Best Playoffs Series of all time

[Danny46]

In my opinion the best Playoff series of all time in NHL history was the New Rangers 4-3 New Jersey Devils 1994, to me that had everything, drama, great games, Richter playing game heroics, the typical drama surrounding the Rangers run to end the 54 years without a cup, and a overtime goal to decide the series after the Rangers had already suffered a goal with 7 seconds left in the 3rd period.

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[Fenway]

Boston-Montreal 1979 was as intense as you can get and then a Game 7 for the ages.

 

[The Panther]

Either Edmonton - Calgary 1986, or Edmonton - Calgary 1991.

 

[Danny46]

Either Edmonton - Calgary 1986, or Edmonton - Calgary 1991.

What Alberta homer you are

 

[BenchBrawl]

Boston-Montreal 1979 was as intense as you can get and then a Game 7 for the ages.

This is the series when Guy Lafleur became a legend.

He was already a great player by 1979, but what he did in that series crystallized his greatness and pushed him into legend territory.Saved the dynasty.

 

[67Leafs67]

As a Maple Leafs fan, I would perhaps nominate the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals. Red Wings go up 3-0 in the series, Leafs claw their way back to win 4-3. That's a pretty dramatic setting and story. Featured a couple of very close games, and even a strange 9-3 blowout for Toronto. Stars like Broda, Apps, Drillon, Schriner, Carr, and Goldham for Toronto, and a few noticeable names for the Red Wings in Syd Howe, Abel, Bruneteau, and Liscombe. Obviously because it wasn't televised, the lasting legacy and impact of this series, and all its charm has dissipated much quicker than series from the 60s and onwards that have famous goals and saves on tape. But I have to imagine that is up there as one of the best to have witnessed.

 

[Danny46]

As a Maple Leafs fan, I would perhaps nominate the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals. Red Wings go up 3-0 in the series, Leafs claw their way back to win 4-3. That's a pretty dramatic setting and story. Featured a couple of very close games, and even a strange 9-3 blowout for Toronto. Stars like Broda, Apps, Drillon, Schriner, Carr, and Goldham for Toronto, and a few noticeable names for the Red Wings in Syd Howe, Abel, Bruneteau, and Liscombe. Obviously because it wasn't televised, the lasting legacy and impact of this series, and all its charm has dissipated much quicker than series from the 60s and onwards that have famous goals and saves on tape. But I have to imagine that is up there as one of the best to have witnessed.

That sounds amazing...

 

[Spirit of 67]

If this is strictly NHL then I think there's far too many to single out just one. And, it would depend on your allegiances. A series your team won will likely be the "best".

But, the best playoff series I've ever seen was the 1987 Canada Cup final. Canada vs USSR. 6 -5 in all games and the final game decided with a minute and a half left.

 

[brachyrynchos]

'93 Patrick Division Finals Isles-Pens. A team that had better players vs players that were a better team. A great mix of everything that series: skill, scoring, big saves, the energy of both the players and fans, and most of all, the hitting (Tocchet, Stevens, Samuelsson, Kasparaitis, Pilon, and Vaske). Behind the benches, Al Arbour vs Scotty Bowman...2 legendary coaches. Fantastic series.

 

[Danny46]

Dallas vs Colorado in 1999 and 2000, but especially 2000 was pretty great "IT HIT THE POST!!!!!!!"

 

[CHIP72]

I'm biased, but I have to go with the Rangers/Devils 1994 Eastern Conference Final. The series had two double overtime games, including one in Game 7 in which overtime was forced by a goal with 7 seconds remaining in regulation, a guarantee for a game win in an elimination game by the eventual series-winning team by the highest profile player in the series, a 3rd period hat trick by that player to lead his team to a comeback victory in that elimination game, and shifting momentum during the series where each team appeared to have the upper hand and was about to take control of the series but didn't. The context of what happened afterwards (Rangers winning a 7 game Stanley Cup final against Vancouver for their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, and the Devils winning the Stanley Cup the following season) adds to its legend. And all of the above doesn't even mention that the teams were fierce rivals located about 10 miles/16 km apart.

How many playoff series have a book written about them? THAT'S how good that series was:

https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Hudson-Devils-Rangers-Greatest/dp/1600787274

 

[rfournier103]

I agree with @Fenway.

The 1979 Semifinals between the Bruins and Canadiens. If anyone DOESN’T think this was the best series in NHL history, I’d like to know why. Maybe that could be it’s own thread.

I detest the result, but I can’t answer any differently.

 

[Fenway]

I agree with @Fenway.

The 1979 Semifinals between the Bruins and Canadiens. If anyone DOESN’T think this was the best series in NHL history, I’d like to know why. Maybe that could be it’s own thread.

I detest the result, but I can’t answer any differently.

