1989-90
OFFSEASON
No one is added to the Hall of Fame this off-season but Craig Ramsay should have a good shot next year. The 38 year old Ramsay announced his retirement over the off-season after 1305 career NHL games. He scored 418 goals and had 1197 points in his 18 year career, 10 1/2 seasons in Buffalo with the remainder in Boston. Ramsay won 2 Frank Selke Trophy's as the top defensive forward in the league. His best offensive season was 1978-79 when he scored 42 goals and 122 points on a line with Gilbert Perreault. He made it to the Stanley Cup finals twice, once each with Buffalo and Boston, but his team came up short both times.
Glenn Resch also announced his retirement after winning Game Seven of the Stanley Cup finals for Buffalo. Chico, age 40, started his career with 3 seasons with the San Diego Mariners of the WHA before joining the Sabres. He played 680 NHL games, compiling a record of 328-240-73 with a 3.34 career goals against average.
The Russian invasion begins as Alexander Mogilny debuts in Buffalo, Igor Larionov in Vancouver and Viacheslav Fetisov goes to New Jersey. A couple of new Swedes for the league as well as Mats Sundin joins Quebec and Nik Lidstrom arrives in Detroit.
Los Angeles and Edmonton make a trade....but it's not Gretzky. The Kings get Walt Poddubny, who had 76 points last season for the Oilers in exchange for defenseman Ville Siren. No other trades of any consequence in the off-season.
REGULAR SEASON
Pittsburgh and Calgary finished tied for the best regular season record in the league. The Penguins were led as usual by Mario Lemieux who, as usual, missed a substantial number of games - in this case 23 - due to injuries. Even with the injury Lemieux still finished second to Wayne Gretzky in scoring with 138 points. Linemates Kevin Stevens (56-72-128) and Mark Recchi (27-62-89) benefited from having Mario as their pivot as did power play quarterback Zarl2y Zalapski (23-78-101) who had an outstanding season as a 21 year old defenseman.
The Flames were led by forwards Brett Hull (47-70-117), Theo Fleury (47-64-111) and Gary Roberts (44-57-101) and defenseman Gary Suter (23-61-84), who made up for Al MacInnis' absence due to a lengthy injury. MacInnis tore his ACL last season and did not return to the lineup until late January, but he made up for the time off by picking up 61 points in 36 games.
MILESTONES
Joe Mullen of St Louis earned his 900th point and 500th assist
Ron Francis of Hartford earned his 900th point
Paul Coffey of Edmonton earned his 900th point
Mark Messier of Edmonton earned his 900th point
Neal Broten of Minnesota earned hi 900th point
Larry Robinson of Montreal earned his 750th assist
Reijo Ruotsalainen of Buffalo earned his 500th assist
Peter Statsny of Quebec earned his 500th assist
Bill Hajt of Buffalo earned his 500th assist
Dave Babych of Winnipeg earned his 500th assist
Jari Kurri of Edmonton scored his 400th goal
Mats Naslund of Montreal scored his 300th goal
Bernie Federko of St Louis scored his 300th goal
Steve Larmer of Chicago scored his 300th goal
Brian Bellows of Minnesota scored his 300th goal
Cam Neely of the NY Islanders scored his 300th goal
Dave Andreychuk of Buffalo scored his 300th goal
1250 GAMES
Tiger Williams Toronto
1000 GAMES
Bob Gainey Montreal
Mike Milbury Boston
Brian Sutter St Louis
Reed Larson Detroit
Bernie Federko St Louis
Tomas Sandstrom of the Rangers had a 5 goal, 7 point night on October 26th when the Rangers pounded the Islanders 9-3.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ADAMS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 80 46 28 6 98
Buffalo Sabres 80 40 28 12 92
Montreal Canadiens 80 38 28 14 90
Hartford Whalers 80 40 36 4 84
