Forgotten playoff runs ( Last 20 years )

[IafrateOvie34]

Capitals in 98. How many times I think back to the 90's finals and forget that they made it that far.

I wasn't as surprised by that run. We had a lot of veteran leadership and not the injury bug like the year before and not making the playoffs. If I recall we didn't have Kono and Simon for those playoffs. We didn't face any of our nemesis teams in Philly, Pittsburgh, or NYR either. The game one momentum in the finals did give me hope, but Detroit really put it to us. I'll always remember Tikkanen's missed goal and Bondra's fluke goal from that series. The ECF was a helluva series too.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Got to hand it to them that Conference Final was great.

I remember, or maybe because of the replay of the Divisional with the Blues and Wings but a preview of the Pens/Panthers matchup and one of the broadcasters saying something along the lines of " Mario and company better not underestimate Florida because that's the mistake teams have been making this post-season ".

Florida had a lot of grit, veteran presence, a terrific goalie, and Jovo had a nice playoff run. I think the 1993 Islanders were another great story. They beat the Pens in what I thought would be unthinkable. I always wonder if they might have been SC champs that year had it not been for the Turgeon injury. I still hate Ferraro to this day, but he showed up to play. Of course Patrick Roy was stellar for the Habs that year.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

This will be a fun topic I think.

Trivia question: Who were the conference finalists against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 08-09?

Carolina Hurricanes. So recent, but I already forgot about that. It was a sweep, but still an impressively forgotten run.

The Wild in 2002-03 was the same scenario in the end, but a bit more remembered I think.

The 91-92 Oilers made it to the conference finals that year, but lost. Even though they had won the cup two years before, they only had a 36-34-10 record, making them third in the Smythe division. It deservedly gets overshadowed by their cup wins, and more recent finals appearance, but it's still pretty impressive in it's own right. Yet another sweep.

I still remember Joe Murphy's OT goal against Vancouver and Pat Quinn throwing his gum on the ice. Tikkanen did wonders that year too. The Blackhawks completely rocked their world in the Conference Finals. It was strange watching Steve Smith on the Hawks , but Dave Manson was a beast. Manson grabbing Blake by the neck in the Semifinals was classic.

 

[Hab-a-maniac]

I still remember Joe Murphy's OT goal against Vancouver and Pat Quinn throwing his gum on the ice. Tikkanen did wonders that year too. The Blackhawks completely rocked their world in the Conference Finals. It was strange watching Steve Smith on the Hawks , but Dave Manson was a beast. Manson grabbing Blake by the neck in the Semifinals was classic.

The Kings of that time get more press because of Gretz and it all seemed like a new era when they came back to dethrone the Oilers in 89 but then they lost to them the next three times out. Ok the 89-90 Kings weren't too special, engineering an upset of Calgary before falling back to Earth and getting demolished in the Symthe Final (lost the games in LA by close scores but got beat 7-0 and 6-1 in the first two!) but the 91 and 92 teams had been better than Edmonton and still got outclassed. It was often due to the Oilers scoring the key goals. They won the '91 series as underdogs with 3 Ot victories after all. The Oilers of 1991 and '92 kept going off the residual greatness of the 5 cups.

Their experience helped them beat teams that were better on paper but they ran out of gas in the Conf. Final both times. The Hawks wiped the floor with them, ushering out a decade of playoff dominance for Edmonton. The thing that worked was that the new players were always learning and led well by the winning core, even after Mess left. But even the new guys were being pawned off, like Graves. The poor drafting they were running into and firesales left them with a team so stripped of what it had once been by 1993 that there was no way they'd even get to the playoffs to perform their miracles. Still, it was quite entertaining to see (thank God for Classic Series on the NHL Network).

 

[Salsa Shark]

Rangers beat the Flyers and Caps only to be stymied by Roy in 1986. Didn't see it firsthand for myself but I understand it was a good playoff year for the NYR, with Beezer having a few memorbale performances.

Anyone remember anything about this series?

 

[Hab-a-maniac]

Rangers beat the Flyers and Caps only to be stymied by Roy in 1986. Didn't see it firsthand for myself but I understand it was a good playoff year for the NYR, with Beezer having a few memorbale performances.

Anyone remember anything about this series?

Not sure but the Rangers had a very average team back then that just gelled at the right time with some timely scoring. This was in the era before the Rangers loaded up on all the superstars with their purse strings. They still got blown out 2 times by the Caps but the Flyers series saw them somehow owned by the Rangers. The Rangers never had enough talent on either side but usually had good goalies and were quick, speedy and skilled enough to perplex Philly. While the Flyers beat em in 85 and 87, they lost to them as favourites in 86, 83 and 82. Just pwned for some reason. Here's stuff from game 1. Hilariously curmudgeonly broadcasting from Phil Esposito!

 

[WingsFan95]

Some good video on that.

Those 91 and 92 Oilers teams seem unreal.

It's funny how Gretz beat his former team in 89 but lost to them in 91 and 92.

 

[Staal Goodman]

What about the 01-02 ECF between Toronto and Carolina? I'm a 'Canes fan and I hardly remember that one.