1996 NHL Playoffs
Eastern Conference
The
Bruins upset
Hartford last season, but what a difference a year makes.
Hartford perhaps shows how real they are this season, destroying the
Bruins in 4 straight. The seventh seeded
Flyers go up 3-0 in their series with
New Jersey. After dropping two,
Steve Yzerman gets 3 goals and 3 assists in
Philly’s huge game 6 win to advance. The
Flyers play the
Whalers very tough in round two. 3 overtime’s and another 1 goal game, but
Hartford gains the upper hand more then they don’t. The
Whalers advance in five.
After dropping the first two, the
Sabres win 4 straight to eliminate the
Capitals and take a big step forward for this inexperienced group. The
Islanders are officially owning the playoff bust label. Another year, another disappointment.
Pittsburgh eliminates the
Islanders in 6.
NY looks like they need to find a way to add some depth. In the 2nd round,
Pittsburgh scores 7 in game one, but gets shut down the rest of the way.
Buffalo wins 4 of the next 5, to win the series in six! The
Sabres advance to the third round for the first time!
Western Conference
Winnipeg has never been this good, or had this high a level of expectations. They come through in their first situation, looking like they can handle the pressure. The
Jets sweep the
Flames.
St. Louis played 3 straight 7 game series a year ago before running out of gas in the finals. So, lets do it again.
St. Louis beats the
Oilers in seven!! It was evident after two games in their 2nd round series, the
Blues were in a lot of trouble. The top seeded
Jets had no problem scoring goals, and eliminates
St. Louis in 5 to advance.
The defending champs gave their new city a taste of how good they can be.
Colorado sweeps the
Kings to advance. I missed that
Mario Lemieux got hurt after 20 games this year. If
Detroit stay around long enough, he could return. Step one is beating the
Canucks. It’s a long 2 week, 7 game series, but the
Red Wings do eventually survive. They got
Colorado next. In a surprising result,
Detroit sweeps the
Avalanche. The
Red Wings had just a tad more in the first three games, but blew out the
Avs in the fourth and final game.
Mario Lemieux still remains out, but could return in the third round.
Eastern Conference Finals
Rod Brindamour and
Mark Recchi give
Hartford the first lead of the series.
Martin St. Louis gets his first of the playoffs goal midway through the third, clinching game one for the
Whalers. 3-1
Hartford wins. Game two is a blood bath.
Steve Thomas scores a hattrick and adds two assists.
Wayne Gretzky and
Victor Kozlov each finish with 4 points.
Patrick Roy is chased from the game before the end of the first. 9-1
Hartford wins. The
Sabres look overmatched.
Thomas has a big game two!
Buffalo needs a big effort in game three, and they come out with probably the greatest period in franchise history.
Teemu Selanne,Vinny Damphouse and
Jason Dawe score early for
Buffalo. After
Hartford responds with 2 of their own,
Zigmund Palffy scores twice in the final minutes, leading to a 5-2
Sabres lead after one.
Buffalo needed that badly, as they couldn’t hold it.
Hartford scores three unanswered goals in the 2nd, tying the game, and leaving the
Sabres thinking what do they have to do. Well, all they have to do is play the third, as
Teemu Selanne gets the frame’s only goal.
Buffalo wins 6-5.
Rod Brindamour and
Martin St. Louis hook up for 2 early goals in game four, while
Wayne Gretzky adds a late marker giving the
Whalers a 3-0 lead. The
Sabres respond with 2 in the second, and a
Ziggy Palfy goal early in the third to tie it!!! Comebacks!! With just over 3 minutes remaining,
Wayne Gretzky finds
Mark Recchi, who scores the winner. 4-3
Hartford.
Palffy is doing everything he can to help Buffalo win!
Back at home, the
Whalers attempted to smother the
Sabres into submission. They allow just 17 shots in game 5, while their top line contributed 3 goals.
Wayne Gretzky, Mark Rechhi and
Mark Messier combine for 7 points.
Hartford advances with a 3-1 win.
Western Conference
No
Mario Lemieux for game one. A close game, the
Red Wings could have used the Magnificient one, as tied at 2,
Kenny Jonsson gets a point shot through late, the winning goal for the
Jets. 3-2
Winnipeg.
Al MacInnis gets 4 points in game two, 3 of them on the PP.
Winnipeg’s excellent power play helped them establish a first period lead they would never relinquish. The
Jets take game two, 6-3.
4 points in game two for MacInnis!
No Lemieux for game three, that combined with
Winnipeg’s three goal first period has the Joe Louis Arena unusually silent.
Detroit is never really in this one. They score twice, but the
Jets responded within minutes each time. 6-2
Winnipeg. Trailing 3-0 in the series, and 3-1 in game four, the
Red Wings needed something to go right. Late in the third,
Jozef Stumpel scores cutting the lead to one, then with the goalie pulled,
Bobby Rouse finds his first playoff goal to tie it, forcing an overtime. In OT, it’s
Sami Kapanen keeping the
Wings alive, with a goal 7 minutes in. Big comeback for
Detroit. They win 4-3!
Kapanen keeps Detroit alive!
The
Jets dominated game 5. They want to finish this thing right now. With a 4-2 lead in the third, and controlling the play, another meltdown occurs.
Mike Modano and
Petr Nedved both score in the final 5 minutes for
Detroit tying it! The comeback forces overtime. In OT, the two teams played for 13 more minutes. During that span, the
Jets outshot
Detroit 17-2. The onslaught ended up being too much for
Wings goalie,
John Vanbiesbrouck, who surrenders the winning goal to
Vadim Sharifijanov. 5-4
Winnipeg. They go to the Stanley cup finals!
