Best playoff series of the decade 90's / 00's

[Blade Runner]

The award for the current decade went to Hawks/Kings 2014 series, but how about the two decades before ?

My favorites:

90's: Oilers vs Stars 97 & Rangers vs Canucks 94
00's: Isles vs Leafs 02 & Oilers vs Hurricans 06

Click to read more...

 

[frisco]

1992 Penguins-Rangers or 1994 Devils-Rangers.
2006 Sabres-Senators or 2009 Penguins-Capitals.

My Best-Carey

 

[Midnight Judges]

2000s it's gotta be Capitals vs Penguins

 

[quoipourquoi]

1993: Los Angeles vs. Toronto
1994: New Jersey vs. New York
1996: Florida vs. Pittsburgh
1997: Colorado vs. Detroit
1999: Colorado vs. Detroit

2000: Dallas vs. New Jersey
2002: New York vs. Toronto
2004: Calgary vs. Tampa Bay
2006: Anaheim vs. Calgary
2009: Pittsburgh vs. Washington

 

[sonic92]

The homer pick for me would be '04 Flames-Canucks. Some of the Battle of Ontario series could go up here but I think the 2002 series was the most interesting one.

 

[scott clam]

the final "Battle of Alberta"(1991) was as great as any first round series has ever been .

 

[cole von cole]

2009 Red Wings vs Ducks

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Hard to single out one from the 90's. The first round alone produced classics year after year it seemed. Sticking with what I'm old enough to actually remember with clarity, so I'll do the 00's...

2000: Some good series, but nothing I'd call a classic. San Jose upsetting St. Louis, Jersey flipping 3-1 on Philly, and Dallas beating Colorado by a goal post were all dramatic, but I don't remember the actual games themselves being over and above in terms of entertainment value. The Finals produced two epic OT games, so that might be my pick from this year.

2001: Superb second round, three game 7's. Pitt-Buffalo is sort of a forgotten one, despite those two dramatic OT wins for Mario's Penguins. Edmonton-Dallas first round was as close and intense of a 6-game series as you'll find, four games decided in OT. The Finals were kind of ordinary for a 7-gamer.

2002: For whatever reason, this year seems more memorable than the previous two. Islanders-Leafs was the last true bloodbath the NHL playoffs produced, so it gets my vote. Colorado-Detroit was great with those loaded rosters, and I guess 7-0 in the series finale has shock value. Carolina-Toronto was also a great series with lots of OT games.

2003: Toronto-Philly was great, the blowout in Game 7 takes away a bit of the lustre though. Minnesota-Vancouver was just a crazy series, that's probably the one I'd vote for. Anaheim-Detroit might the best sweep ever.

2004: We were playing some pretty ugly hockey by this point. Lightning-Flames score too low in terms of entertainment value for me. Probably have to go with Ottawa-Toronto or Flames-Canucks first rounds.

2006: I might go off the board here...Carolina-Montreal was a highly entertaining 6-game affair. Oilers-Canes had its moments, but Carolina going up 2-0 and then 3-1 takes some of the edge off. Buffalo playing Game 7 with the Rochester Americans defense was memorable, though arguably that takes away from an otherwise great series.

2007: I guess Anaheim-Detroit or Vancouver-Dallas was the best of a rather forgettable spring. Heck, throw NY-Buffalo in there too, but none of these are classics by any means.

2008: The first round was pretty good, but things really petered out after that. Flyers-Caps, Bruins-Habs, Flames-Sharks would be the candidates here. I guess I'd go with the latter since it was always a close series; the other two saw 3-1 leads built by the eventual winners.

2009: this might well have been the best playoff year of the decade. Detroit-Anaheim, Boston-Carolina, Washington-Pittsburgh were all memorable. Even Chicago in their two series wins against the Flames and Canucks produced some great hockey. The dramatic ending in New Jersey-Carolina....Anaheim stunning the Sharks....geez you even had Washington flipping a 3-1 hole on New York and a pretty good Pens-Flyers series in round 1. Not to mention the final going 7 games....I guess this year made up for the previous two.

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As a fan of physical hockey, I'll go with Islanders-Leafs. Real hatred between these two despite them not being rivals.

That was arguably the best team the Islanders produced between the mid-80s and the present day. And for that matter, it might be the best Toronto team we've seen since 1967.

 

[barbu]

1991 batte of Alberta. As a habs fan the Buffalo-Montreal series felt like in slow motion compared to the Oilers/Flames series. Incredibly fast, intense and physical. I remember my dad, who followed hockey though the 70s, being impressed by the series absolutely brutal bodychecking.

In the same year, I remember the crazy atmosphere during the Minnesota home games. I've never seen anything quite like it.

 

[Dissonance Jr]

1994 had so many memorable series. Buffalo-New Jersey also really sticks out as an all-time goaltending duel, especially the quadruple overtime Game 6 where Hasek made 70 saves and Hasek/Brodeur didn't let in a single goal between them for 125 freaking minutes.

Plus six of the seven games were decided by a single goal (excluding empty netters).

