1990-91
OFFSEASON
Craig Ramsay is the lone new inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ramsay played 1305 games with Buffalo and Boston, scoring 418 goals and 1197 points.
Key retirements include Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey and Tiger Williams. Robinson played 1329 games for Montreal and finished with 951 points including 191 goals. Gainey also played his entire career with Montreal, scoring 244 goals and 713 points in 1047 games. Robinson won 3 Stanley Cups with the Canadiens while Gainey was on 2 Cup winners. Tiger Williams played 1260 NHL games, all with Toronto and had 288 goals and 598 points to go along with 4253 penalty minutes, which is second all-time behind only Bob Gassoff's 4642 minutes.
New players debuting this season include Jaromir Jagr with Pittsburgh, Martin Brodeur in New Jersey. Sergei Fedorov in Detroit, John LeClair for Montreal and Dominik Hasek in Chicago.
There were no trades of any great significence this off-season.
REGULAR SEASON
The Calgary Flames dominated the NHL, finishing first overall with 129 point and leading the league in goals for (400) while allowing the fewest against (200). Brett Hull led the way for Calgary with 72 goals and 156 points, staying in the thick of the scoring race with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux all season. Three other teams topped the 100 point mark including Chicago (106), Pittsburgh (104) and Buffalo (103). The Blackhawks had a balanced offense led by an emerging superstar in 21 year old Jeremy Roenick (39-52-91). The Penguins had a healthy Mario Lemieux (72-85-157) play all 80 games for the first time in his career. Pittsburgh also had another big season from Kevin Stevens (55-58-113) plus an impressive debut for 19 year old Jaromir Jagr (16-72-88). Buffalo got another strong year from Pierre Turgeon (42-66-108) and Ray Sheppard (38-46-84) and the Sabres had to withstand injuries to key players Alexander Mogilny, Calle Johansson and Phil Housley.
Wayne Gretzky (58-101-159) won yet another scoring title - his 7th - and surpassed the 600 goal plateau moving ahead of Jean Beliveau and into 7th all time in goals scores. Gretzky also rankes 7th all time in points with 1669 in just 798 career games. However, his Edmonton Oilers continued to decline and fell to third in the Smythe Division behind Calgary and an improving Winnipeg Jets squad.
MILESTONES
Dino Ciccarelli of Minnesota earned his 1200th career point
Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton reached the 1000 assist mark and 600 goal mark
Denis Potvin of the NY Islanders eanred his 1000th assist
Mark Howe of Hartford collected his 900th point
Randy Carlyle of Toronto earned his 900th point
Mike Gartner of Washington earned his 900th point and 500th goal
Tim Kerr of Philadelphia earned his 900th point
Ray Bourque of Boston picked up his 750th assist
Dale Hawerchuk of Winnipeg scored his 500th goal
Michel Goulet of Quebec scored his 500th goal
Phil Housley of Buffalo earned his 500th assist
Doug Gilmour of St Louis earned his 500th asssit
Gaetan Duchesne of Washington earned his 500th assist
Bernie Nicholls of Los Angeles scored his 400th goal
Brett Hull of Calgary scored his 300th goal
Luc Robitaille of Los Angeles scored his 300th goal
1000 GAMES
Doug Wilson Chicago
Dave Taylor Los Angeles
Boston's Craig Janney had a 5-goal game on November 28th, scoring all of the Bruins goals in a 5-3 win over Edmonton. Larry Murphy of Los Angeles had a 6 assist game in the Kings 7-5 win over Boston on January 17th.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ADAMS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Buffalo Sabres 80 47 24 9 103
Montreal Canadiens 80 40 30 10 90
Boston Bruins 80 40 32 8 88
Hartford Whalers 80 31 45 4 66
Quebec Nordiques 80 23 52 5 51
PATRICK DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Pittsburgh Penguins 80 48 24 8 104
Washington Capitals 80 46 28 6 98
New York Islanders 80 43 32 5 91
New York Rangers 80 32 40 8 72
New Jersey Devils 80 24 48 8 56