You hated to see a game and series decided by a bench penalty but it had to be called.

 

[scott clam]

87 finals and 1997 western conference finals are definitely up there.

 

[rfournier103]

You hated to see a game and series decided by a bench penalty but it had to be called.

While I’ve never heard anyone say the penalty wasn’t deserved, I have heard it said that referee John D’Amico gave the extra Bruins plenty of time to get back to the bench and only blew the whistle when it became evident that nobody was coming off the ice.

I’ve also heard that he screamed at Bruins coach Don Cherry, asking him if he knew how to count.

Whoever is to blame, it was certainly not John D’Amico.

 

[frisco]

2009 Washington-Pittsburgh was unbelievable. If I had to pick just one.

My Best-Carey

 

[GMR]

Red Wings vs. Avalanche in 2002. You will never again see so many Hall of Famers playing against each other in a playoff series. Also, the two best goalies ever facing off. Game 7 kind of spoiled the series for the casual fan, but it's hard to think of another series in this generation with a higher level of play and talent.

Prior generations would likely be the 1971 Finals. Devils/Rangers in 1994 is also a great choice.

 

[Fenway]

While I’ve never heard anyone say the penalty wasn’t deserved, I have heard it said that referee John D’Amico gave the extra Bruins plenty of time to get back to the bench and only blew the whistle when it became evident that nobody was coming off the ice.

I’ve also heard that he screamed at Bruins coach Don Cherry, asking him if he knew how to count.

Whoever is to blame, it was certainly not John D’Amico.

I drove up from Boston for that game with a friend and my memories are still vivid. We bought 2 tickets in the very last row for $25 US and I can still remember the Expos were playing that afternoon in San Francisco and we could follow the game just walking down Ste. Catherine St as every storefront had the game on the radio.

With the Bruins leading 3-1 after 2 the Forum was deathly quiet and I was feeling a little giddy. When the Habs made it 3-2 the building woke up and I don't think any crowd has ever chanted Go Habs Go louder, before or since and when they tied it up, I could feel the Forum shaking.

But the Bruins retook the lead and then..............

I remember the crowd chanting HUIT, HUIT, HUIT for several seconds until it was called and there was no doubt the Bruins had 8 players on the ice.

Three Little Words: Too Many Men

During the late 1960s and early ’70s, after the coming of Orr and two Stanley Cups, the Bruins recast their identity. The hapless losers who had managed to miss the playoffs in the six-team NHL from ’60 to ’67 were now big and bad. Serge Savard, who played for or was the GM of the Canadiens against Boston in 16 of their 34 playoff series, thinks the Bruins gained something in the makeover but lost something as well. He means discipline. If Savard is correct, Too Many Men should be considered neither sacred nor profane but mythological. The penalty was a case of hockey narcissism, the Bruins caught admiring their big, bad selves in the glint of the silver Stanley Cup. Milbury does not endorse the theory but does say, “We were all overhyped. In the emotion of the moment, we displayed a lack of awareness, a lack of restraint, a lack of discipline.”

As quickly as he had hopped off the ice, Lafleur hopped back on. Most of the players remember Marcotte dutifully returning to the ice, and maybe he did. But Marcotte says he was on the bench and that other left wings had jumped. (McNab recalls Marcotte straddling the dasher, half on and half off.) Chaos. Cherry, who alerted the lines when they were up, says the Bruins now had “four forwards . . . well, really five” on the ice. Although one of the forwards who jumped appears to have been Stan Jonathan, no one is willing to identify any of the extra players or lay blame.


From their seats behind the Boston bench, Sinden and Johnson were aghast when the ice became as crowded as Route 3 heading to Cape Cod on a summer weekend. Sinden wanted to yell something but feared tipping off D’Amico, who was positioned in front of the bench.

But D’Amico knew even before Bowman and Montreal’s players began screaming, “Too many! Too many!” Hockey is one of the few sports that allows personnel changes during the run of play, and linesmen generally give some leeway in the application of what is now Rule 74.1. (The clock runs in soccer and football, but action stops during substitutions.) In this instance D’Amico was particularly deliberate. Milbury, who was futilely extending his stick from the bench in an effort to hook teammates off the ice, says that the linesman actually was pointing at Bruins players while mouthing a count. Says Cherry, “I can see D’Amico, hand in the air, look up with sad eyes like, ‘Sorry, Grapes, I gotta call this.’ ”

The puck was deep in the Boston zone when the whistle blew. “When John came to me [with the call], I was totally shocked,” Myers says. The referee had been watching the play, not the profusion of Bruins. “I asked, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure?’ ” D’Amico, who would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993, 12 years before he passed away, was more than sure. He was dead right.

To this day I don't know how we made it back to Boston in one piece as we made the 5-hour drive in the middle of the night through the mountains

 

[Eye of Ra]

You hated to see a game and series decided by a bench penalty but it had to be called.

