Valiant in Defeat- Great performances that went all for naught in a loss

[c9777666]

It can be any type where Player/Team A had a great showing, but still lost to Player/Team B despite a tremendous effort:

- Dueling hat tricks (i.e. Trevor Linden in that 1996 playoff game where his hat trick was outdone by Joe Sakic)

- Fantastic goaltender performances (John Vanbiesbrouck game 4 1996 Stanley Cup Finals)

- A valiant near comeback (Blackhawks almost overcoming a 3-1 series deficit in the 2014 West Finals)

- A tremendous individual playoff series performance on a losing team (Theo Fleury's 7-7-14 in a 7-game 1995 playoff series loss to San Jose

-A tremendous team playoff showing in a tight, hard-fought, close playoff series where they didn't win but it wasn't for a lack of effort (Red Wings vs. Sharks in the 2011 West Semifinals)

Click to read more...

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Canucks lose 3-2 against the Rangers in 1994.

Playing with broken ribs, Linden scores both goals including (IIRC) a shorthanded goal.

He never buys another beer in Vancouver.

Current legacy notwithstanding, nor worth discussing in this thread.

 

[The Panther]

Good topic! Here are some by my Oiler guys:

Gretzky vs. L.A. 1982 (5 GP): 5G + 7A = 12 PTS (+4)
Messier vs. L.A. 1989 (7 GP): 1G + 11A = 12 PTS (-1)
Pisani vs. Carolina 2006 (7 GP): 5G + 1A = 6 PTS (+1)
Draisaitl vs. Anaheim 2017 (7 GP): 5G + 8A = 13 PTS (+4)

 

[The Panther]

Random ones:

Maurice Richard vs. Toronto 1945 (6 GP): 6G + 2A = 8 PTS

Ray Bourque vs. NY Islanders 1983 (6GP): 5G + 5A = 10 PTS (+2)

Clark Gillies vs. Edmonton 1984 (5 GP): 5G + 3A = 8 PTS (-1)
(He was the only Islander to have an impressive stat-line in this defeat.)

Dennis Maruk vs. St. Louis 1986 (5 GP): 4G + 9A = 13 PTS (+5)
(What a weird stat-line on Maruk there! Is this the most points ever by a player in a 5-game series?Even weirder, the next highest scorer on the North Stars was stay-at-home defenceman Ron Wilson with 6 points. On the winning team, St.Louis, nobody scored more than 8 points. Then again, this was the 80' Norris division...)

Wayne Gretzky vs. Philadelphia 1997 (5 GP): 4G + 5A = 9 PTS (0)

 

[MaxV]

Ovechkin "choking" vs Penguins in 2009 with 14 points in 7 games.

 

[Sdevils42]

JS Giguere in the 03 playoffs.
21GS, 15W, 1.62GAA and a .95% SVP. Eventually lost to NJ in 7, can't find the exact series numbers.

 

[Richard]

Marc-Andre Fleury in game five of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals-simply the best game ever played by a Penguin goalie......

To game six: cup winning goal going in off of his ass....

 

[Big Phil]

Gilmour in 1993. 35 points in the postseason and a three point game in Game 7, but losing. That hurts. Not much more he could do.

Gretzky had 13 points in that famous series vs. Calgary in 1986.

A very underrated performance almost NEVER talked about on here............Olaf Kolzig in 1998. A lock for the Conn Smythe if Washington had won. Actually still played well in the final vs. Detroit.

Forsberg in 1999 and 2002

Rick Middleton with 33 points in 1983...........and still not even reaching the final

Iginla in 2004

Pronger in either one of 2006 or 2010, or both

Briere in 2010. How often do we see 30 point postseasons anymore, let alone ones that don't win a Cup?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

marty turco in the 2007 playoffs. three shutouts and stats of 1.30 GAA/.952 SV% in a seven game loss. two of his four losses were in OT too, with one going 4OT before henrik scored.

 

[frisco]

Lemieux went 9-5 for 14 points against Philly in 1989 but lost. His first period in Game Five of that series may be the best period of hockey every played by anyone.

My Best-Carey

 

[bobholly39]

marty turco in the 2007 playoffs. three shutouts and stats of 1.30 GAA/.952 SV% in a seven game loss. two of his four losses were in OT too, with one going 4OT before henrik scored.

That's a pretty crazy statline lol.

 

[DJ Man]

1968. Glenn Hall in goal for St. Louis in the first Stanley Cup battle of an "Expansion" division champion versus the established champion of the de facto "Original Six" division. Truly unique in team sports. And expected to be a rout.

St. Louis loses in four straight, but by a one goal margin in each and every game. Smythe trophy to Hall.

 

[Killion]

1968. Glenn Hall in goal for St. Louis in the first Stanley Cup battle of an "Expansion" division champion versus the established champion of the de facto "Original Six" division. Truly unique in team sports. And expected to be a rout.

St. Louis loses in four straight, but by a one goal margin in each and every game. Smythe trophy to Hall.

