1991-92
OFFSEASON
The Hall of Fame grows by 3 with the induction of Larry Robinson, Ron Greschner and Marcel Dionne. Dionne scored 561 goals and 1410 in his 19 year career with Detroit. Greschner spent most of his 1039 games with the Rangers but played briefly with Edmonton and Los Angeles at the end of his career, recording 1021 points. Longtime Montreal Canadien Robinson had 951 points in 1329 games.
Two great defensemen announced their retirements. Denis Potvin won a Hart, a Norris and a Conn Smythe Trophy in his 18 year career with the Islanders. In 1238 games Potvin had 332 goals and 1337 points. He was a 4 time first-team all-star and won a Stanley Cup in 1979.
Randy Carlyle played 15 seasons and 935 games with Toronto, finishing with 926 points including 259 goals.
New players to watch this season include Pavel Bure in Vancouver, Peter Forsberg to Philadelphia, Eric Lindros in Quebec and Scott Niedermayer to New Jersey.
The NHL expands by one team as the San Jose Sharks are added to the league increasing the total to 22 clubs.
Among the Sharks expansion draft picks are goaltenders Ken Wregget and Chris Terreri along with Shawn Burr from the Cup champion Red Wings. Toughness was obviously an objective when we see names like Mark Tinordi (NYR), Shane Churla (CHI), Garth Butcher (TOR) and Lyle Odelein (MON) selected by the Sharks.
REGULAR SEASON
The defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings enjoyed a strong season, winning the Norris Division and finishing with 120 points, just 1 shy of Calgary for first overall. Steve Yzerman (53-63-116) was his usual dominant self for the Wings but Petr Klima (58-55-113) was a huge surprise, setting a career best in goals and points at the age of 27 after scoring just 16 goals and 28 points in 80 games a year ago. 22 year old Sergei Federov (26-77-103) also had the best season of his young career.
While the Cup champs look poised to defend their title, Detroit's opponent from last season failed to punch a ticket for the playoffs as the Hartford Whalers proved their run a year ago was a fluke by finishing dead last in the Eastern Conference with 56 points. The Buffalo Sabres were again the class of the Adams Division as Pierre Turgeon (35-74-109), Dave Andreychuk (33-68-101) and defenseman Phil Housley (23-74-97) led the way.
Injuries again impacted Mario Lemieux, limiting him to 63 games but Lemieux still scored 50 goals and led the team with 117 points to help the Penguins finish atop the Patrick Division, but just barely as Washington, led by Mike Gartner (47-58-105), was just 1 point back of Pittsburgh.
The Calgary Flames were the top team in the league as their high flying offense just kept on rolling led by Brett Hull (27-83-155) scoring 72 for the second straight season. Edmonton rebounded after a down year to finish second in the Smythe Division with Mark Messier (72-63-135) setting a career high for goals and tying Hull for the league lead while Wayne Gretzky (47-118-165) won his 8th Art Ross Trophy.
MILESTONES
Calgary's Brett Hull had a 29 game point streak which was the longest of the season, although Wayne Gretzky had a pair of 25 game streaks this year. Hull's mark is one longer than his dad Bobby's best streak of 28 straight games with a point established in 1972-73 but it is still a far cry from the NHL record 44 game streak Maurice Richard had in 1943-44
Bryan Trottier of the NY Islnaders scored his 1500th career point
Dale Hawerchuk of Winnipeg earned his 1200th career point
Jari Kurri of Edmonton earned his 1200th career point and 500th career goal
Joe Mullen of St Louis scored his 500th NHL goal
Mark Messier of Edmonton scored his 500th goal
Glenn Anderson of Toronto scored his 400th NHL goal
Cam Neely of the NY Islanders scored his 400th goal
Brian Bellows of Minnesota scored his 400th goal
Gary Roberts of Calgary scored his 300th goal
Hakan Loob of Calgary scored his 300th goal
Dirk Graham of Hartford scored his 300th goal
Pat Verbeek of Vancouver scored his 300th goal
Troy Murray of Chicago scored his 300th goal
Paul Coffey of Edmonton earned his 750th assist
Al MacInnis of Calgary gets his 500th career assist
Pat LaFontaine of the NY Islanders earns his 500th assist
Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh earned his 500th assist
Rob Ramage of New Jersey earned his 500th assist
Mike Gartner of Washington earned his 500th assist
Steve Larmer of Chicago earned his 500th assist
1250 GAMES
Bryan Trottier NY Islanders
For the second time in his career Wayne Gretzky enjoyed an 8 point night. The Edmonton Oilers star had 1 goal and 7 assists in the Oilers 10-2 grounding of the Winnipeg Jets on April 13th. His 7 assists are 3 shy of Bobby Clarke's NHL record set with Philadelphia in 1975.