Philadelphia Flyers 80 20 50 10 50
NORRIS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 80 49 23 8 106
Detroit Red Wings 80 44 27 9 97
Toronto Maple Leafs 80 29 44 7 65
Minnesota North Stars 80 29 47 4 62
St Louis Blues 80 25 48 7 57
SMYTHE DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Calgary Flames 80 62 13 5 129
Winnipeg Jets 80 38 36 6 82
Edmonton Oilers 80 35 40 5 75
Los Angeles Kings 80 33 39 8 74
Vancouver Canucks 80 29 45 6 64
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Wayne Gretzky EDM 80 58 101 159
Mario Lemieux PIT 80 72 85 157
Brett Hull CGY 80 72 84 156
Theo Fleury CGY 75 43 88 131
Dale Hawerchuk WPG 80 44 70 114
Kevin Stevens PIT 80 55 58 113
Craig Janney BOS 78 53 60 113
Ray Bourque BOS 80 30 83 113
Pat LaFontaine NYI 80 29 83 112
Luc Robitaille LA 79 51 60 111
Gary Roberts CGY 80 47 62 109
Pierre Turgeon BUF 80 42 66 108
Mark Messier EDM 80 46 59 105
Steve Yzerman DET 65 44 61 105
Teemu Selanne WPG 67 50 51 101
Trevor Linden VAN 80 43 57 100
Joe Sakic QUE 78 35 65 100
Doug Gilmour STL 80 41 57 98
Gary Suter CGY 80 26 70 96
Tim Kerr PHI 76 43 51 94
Jari Kurri EDM 79 36 58 94
Gerrard Gallant DET 80 39 54 93
Ron Francis HAR 69 31 62 93
Al MacInnis CGY 76 31 61 92
Greg Adams STL 80 21 71 92
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Greg Millen CGY 42-5-6 2.40 .889
Jon Casey PIT 39-13-9 2.70 .891
Andy Moog BUF 38-19-7 3.08 .881
Peter Sidorkiewicz DET 37-18-8 2.95 .885
Mario Gosselin NYI 36-19-5 3.13 .884
Clint Malarchuk WSH 35-24-4 3.17 .893
Tom Barrasso BOS 31-25-9 3.38 .884
Grant Fuhr EDM 29-32-6 3.88 .883
Wendell Young WPG 29-29-6 3.73 .889
PLAYOFFS
The Calgary Flames were the only regular season division winner to advance to the conference finals and the Flames needed the maximum 14 games to get there, winning 7 game series against both Los Angeles and Winnipeg. Injuries played a big role in the playoffs for several teams including the Flames, who won despite the absence of Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Macoun for the entire post-season, as well as Gary Roberts for the final 3 games against Winnipeg. Brett Hull had a dominant start to the playoffs leading all performers with 11 goals and 26 points.
The Buffalo Sabres were also hit by the injury bug. They were without Alex Mogilny and Phil Housley for the entire post-season and then lost scoring leader Pierre Turgeon early in Game One of their preliminary round series with Hartford. Even a 5 goal game from Dave Andreychuk in Game Two of the series was not enough to help the short-staffed Sabres and they fell in 7 to a red hot Ron Francis (10-10-20 through 2 rounds) and the Hartford Whalers.
The Whalers, who had not won a playoff series since 1979-80, suddenly found themselves in the conference finals after they upset the Sabres and the Boston Bruins, both in 7 game series. 4 games in the Boston-Hartford series went to overtime, including Games Six and Seven which were both won by the Whalers.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were again unable to advance past the second round as, after sweeping the Rangers in the first round, they fell in 6 games to the Islanders. Mario Lemieux scored 10 goals in his 10 playoff games but secondary scoring was the Pens downfall once more.
Like Mario, Wayne Gretzky made an early exit from the playoffs as the Oilers fell in the opening round to Winnipeg in 6 games. Gretzky and Mark Messier each had 4 goals and 10 points in that series.
The Detroit Red Wings emerged from the Norris Division with a pair of 5 game series wins - over Toronto and Chicago. Steve Yzerman led the way with 6 goals and 18 points but the big surprise for Detroit was winger Kelly Kisio getting 10 goals in the 10 games.
SEMI-FINALS
Injuries caught up to the Flames in the conference final as Calgary fell to Detroit in 5 games. Steve Yzerman had 2 goals and 2 assists as Detroit took the opener 8-5. Calgary did come back and win Game Two 3-2 thanks to a pair of Joel Otto goals but the Wings won the next three by scores of 5-2, 7-3 and 4-1.
