1994 Capitals Penguins Playoff Series
- Thread starter CHIMO
- Start date
tony d
Registered User
frisco
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...
Lots of defensive breakdowns by the Pens. It seemed like every time you turned around someone was coming in alone on Barrasso. Beaupre played out his mind (7 goals allowed in four wins; Dafoe played the two losses). Lemieux looked tired. Eddie Johnston was outcoached as usual.
My Best-Carey
My Best-Carey
The Panther
Registered User
I don't think it was that hard to out-coach Eddie Johnston! You just needed any kind of strategy, and you'd out-coached him.
I don't remember too much about this one. The story of the series is certainly the Pens' scoring only 12 goals in six games (and only 6 in the first four, which put them down three games to one).
Looking back at the numbers, Larry Murphy had a team-worst minus 6, which is very unusual. Eleven different Caps scored goals, and only seven Penguins.
Like Panther, I don't have much recollection about this series. Pittsburgh had to be considered the favorite considering the talent and firepower they had. I do remember Washington having a tumultuous regular season, having fired Terry Murray midway through the year and replacing him with Jim Schoenfeld. I was only able to find highlights from this series from a Pittsburgh season highlight video.
Much closer series than 6 games, tight games with empty netters. First time the Caps beat Mario's Pens who like the Islanders were always an obstacle for Washington in the playoffs. Schoenfeld deserves a bit of credit in how he coached and kept his players focused but I think a few bounces and calls went in the Caps favor but I'm not positive on that. I'm tempted to say that Washington had seen how the Isles played Pittsburgh the year before and used a similar approach in getting in their faces and unded their skin, and following through on their checks but that may be revisionist thinking on my part. Looking at the stats and breakdown of the series it appears Washington's depth showed up while Pittsburgh's underperformed a bit. Francis (2 assists), Mullen, Straka, and McEachern had 1 goal each while Sandstrom and D. Brown layed goose eggs, they were all better than that but didn't come through or were simply shut down. Mario, Jagr, and Tocchet carried the Pens as far as they could take them given the fact that they weren't given much room out there. Caps played well enough to win and did what they had to do...it might not have been exciting but it was effective. Wasn't easy to watch and not because of the entertainment factor but because having seen enough of Pittsburgh over the years I knew what they were capable of and how quickly they could change the momentum of a series. Caps pretty much stuck to their gameplan and the Pens struggled a bit with theirs. I'm just happy it finally went Washington's way for a change even if I refused to believe until the final buzzer. Cheers.
The Panther
Registered User
Slightly off-topic, but has there ever been a team as tall as the early-mid-90s' Pens? Whenever I see highlights, I feel it's an NBA team...
frisco
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...
Don't know the stats but Lemieux, Jagr, Francis, Leroux, Barrasso, the Samuelssons (esp. Kjell), Tamer, Jennings, Sandstrom, Stevens were all pretty tall. You're right.
Today, Barrasso would be average size for a netminder, but when he debuted in 1984 I remember a lot of people saying his size would be a detriment to his career. Weird how things change.
My Best-Carey
vadim sharifijanov
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2007
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- 16,326
it's such a beautiful thing when the perennial loser in a one-sided rivalry wins one.
calgary beats edmonton in 1986, lost in '83, '84, '88
washington taking this series in the middle of losing in '91, '92, '95, and '96
anticlimactically, because we didn't know it was a rivalry yet, edmonton won that first series in '97 before losing to dallas in each of the next five seasons; but at least they they knew they'd won one in that half-decade of losing
vancouver won that insane series in 2011 after losing to chicago the previous two seasons
and in the more recent iteration of the rivalry washington beat pittsburgh and ended up winning the cup in 2018, after losing to pittsburgh en route to their cups in '09, '16, and '17
it's really too bad ottawa never beat toronto.
calgary beats edmonton in 1986, lost in '83, '84, '88
washington taking this series in the middle of losing in '91, '92, '95, and '96
anticlimactically, because we didn't know it was a rivalry yet, edmonton won that first series in '97 before losing to dallas in each of the next five seasons; but at least they they knew they'd won one in that half-decade of losing
vancouver won that insane series in 2011 after losing to chicago the previous two seasons
and in the more recent iteration of the rivalry washington beat pittsburgh and ended up winning the cup in 2018, after losing to pittsburgh en route to their cups in '09, '16, and '17
it's really too bad ottawa never beat toronto.
Well said. As a Flames fan, it would be sweet to finally beat the Ducks after losing in '06, '15 and '17. It's interesting that people remember so little of this specific Caps-Pens series. Perhaps it wasn't as big a deal at the time? The Penguins would defeat the Capitals in the next two playoff seasons. That would cement the one-sidedness of the rivalry.
Hobnobs
Pinko
- Nov 29, 2011
- 8,911
- 2,269
Except the two years they won Pens were always looked at as chokers. Its a team that many thought shouldve won more. I doubt this series is any different.
vikash1987
Registered User
Hard to imagine: at the start of the series, there was actual talk---at least in the Pittsburgh press---of the Penguins making a run for the Cup, and establishing themselves as a dynasty with three Cups in four years; and at the end of the series, there was actual talk of a rebuild---given how badly exposed they were (defensively, on the powerplay, etc.), and given Mario and Kevin Stevens had been considering retirement.
Big Phil
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
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I honestly can't remember a single thing about that series, not one. I don't know why. I SHOULD remember it but I don't. The Pens won two Cups in a row, had that fantastic and historic 1993 season where they won a still record 17 games in a row (can you imagine if the 2017 Blue Jackets actually owned that instead of being 2nd with 16?) and then the following year you figure they are out for revenge.
I don't know, all that I remember about the 1994 season, and it was a lot, was that the Rangers were being pushed to win, people were seeing what the Leafs were going to do too. I don't know why, but how the Pens were going to react in 1994 wasn't a big storyline. Maybe because Mario played in only 22 games?
I don't know, all that I remember about the 1994 season, and it was a lot, was that the Rangers were being pushed to win, people were seeing what the Leafs were going to do too. I don't know why, but how the Pens were going to react in 1994 wasn't a big storyline. Maybe because Mario played in only 22 games?
That’s a really great point. I never considered that angle of it, the whole vengeance after losing to the Isles. I’ve never really heard about that as a major storyline from that season (which was the year before I started following seriously). I wonder how much of a thing it was in Pittsburgh and around the league.
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