Here is a list of all of the players to record 8 or more points in a single NHL game
Code:
11- Bill Barber Philadelphia Feb 7, 1975 (8G 3A) 13-0 win over Min
11- Bobby Clarke Philadelphia Feb 7, 1975 (1G 10A) 13-0 win over Min
9- Yvon Cournoyer Montreal vs Oakland 14-1 win 6G 3A March 5, 1968
9- Carl Liscombe Detroit vs Toronto 9-1 win 6G 3A playoff game 1943
9- Tim Kerr Philadelphia vs Boston Feb 4, 1984 11-4 win 7G 2A
8- Jean Beliveau Montreal vs Pittsburgh 10-2 win 4G 4A playoff game Apr 22 1969
8- Pete Mahovlich Detroit vs Pittsburgh 9-3 win 4G 4A Dec 26, 1973
8- Jean Pronovost Boston vs Los Angeles 10-3 W 6G 2A Dec 14, 1980
8- Wayne Gretzky Edmonton vs Winnipeg 9-2 W 4G 4A Dec 18, 1984
8- Ken Linseman Philadelphia vs Boston 11-4 W 8A Feb 4, 1984
8- Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh vs NY Rangers 13-3 W 3G 5A Dec. 15, 1985
8 Paul Coffey Edmonton vs Quebec 10-3 W 1G 7A Feb 14, 1986
8- Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh vs Toronto 11-2 W 5G 3A Nov 10, 1988
8- Wayne Gretzky Edmonton vs Winnipeg 10-2 W 1G 7A April 13, 1992
Mario Lemieux had a 7 point game (4G 3A) in Pittsburgh's 8-4 win over Minnesota on November 8th. Jaromir Jagr had 5 assists in the same contest.
Calgary's Theo Fleury also had a 7 point game (3G 4A) while teammate Brett Hull had 6 points (3G 3A) in the Flames 11-0 romp over Winnipeg on December 20th.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ADAMS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Buffalo Sabres 80 53 20 7 113
Quebec Nordiques 80 38 35 7 83
Montreal Canadiens 80 35 37 8 78
Boston Bruins 80 29 42 9 67
Hartford Whalers 80 23 47 10 56
PATRICK DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Pittsburgh Penguins 80 43 31 6 92
Washington Capitals 80 44 33 3 91
New Jersey Devils 80 37 35 8 82
New York Islanders 80 37 37 6 80
New York Rangers 80 33 36 11 77
Philadelphia Flyers 80 36 41 3 75
NORRIS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Detroit Red Wings 80 59 19 2 120
Chicago Black Hawks 80 48 24 8 104
Minnesota North Stars 80 39 32 9 87
Toronto Maple Leafs 80 28 44 8 64
St Louis Blues 80 27 48 5 59
SMYTHE DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Calgary Flames 80 59 18 3 121
Edmonton Oilers 80 51 23 6 108
Los Angeles Kings 80 29 42 9 67
Vancouver Canucks 80 23 48 9 55
San Jose Sharks 80 18 57 5 41
Winnipeg Jets 80 17 57 6 40
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Wayne Gretzky EDM 80 47 118 165
Brett Hull CGY 80 72 83 155
Theo Fleury CGY 77 53 87 140
Mark Messier EDM 80 72 63 135
Al MacInnis CGY 78 35 88 123
Jari Kurri EDM 80 47 75 122
Pat LaFontaine NYI 78 39 83 122
Mario Lemieux PIT 65 50 67 117
Steve Yzerman DET 77 53 63 116
Joe Sakic QUE 76 38 78 116
Petr Klima DET 75 58 55 113
Craig Janney BOS 80 43 70 113
Gary Roberts CGY 80 48 63 111
Pierre Turgeon BUF 80 35 74 109
Luc Robitaille LA 80 49 59 108
Jeremy Roenick CHI 73 48 57 105
Mike Gartner WSH 80 47 58 105
Sergei Federov DET 80 26 77 103
Dave Gagner NYR 80 44 58 102
Tim Kerr PHI 80 44 58 102
Paul Coffey EDM 80 25 77 102
Joe Mullen StL 80 51 50 101
Rick Tocchet PHI 80 39 62 101
Dave Andreychuk BUF 78 33 68 101
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Greg Millen CGY 46-13-4 2.64 .886
Andy Moog BUF 43-18-6 3.03 .886
Peter Sidorkiewicz DET 43-16-3 2.73 .889
Grant Fuhr EDM 40-17-5 2.76 .896
Clint Malarchuk WSH 32-24-2 3.26 .889