As Hartford fans might expect their series with the Islanders went 7 games just like the previous two rounds for the Whalers. The Whalers scored 5 times in the third period of Game Seven to win by an 8-4 score. Ron Francis had a goal and 4 assists to increase his playoff leading point total to 35. Dirk Graham added 5 assists for the Whalers in the win and the unlikely goal scoring hero was defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, who had a hat trick for Hartford.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
You would be hard pressed to pick a more unlikely team to make the finals than the Hartford Whalers. With only 66 points during the regular season the Whalers may well have posted the worst regular season record of a Cup finalist in history. While Ron Francis was a 2-time league scoring champ and a bonafide star the rest of the team was lacking for big names. The Whalers top playoff scorers beside Francis were Dirk Graham, Mike Heidt, Todd Bergen, Mark Howe, Curtis Leschyshyn, Scott Young, Tony Hand , Dana Murzyn and Marty McSorley. Their goaltender was Frank Pieterangelo but somehow the Whalers made their first appearance in the finals.
The Detroit Red Wings have a much better pedigree and are just 3 years removed from their last Stanley Cup title. Detroit is led in the playoffs by Steve Yzerman (11-17-28) and Gerrard Gallant (4-17-21) with a supporting cast that includes Kelly Kisio, Adam Oates, Murray Craven, Joe Murphy and a pair of budding young star in 21 year olds Sergei Federov and Nicklas Lidstrom.
Most experts are predicting Detroit winning in a rout and Game One did nothing to change that as the Wings claimed a 5-1 victory behind 2 goals from Federov and 3 assists for Yzerman. Detroit did lose Gerrard Gallant for the series with an injury in the game.
Game Two was much tighter and needed overtime but the Wings again prevailed as Adam Oates got the winner while Yzerman had 2 goals and an assist. Petr Klima got the other Detroit goal while Todd Bergen, Dirk Graham and Marty McSorley scored for Hartford.
Game Three also ended 4-3 in Detroit's favour as the Wings take a commanding 3 games to nothing lead in the series. Ron Francis had 2 assists in a losing cause for the Whalers, who got goals from Mark Howe, Bergen and Bobby Holik. Nik Lidstrom, Joe Murphy, Shawn Burr and Mike Ramsey scored for Detroit.
Sergei Federov, Yves Racine and Kelly Kisio get the goals to power Detroit to a 3-1 victory and the Wings 5th Stanley Cup title in franchise history. Steve Yzerman had 2 more assists in the game giving him 36 points in the playoffs, 2 shy of Ron Francis' league leading total.
Yzerman was rewarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, joining Gump Worsley, Jack Stewart and Harry Howell -all 3 Hall of Famers - as the only Red Wings to win the award. Detroit goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz also had a terrific playoff as only Pittsburgh's Jon Casey had a better save percentage and lower goals against average than Sidorkiewicz's 2.54 and .898.
Code:
PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS GP G A PTS
Ron Francis HAR 25 16 22 38
Steve Yzerman DET 19 13 23 36
Pat LaFontaine NYI 20 10 24 34
Brett Hull CGY 19 15 16 31
Dirk Graham HAR 25 6 21 27
Cam Neely NYI 20 13 13 26
Theo Fleury CGY 17 7 19 26
Al MacInnis CGY 19 8 16 24
Adam Oates DET 19 10 12 22
Yves Racine DET 19 7 15 22
Gerrard Gallant DET 16 5 17 22
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh (80GP 72-85-157)
VEZINA TROPHY: Andy Moog Buffalo (38-19-7, 3.08)
NORRIS TROPHY: Gary Suter Calgary (80GP 26-70-96)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (80GP 58-101-159)
CALDER TROPHY: Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh (80GP 16-72-88)
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 Andy Moog Buffalo Jon Casey Pittsburgh
D Gary Suter Calgary Phil Housley Buffalo
D Scott Stevens Washington Al MacInnis Calgary
C Mario Lemieux Pittsbugh Wayne Gretzky Edmonton
LW Luc Robitaille Los Angeles Gary Roberts Calgary
RW Brett Hull Calgary Ray Bourque Boston
and yes Ray Bourque at right wing is correct. The Bruins moved him to forward several seasons ago.