Quebec Nordiques 80 25 48 7 57
PATRICK DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Pittsburgh Penguins 80 52 22 6 110
New York Rangers 80 42 29 9 93
New York Islanders 80 33 40 7 73
Washington Capitals 80 26 47 7 59
Philadelphia Flyers 80 24 50 6 54
New Jersey Devils 80 20 55 5 45
NORRIS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 80 41 32 7 89
Toronto Maple Leafs 80 38 36 6 82
Detroit Red Wings 80 36 37 7 79
Minnesota North Stars 80 39 40 1 79
St Louis Blues 80 27 43 10 64
SMYTHE DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Calgary Flames 80 52 22 6 110
Edmonton Oilers 80 41 30 9 91
Winnipeg Jets 80 38 37 5 81
Los Angeles Kings 80 37 38 5 79
Vancouver Canucks 80 34 43 3 71
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Wayne Gretzky EDM 80 67 105 172
Mario Lemieux PIT 57 63 75 138
Steve Yzerman DET 80 58 78 136
Ron Francis HAR 79 60 74 134
Craig Janney BOS 80 48 83 131
Mark Messier EDM 80 58 70 128
Kevin Stevens PIT 80 56 72 128
Luc Robitaille LA 80 58 68 126
Dale Hawerchuk WPG 78 66 59 125
Trevor Linden VAN 80 51 67 118
Brett Hull CGY 80 47 70 117
Jari Kurri EDM 80 49 65 114
Joe Sakic QUE 80 39 75 114
Joe Mullen STL 80 52 60 112
Theo Fleury CGY 80 47 64 111
Ray Bourque BOS 80 38 71 109
Steve Larmer CHI 80 49 57 106
Pat LaFontaine NYI 80 40 66 106
Denis Savard CHI 80 34 72 106
Dave Andreychuk BUF 80 37 68 105
Doug Gilmour STL 65 31 71 102
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Jon Casey PIT 44-17-5 3.07 .880
Greg Millen CGY 37-17-3 3.13 .874
Andy Moog BUF 34-14-11 3.00 .884
Peter Sidorkiewicz DET 34-27-8 3.43 .883
John Vanbiesbrouck NYR 34-20-10 2.97 .883
Ken Wregget CHI 34-22-11 3.29 .878
Don Beaupre MIN 33-26-1 3.44 .885
Tom Barrasso BOS 32-18-4 2.93 .886
Gilles Meloche WPG 32-28-5 3.91 .874
Vincent Riendeau LA 30-24-6 3.78 .878
PLAYOFFS
Once again the Calgary Flames swept the Edmonton Oilers in the quarterfinals to advance out of the Smythe Division. Gary Roberts had a huge opening 2 rounds for the Flames, scoring 12 goals and 19 points in 10 games as the Flames eliminated the Kings in 6 before sweeping Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers. Gretzky had 5 goals and 14 points for his playoff.
The Flames will meet the Detroit Red Wings in the semi-finals after Steve Yzerman carried Detroit through the Norris Division. Yzerman had 10 goals and 24 points in 13 games as Detroit beat Toronto in six before eliminating Minnesota in a 7 game quarterfinal series. Yzerman had 3 assists in a 4-3 Red Wings win on the road in the 7th game.
The New York Rangers eliminated Pittsburgh from the playoffs for the second straight season. The quarterfinal series between the two clubs went the full seven games with the Rangers winning the deciding contest 5-1 as Ulf Dahlen scored twice. Lemieux had 10 goals and 18 points in 11 playoff games for the Pens.
The Rangers will face defending Cup champion Buffalo after the Sabres beat Montreal in the opening round and Boston in the quarterfinals. Pierre Turgeon led the Buffalo offense through 2 series with 8 goals and 21 points.
SEMI-FINALS
Calgary and Detroit met in a rematch of the conference final from two years ago. The Flames lost that series and also lost one round shy of the Stanley Cup last year when Chicago beat them. This was finally Calgary's year to reach the finals as they won the first 3 games of the series and wrapped it up with a victory in Game Five. There was no shortage of offense from Calgary as 9 players had more than 10 points after the first 15 games of the postseason led by Gary Roberts (13-16-29) and Brett Hull (11-17-28). The Wings offense was centered almost entirely around Steve Yzerman, who notched 14 goals and 33 points in 18 playoff games.
