Bob! I'm thinking the mystery team must be Calgary, Edmonton, or San Jose.

 

Watching the Patrick Roy marathon? This is great hockey. Thems was the days.

Did they show the Colorado/Detroit game with the Slapshot like fight?

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Then the Flames it was. Though i thought the Sharks started off pretty strong, unlike most expansions. Whatever,

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Thanks a million Bob! I'm thinking the mystery team must be Calgary, Edmonton, or San Jose.

 

Watching the Patrick Roy marathon? This is great hockey. Thems was the days.

Did they show the Colorado/Detroit game with the Slapshot like fight?

SO far it's been Habs-Flames '86, and now we've got Habs-Kings '93. I'd assume the Colorado Avalanche's first Cup is on deck.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

That was during the regular season. It sounds like there only showing playoff games.

[Guest redbaron51]

LA defeated Calgary in 7, in the highest scoring series (a lot of games ended up like 9-6).

 

Montreal defeated Buffalo in 4 (Game 3 you see me and my dad, seeing us banging on the glass when Montreal tied it up)

[Guest CanadianChris]

Why was it so great?

 

Because it seemed like every other game went to overtime.

 

Because two of the top division seeds were upset in the first round.

 

Because the three seed from each division made it to the conference final.

 

Because there were so many seven game series.

 

Because the Islanders upset the Penguins, in Game 7, in the Igloo, in OVERTIME, when everyone thought it was a foregone conclusion they'd win the Cup.

 

Because the Maple Leafs played 21 games in three series.

 

And, for all of us in Canada, we believed with all our hearts that what would likely be the very last Montreal-Toronto Stanley Cup final would actually happen.

 

And then Gretzky went and scored the OT winner in game 6 when he should have been off for 4 minutes after a high stick on Gilmour, drawing blood.

 

DAMMIT.

[Guest redbaron51]

(jedi mind trick)

 

there was no high stick. there was no blood

 

(/jedi mind trick)

 

 

Toronto, LA, wouldn't matter, once Pittsburgh was gone, Montreal would still won the cup

[Guest treble charged]

I really wish I had been old enough to appreciate that year's playoffs. All I really remember is waking up the morning after the Isles beat out the Pens (what was the name of the guy who scored? Started with a 'V', I think) and one of the Habs/Isles games being a matinee.

 

I remember very little about the Leafs run (maybe Gilmour's wraparound overtime winner, that's about it), but I still get depressed everytime I think about how close they got.

[Guest MaxPower27]

I didn't have cable, so I was forced to see scores on the news. I've been watching ESPN Classic though, and it looks to be one of the better playoffs.

[Guest BobbyWhioux]

Then the Flames it was. Though i thought the Sharks started off pretty strong, unlike most expansions. Whatever,

Actually, they didn't. They did the traditional newbie jobbing tour for their first few years for the most part.

 

It took ten years ('00-'01, their tenth season in the NHL) for them to finally finish a season with a winning record. Although they did have a couple of "shocker" moments before that, the most famous one probably being knocking off #1 seeded Detroit 4 games to 3 in the 1994 playoffs (and the #1 seeded Blues in 2000).

 

In 1993, in fact, they went 11-71-2, which I believe has the distinction of being the worst regular season record in the NHL at least since they started playing 80+ game seasons if not ever (although the first year Senators gave them some stiff competition in this category that year if I recall correctly).

 

...ah yes, the George Kingston era...

[Guest fairtoflair7]

Well, this is probably my favoirte year of the the NHL Playoffs. Being an Islander Fan, I was not alive for much of the glory years so this was a great time to get acquainted.

 

A lot of memorable things happened in the first round that year. Just watch the video NHL Overtime to see all the things that happened. To name a few, I was at one of the Pens/Isles games at the coliseum that the Isles won. Very good games and very high scoring with some great goaltending .

 

Now in the first round, many entertaing things happened, some good some bad. In the Isles/Caps series alone, Ray Ferraro scored 3 OT game winning goals. The Ilsles beat the Caps in every single OT game that series and that was the difference. Also in that series, the horrible incident by Dale Hunter occured. It is just viscous. One of my favorite Islander player, Pierre Turgeon just scored the goal in Game 6 to make it 5-3 to knock the Caps out of the playoffs when right from behind Dale Hunter cross-checks him into the boards, seperating Pierre's shoulder. Everyone goes crazy including the announcers saying this is the most disgusting thing they have ever seen. Rich Pilon and Darius Kasperitis then attack Hunter and and all out brawl ensues with the Islander Fans going crazy. Our star player has just been basically hurt for the entire playoffs with the Pens coming up next. Pierre did end up coming back for the Montreal series and a few games in the Pens series to give the Isles some motivation. He also played in the 94 season and soon got traded in the disgusting Kirk Muller trade but thats a whole other story. Many thought Pierre was never the same since that hit but it turns out he was great for the Blues and Habs. That trade to many was the firststep in the downfall of the New York Islanders. That hit though, is still horrible to watch today and Many think Hunter should have gotten more then 21 games, which was the longest to that day suspension for an NHL player.

 

The Isles, Turgeon-less were the extreme underdog against the 2-time defending SC Champs Pens. But led by Ferraro and Steve Thomas and the great goaltending by Glenn Healy, the Isles would not quit. The Isles were even so close to winning the series in Game 7 with only 10 minutes left. They were up 3-1 in the Igloo but the Pens tied it up with Kevin Stevens goal that sent the game to sudden death overtime in Game 7. Finally, on a 2 on 1 in the 1st OT , David VOlek too a pass from Ferraro and buried it behind Tom Barasso to send the Isles to thenext round. Volek, who was a healthy scratch for most of the season scored and sent the Isles and its fans, including me into a frenzy.

 

Other things that happened in the first round was that the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins were knocked out by the Buffalo Sabers in 4 straight games.Game 4 went to Ot and Brad May scored to win it 6-5 with the announcers screaming MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. Many other upsets happend including the Western Conference top seed Detroit lost in the first round. Ill finish this up later.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Thanks so much guys. Now let's take a look at what made 2003 great.

 

Another great Stars-Oilers series in round 1, where Edmonton shows they could've pulled out a game 7.

 

Defending champions and #2 seed Detroit is swept by the Mighty Ducks.

 

On the last day of Round 1, three Game 7s are played in one night, two of them one day after their game 6.

 

Dallas vs. Anaheim, 5OT. Anaheim goes on to knock off the #1 seed in this series.

 

The Ottawa Senators, on the brink of bankruptcy since January, win the President's Trophy and make it all the way to game 7 of the Eastern championship, carrying the weight of Canada on its shoulders as they try to bring the Stanley Cup north of the 49th for the first time in ten years.

 

It borders on ironic that with all the notable happenings and exciting games we had for two months, it very well could climax with a New Jersey Devils sweep in the finals.

 

Fun Fact: if New Jersey wins the Stanley Cup, it will means we have had four teams in nine years that take the Cup. And if New Jersey loses in the NBA championships, only five teams in 13 years will have won that.