0:25

 

[c9777666]

Probably not gonna crack an all time series list, but I think a wildly underrated great playoff series that I think doesn’t get the love it deserves IMHO.... 1996 Colorado/Chicago.

For sheer scoring insanity and wackiness.... 2012 Pens/Flyers

 

[Jets4Life]

Edmonton--Calgary 1984
Winnipeg-Edmonton 1990
Edmonton--Calgary 1991
Los Angeles--Toronto 1993
NY Rangers-New Jersey 1994

 

[frisco]

I did pick the Pittsburgh-Washington series from 2009 as my best. Sneaking in as an HM or best first round series might be the Kings-Oilers in 1982. After a 10-8 (!) L.A. win in game one, the Oilers snuck one out in OT in two and seemed to get their scare. Then the Miracle on Manchester happened. However, Edmonton takes Game Four and looks a cinch to win on home ice in deciding game five. But L.A. drops them 7-4. Wildly entertaining.

My Best-Carey

 

[Big Phil]

Lots of good ones mentioned, I am going to throw one out there that hasn't been mentioned on this thread yet...............Hawks/Kings in 2014. A bit of a heartbreaker too because the Hawks are defending champs and probably beat the Rangers as easily as the Kings did. They clawed back after being down 3-1 in the series and had a lead in Game 7 with 8 minutes left. Then that overtime goal and you could see Crawford's heart break after he let that in. I think Andrew Shaw had a partial breakaway prior to that.

It probably isn't the best though. Edmonton/Calgary is great because of the overtimes but it may not be as high because it was just the 1st round.

Pens/Caps in 2009 and Wings/Avs 2002 had blow outs for Game 7s but they were so good prior to that and had such great storylines that it didn't matter. They are both right up there in terms of sheer entertainment and star power.

Another classic is Rangers/Devils 1994 and that is hard to argue. Lots of storylines, the tension, the subway series, etc. I think Canucks/Rangers in the final was almost just as good. Lots on the line, a surprisingly close series.

But I think we might have to side with Habs/Bruins 1979. Considering the all-time rivalry, the prior two Cup final meetings and just the overall dominance Montreal always had over Boston. Lots of star power, a dynasty on the line, a series that practically sent Don Cherry to Coach's Corner and a classic Game 7. Unlike other series, the climax was the best part. However, if there is any knock it would be how many memories do you have of this series outside of Game 7? That would be my only knock. Every home team won this series. Other series I have plenty of memories other than Game 7. So there's that.........but this is probably still #1 because the series was always close.

 

[rfournier103]

Lots of good ones mentioned, I am going to throw one out there that hasn't been mentioned on this thread yet...............Hawks/Kings in 2014. A bit of a heartbreaker too because the Hawks are defending champs and probably beat the Rangers as easily as the Kings did. They clawed back after being down 3-1 in the series and had a lead in Game 7 with 8 minutes left. Then that overtime goal and you could see Crawford's heart break after he let that in. I think Andrew Shaw had a partial breakaway prior to that.

It probably isn't the best though. Edmonton/Calgary is great because of the overtimes but it may not be as high because it was just the 1st round.

Pens/Caps in 2009 and Wings/Avs 2002 had blow outs for Game 7s but they were so good prior to that and had such great storylines that it didn't matter. They are both right up there in terms of sheer entertainment and star power.

Another classic is Rangers/Devils 1994 and that is hard to argue. Lots of storylines, the tension, the subway series, etc. I think Canucks/Rangers in the final was almost just as good. Lots on the line, a surprisingly close series.

But I think we might have to side with Habs/Bruins 1979. Considering the all-time rivalry, the prior two Cup final meetings and just the overall dominance Montreal always had over Boston. Lots of star power, a dynasty on the line, a series that practically sent Don Cherry to Coach's Corner and a classic Game 7. Unlike other series, the climax was the best part. However, if there is any knock it would be how many memories do you have of this series outside of Game 7? That would be my only knock. Every home team won this series. Other series I have plenty of memories other than Game 7. So there's that.........but this is probably still #1 because the series was always close.

What hasn’t been mentioned yet is that in the ‘79 Semifinals after the Bruins lost Game 2 in Montreal, Cherry benched Gerry Cheevers (HOF ‘85) in favor of Giles Gilbert who helped turn the series around. Who in their right mind benches a hall of famer and still almost pulls off the upset? Also, don’t underestimate the significance of crawling out of an 0-2 hole against that Canadiens team. They were monsters.

 

[barbu]

I will go with the 1991 oilers flames series as well. As a habs fans, it seemed like the adams divisions games were in slow motion after watching an Alberta battle game. I also remember my dad commenting that it was a physically brutal series.