Jon Casey PIT 31-26-4 3.47 .877
Dominik Hasek CHI 31-12-7 2.48 .906
Patrick Roy MON 30-31-7 3.25 .889
Pete Peeters PHI 28-27-3 3.64 .887
John Vanbiesbrouck NYR 28-26-11 3.27 .885
PLAYOFFS
Buffalo had an easy trip through the Adams Division as the Sabres swept Boston in 4 and followed that up with a sweep of the Quebec Nordiques to reach the Conference Finals. The Montreal-Quebec opening round series was an exciting series as the Nordiques overcame a 3 games to one deficit to eliminate the Habs in seven.
Pittsburgh advanced from the Patrick Division led by 21 points from Mario Lemieux in 13 games. Both opening round series went 7 games with the Pens topping the Islanders and Washington beating a pesky New Jersey Devils club. Pittsburgh eliminated the Caps in 6.
In the Norris Division it was Detroit and Chicago meeting with a berth in the Western Conference Finals on the line for the second straight season. The Hawks prevailed this time, knocking off the defending Cup champions in 5 games despite a terrific playoff run from Wings captain Steve Yzerman, who had 7 goals and 20 points in 9 games. The Hawks got 18 points each from Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer over 11 games in the first two rounds but the real difference was the goaltending of Dominik Hasek in the Chicago net.
The Smythe Division featured a tremendous battle between Calgary and Edmonton. The Flames swept Vancouver in the opening round while the Oilers survived a scare from Los Angeles, finally eliminating the Kings in a Game Seven blowout, winning 10-2 thanks to a 4 goal night from Esa Tikkanen to set up another big series between the two Alberta rivals. Home ice proved the difference as the home side won each of the 7 games in the series with Calgary taking the deciding contest 4-1 thanks to a 26 save effort from Greg Stefan and a pair of Brett Hull goals. After the first two rounds Hull had 11 goals and 19 points in 11 playoff games. Wayne Gretzky's postseason came to an end after 20 points in 14 games.
CONFERENCE FINALS
The two conference finals were each tied at 2 wins apiece after 4 games but then Buffalo and Calgary took charge. The Sabres won Game Five at home over Pittsburgh 9-4 as Phil Housley, a 2-time Conn Smythe Trophy winner, had 6 assists in the game. Buffalo wrapped up the series on the road two nights later with a 3-2 victory thanks to a pair of third period goals from Ray Sheppard. The loss ended a strong playoff run for 20 year old Jaromir Jagr, who had 16 goals and 22 points in 19 games for the Penguins.
Calgary took Game Six over Chicago 2-1 thanks to a third period goal from Brett Hull and then clinched the series with a 7-3 win two nights later as Hull scored 3 more times to give him 18 in the post-season.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
The Buffalo Sabres make their third trip in 4 years to the Stanley Cup finals. The Sabres were successful on both previous occassions as they beat Chicago in 1989 and Calgary the following year. This will be the Flames second trip to the finals.
The Sabres will face a big challenge trying to keep up with the Flames offense, but it will be even tougher without scoring leader Pierre Turgeon, who is out for at least the first game with an injury suffered in the conference finals. Turgeon has 21 points in 13 playoff games this year.