Indeed... and Roger Crozier in 1966... Detroit.... beating Chicago in the Semi's... taking the heavily favored Habs to 6 games in the Finals.... Crozier awarded the Smythe, the first time a player not on the Stanley Cup winning team won it. Just an amazing performance, one of the greatest goaltending displays of all time in fact, and Crozier then only in his 2nd full NHL season, winning the Calder in 64/65, berth on the NHL's 1st All Star Team. Ron Hextall in 1987 is another, winning the Smythe in a series against Edmonton in the Finals, a series many consider one of the greatest of all time.

 

[c9777666]

marty turco in the 2007 playoffs. three shutouts and stats of 1.30 GAA/.952 SV% in a seven game loss. two of his four losses were in OT too, with one going 4OT before henrik scored.

And the 2 non-OT losses: one was a 2-1 game, the other a deceiving 4-1 score thanks to 2 late empty net goals

 

[VanIslander]

31-year-old Claude Lemieux in the 1997 playoffs was on a mission.

In the 1997 playoffs the Avs were going for their third-straight Stanley Cup and 6'1 215 lbs. Claude had an EPIC postseason with a huge team-lead in goals with 13 (and a clear lead of 9 at even strength) and by far team-lead in shots with 73, all three stats were head and shoulders over Sakic, Forsberg and anyone else on the Avs, in the Game 6 conference finals loss to equally-powerhouse Detroit.



**** Don Cherry for changing the narrative... though the Wings did win THAT series, and Claude did "turtle" instead of fight. But none of that noise ought to take away from what a great playoffs he had! (except for those who live in Don Cherry's head)

 

[danincanada]

31-year-old Claude Lemieux in the 1997 playoffs was on a mission.

In the 1997 playoffs the Avs were going for their third-straight Stanley Cup and 6'1 215 lbs. Claude had an EPIC postseason with a huge team-lead in goals with 13 (and a clear lead of 9 at even strength) and by far team-lead in shots with 73, all three stats were head and shoulders over Sakic, Forsberg and anyone else on the Avs, in the Game 6 conference finals loss to equally-powerhouse Detroit.



**** Don Cherry for changing the narrative... though the Wings did win THAT series, and Claude did "turtle" instead of fight. But none of that noise ought to take away from what a great playoffs he had! (except for those who live in Don Cherry's head)

In the first two rounds Claude was dominant and put up huge numbers. In the conference finals he and his team faced a different animal. Take away the strange 6-0 game 5 and it was a very lopsided affair. Lemieux scores 2 goals and was a +4 in that game and amazingly that was the game where his centre Forsberg was out. In the other 5 games in the series Lemieux had 1 goal, 1 assist, and was a -2 and looked as frustrated as any teammate. His mission ended early.

 

[VMBM]

Clark Gillies vs. Edmonton 1984 (5 GP): 5G + 3A = 8 PTS (-1)
(He was the only Islander to have an impressive stat-line in this defeat.)

And he did not even play with Trottier and Bossy regularly in the series (even strength), if I'm not mistaken.

 

[brachyrynchos]

In game 1 of the 1993 Campbell Conference Semifinals, Blues goalie Curtis Joseph made 61 saves in a 2-1 double OT loss vs Toronto. Game 2 he stopped 57 of 58 shots, going to double OT again, Blues won that one 2-1. Leafs took the series in 7. Joseph was pretty much in the zone.
I know it isn't NHL, but Morris/Benson (Minnesota High School) goalie Tony Bruns set state and national records by making 98 saves in one game, they lost 12-0.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Bergeron vs Blackhawks in 2013. Playing with bad ribs and all. Chicago was thoroughly outplayed that entire series. How Crawford didn't win mvp is a mystery.

 

[District 5]

It's not as epic as most but Gaborik in the 03 playoffs. He had 17 points in 14 games in the first two series before going scoreless against Giguere in the conference finals.

 

[Spirit of 67]

Auston Matthews first NHL game.

4 goals in a loss. Including losing his man who scored the OT winner.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Chico Resch in 1975.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Chico Resch in 1975.

Good call. They figured "Smitty" out, Arbour puts in Glenn "Chico" (nicknamed 'cause of his 'stache's resemblence to Freddy Prinze 'Chico and the man'), leads Isles to major upset over Pens after being down 3 games to 0. Great backup, terrible hairpiece, and that goes for 'Smitty', too.

 

[VanIslander]

I didn't mention an obvious one earlier but no one has, so I shall now: Blues centers Bernie Federko and Doug Gilmour lead the 1986 NHL playoffs in scoring (21 points, Bernie with two more goals than Dougie) despite not even making the Stanley Cup Finals as St. Louis loses the conference finals.

 

[Ensane]

Most have probably seen the highlight videos on Peter Forsberg's amazing hat trick effort in Florida from the 99-00 season, but the details behind the effort are even better than the highlights:

The Florida Panthers are up 5-0 on the Avalanche at home with 22 minutes left to play. It's a lead that in the midst of the dead puck area should be considered an automatic win. Of the 5, Pavel Bure's got 3 for yet another hat trick when Forsberg decides to change the narrative and scores 6 points (3g-3a), which is the highest per game point total of any skater that year. Sorry Pavel!