 

[quoipourquoi]

If I had to watch any team’s entire playoff run, I think it’s 1994 New Jersey. Even that Boston series was dramatic with a last-second goal to force OT, the 0-2 series comeback, the Bruins crawling out of the 3 goal deficit with their season on the line only to get snuffed out a minute later.

Had they not won the next year, those Devils have to have been one of those super memorable 3-round teams.

 

[Trap Jesus]

The most memorable playoff series of the 2000s for me that didn't involve my team (Bruins) was the 2007 1st round series between Vancouver and Dallas. Dud of a Game 7 but the rest of it was just so intriguing and was what playoff hockey was all about. Even after another super high scoring season post-lockout, this one turned back the clock and became a goaltending duel. In the first 6 games there were 4 1-goal games, 2 2-goal games, and 3 OT games.

You have to remember what the goalies were coming into the series. Luongo had never played a second of playoff hockey being stuck down in Florida, and Turco had absolutely developed a reputation as a playoff choker to that point. Start off Game 1 with each goalie giving up 4 goals in regulation (especially Turco giving up 4 on 22 shots), and you were wondering what you were in store for. That epic quadruple OT Game 1 really set the tone for the rest of the series, and it was a historic performance by both goalies from there on out. Absolutely epic series.

 

[Dissonance Jr]

The most memorable playoff series of the 2000s for me that didn't involve my team (Bruins) was the 2007 1st round series between Vancouver and Dallas. Dud of a Game 7 but the rest of it was just so intriguing and was what playoff hockey was all about. Even after another super high scoring season post-lockout, this one turned back the clock and became a goaltending duel. In the first 6 games there were 4 1-goal games, 2 2-goal games, and 3 OT games.

You have to remember what the goalies were coming into the series. Luongo had never played a second of playoff hockey being stuck down in Florida, and Turco had absolutely developed a reputation as a playoff choker to that point. Start off Game 1 with each goalie giving up 4 goals in regulation (especially Turco giving up 4 on 22 shots), and you were wondering what you were in store for. That epic quadruple OT Game 1 really set the tone for the rest of the series, and it was a historic performance by both goalies from there on out. Absolutely epic series.

It was a terrific series but you are leaving out the moment when overtime began in Game 5 and all of the sudden Vancouver was bringing out Dany Sabourin, an ECHL/AHL-level journeyman, to start in net — all because Roberto Luongo had to take off his goalie gear between periods to go poop.

The reactions on the Canuck boards here were a real highlight.

EDIT: Wait, aargh! This was in the subsequent Canucks-Ducks series, not the Canucks-Stars series. I'm going senile. Well, whatever. Can't *not* mention it even if it's the wrong place and the wrong time.

 

[HisIceness]

One of my favorite all-time series is Hurricanes/Bruins 2009. Going in to that series, Carolina had to stage an epic last minute comeback against New Jersey just to get to round 2. By the time they did, most assumed Boston would win in a sweep or 5.

Canes got the win they needed in Boston in game 2 and went right to work in Raleigh. OT win in game 3 and a dominant performance in game 4. Long story short Boston won the next two forcing Game 7.

Game 7 was one of the most nerve-wrecking games I've ever watched from this team. It started off bad, Boston scored a goal that shouldn't have counted (Thomas called icing while moving away from his net, the faceoff should have gone to center-ice but the refs ignored it and Boston scored off a draw in Carolinas zone), but Brind'Amour and Samsonov scored to take a 2-1 lead. Lucic tied the game in the 3rd, and the Canes had to survive a last minute that included an awful Jussi Jokinen giveaway in his own zone. OT came and Scott Walker who was involved with punching Aaron Ward in game 5 scored his first and only playoff career goal off a Tim Thomas rebound. Boom, just like that the Canes pulled off yet another Game 7 road win.

Unfortunately the next round didn't fair well for us, but the Boston series in 2009 still remains a favorite. They knocked off the team that many felt would win the East, and knocked off the team that the franchise for years going back to the Hartford days could never beat. It was another moment of why Carolina Hurricanes playoff Hockey is a joy to watch, they may not make it every year but when they do, they come out guns blazing and wreck shit up.

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Other great series:

2009 Penguins/Capitals
2009 Capitals/Rangers
2008 Flyers/Capitals
2006 Finals (maybe not to everyone, but to me it's special)
2006 Hurricanes/Sabres
2004 Finals
2004 Lightning/Flyers
2003 Devils/Senators
2003 Wild/Avalanche
2002 Red Wings/Avalanche
2001 Finals

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1997 Oilers/Stars
1993 Kings/Maple Leafs
1993 Islanders/Penguins
1993 Maple Leafs/Red Wings

 

[djboos22]

I started watching hockey in '98 when I was 10, so I won't be able to contribute to the 90's.

Here are my favorites for 2000's:

2006 Canes vs Oilers
2006 Canes vs Sabres
2009 Canes vs Bruins
2009 Canes vs Devils
2002 Canes vs Leafs
2004 Lightning vs Flames
2003 Devils vs Ducks
2003 Devils vs Sens

I go back and forth between the Canes vs Oilers/Sabres...I would probably go with the Sabres series.