Calgary has injuries of it's own to contend with as defenseman Gary Suter, a 2-time Norris Trophy winner, has missed all but 14 games this season with a concussion and is definately out for the entire playoff. Joel Otto, a checking forward, has a hip injury and will miss at least the first couple of games of the finals. That shouldn't hurt Calgary too much as his assignment would almost certainly have been to cover Pierre Turgeon.
Goalies Greg Millen of Calgary and Andy Moog of Buffalo could sue for lack of support in Game One, a contest that saw the two teams combine for 74 shots and 13 goals in an 8-5 Calgary victory. Brett Hull and Gary Roberts each scored twice for the Flames with Al MacInnis earning 3 assists. Ray Sheppard had 2 for the Sabres.
Brett Hull scored 3 more goals giving him 23 in the post-season as Calgary claimed a 4-3 victory in Game Two and now returns home to the Saddledome with a 2-0 series lead. Theo Fleury assisted on all 3 of Hull's goals. Hull is now 1 shy of tying Buffalo's Ray Sheppard for the single season playoff goal record of 24 set in 1988-89. Robert Reichel had the other Calgary goal while Buffalo's scoring came from Alexander Mogilny, who also had 2 assists, Phil Housley and Sheppard.
Calgary claims a dominant 7-2 victory to go up three games to none in the series. Hull gets another goal to tie Sheppard's record and adds two assists but the real star for the Flames is Theo Fleury, who scores 3 and has 3 assists. Gary Roberts, with 2 goals and Joe Nieuwendyk round out the Calgary scoring. Dave Reid and Stan Smyl score for Buffalo, who is still without the injured Pierre Turgeon.
Turgeon returns for Game Four but he has little impact as Calgary completes the sweep and wins their first Stanley Cup with a 5-0 victory in Game Four. 20 year old Robert Reichel has 2 goals and an assist for the Flames with Theo Fleury getting 2 more points, giving him 15 points in the 4 Stanley Cup final games. Greg Millen made 24 saves for the shutout. A very small consolation for Sabres fans is Brett Hull does not score so he will share the playoff record for goals in a season of 24 with Ray Sheppard.
Fleury's 15 points in 4 games give him a playoff leading 40 points (10-30-40) and earn him the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Brett Hull finishes second in playoff scoring with 35 points while Buffalo's Phil Housley (6-24-30) rounds out the top three.
Code:
PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS GP G A PTS
Theo Fleury CGY 21 10 30 40
Brett Hull CGY 21 24 11 35
Phil Housley BUF 18 6 24 30
Mario Lemieux PIT 19 9 20 29
Alexander Mogilny BUF 18 12 16 28
Jeremy Roenick CHI 17 11 15 26
Ray Sheppard BUF 18 15 10 25
Gary Roberts CGY 21 12 12 24
Joe Nieuwendyk CGY 21 9 15 24
Steve Larmer CHI 17 12 11 23
Jaromir Jagr PIT 19 16 6 22
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (80GP 47-118-165)
VEZINA TROPHY: Peter Sidorkiewicz Detroit (43-16-3, 2.73)
NORRIS TROPHY: Al MacInnis Calgary (78GP 35-88-123)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (80GP 47-118-165)
CALDER TROPHY: Rob Zamuner NY Rangers (80GP 16-42-58)
Have to question the choice of Zamuner as either Ray Whitney (18-36-54) of San Jose or Eric Lindros (24-28-52) in Quebec should deserve consideration. Especially Whitney who played a key role on a bad expansion team and was second to Darren Turcotte in team scoring. But then I would also give the Vezina to Hasek over Sidorkiewicz as well. Not bad choices by the game but I would vote differently, but I guess that's what my all-star team is for.
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 Dominik Hasek Chicago Peter Sidorkiewicz Detroit
D Paul Coffey Edmonton Phil Housley Buffalo
D Al MacInnis Calgary Scott Stevens Washington
C Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Mario Lemieux Pittsbugh
LW Mark Messier Edmonton Gary Roberts Calgary
RW Brett Hull Calgary Jari Kurri Edmonton