The Buffalo Sabres returned to the finals to defend their title as they rallied from a 2 games to one series deficit to eliminate the New York Rangers in 6 games. With Ray Sheppard sidelined for the entire postseason with a broken elbow, Pierre Turgeon carried the Sabres to the finals - scoring 14 goals and 35 points in 17 games.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
The Buffalo Sabres attempt to defend the title they won for the first time last season and they will do so against a Calgary Flames franchise that has never made the finals before.
The Flames, who co-led the NHL in points during the regular season with 110, are healthy entering the finals. Only middling defenseman Grant Ledyard, who played just 49 games this season, is injured and unavailable. The Sabres, on the other hand are missing several key pieces with the biggest one being winger Ray Sheppard, who set a playoff record for goals last year and scored 55 in 74 games this season before suffering an elbow injury. Checking winger Aaron Broten (10-4-14 in 64 games) is also sidelined with a fractured tibia and defenseman Calle Johansson (10-32-42) is doubtful for the series with an upper body injury.
The Flames take Game One in Buffalo by a 5-2 score as Theo Fleury scores twice and Gary Suter gets a goal and 2 helpers. Joe Nieuwendyk and Al MacInnis also score for Calgary while Phil Housley and rookie Alexander Mogilny, who scored 36 regular season goals, replied for Buffalo.
Buffalo bounces back with a 3-1 victory in Game Two thanks to a 27 save effort from Andy Moog. Pierre Turgeon has a goal and an assist with Phil Housley and Stan Smyl getting the other Buffalo goals. Gary Roberts was the lone Calgary marksman.
Pierre Turgeon's goal 5 minutes into overtime gives Buffalo a 4-3 victory in Game Three. The goal came after the Sabres rallied to tie the contest with 18 seconds remaining in regulation as Randy Cunneyworth beat Calgary goaltender Greg Millen. Stan Smyl and Mogilny also scored for the Sabres while the Flames got goals from Brett Hull, Perry Berezan and Hakan Loob.
Another overtime game and another Sabres victory, this one a wild 8-7 game that saw Dave Andreychuk get the winner just 8 seconds into overtime as he grabbed the puck off the opening face-off, split the defense and went in and scored. The third period had 5 goals scored in less than 10 minutes as the lead see-sawed back and forth. Andreychuk had a four point night while Mogilny and Turgeon each had a goal and 2 assists for Buffalo. Loob and MacInnis led Calgary with 3 points each.
Back on home ice the Sabres miss a chance to hoist the Cup before a sold out crowd at the Memorial Auditorium, falling 4-3 to the Flames. Calgary took a 4-1 lead on goals from Dan Quinn, Brett Hull, Joe Nieuwendyk and Al MacInnis before Pierre Turgeon got two in the third period to make it close.
Buffalo scores 5 times in the third period and routs the Flames 9-4 in Calgary to win their second straight Stanley Cup. Dave Andreychuk had 3 goals, Phil Housley 2 goals and 3 assists with Alexander Mogilny and Pierre Turgeon each getting 4 points in the win.
Pierre Turgeon led all playoff scorers in goals with 19 and points with 49. The 49 points was one shy of Mario Lemieux's 1987 record. Phil Housley finished second with 36 points including 10 goals and he was rewarded with his second straight Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (80GP 67-105-172)
VEZINA TROPHY: Jon Casey Pittsburgh (44-17-5, 3.07)
NORRIS TROPHY: Paul Coffey Edmonton (80GP 24-77-101)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (80GP 67-105-172)
CALDER TROPHY: Alexander Mogilny Buffalo (79GP 36-36-72)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Jon Casey Pittsburgh Patrick Roy Montreal
D Zarley Zalapski Pittsburgh Phil Housley Buffalo
D Paul Coffey Edmonton Brian Leetch NY Rangers
C Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Mario Lemieux Pittsbugh
LW Luc Robitaille Los Angeles Mark Messier Edmonton
RW Brett Hull Calgary Jari Kurri Edmonton