Obscure hockey facts/stats

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Vujtek

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Interesting. Gretzky scored 75 at even strength and Messier scored 71, and Wayne scored 12 short-handed and Messier 14, so I guess the difference here (and the different with the four in between them on your list) is that Gretzky scored 11 (?) goals at 4-on-4. Is that possible? That seems kind of high for being just between 1980 and 1985 (and it would have to be 11 of 36 total at 4-on-4!) but I guess it's feasible.

(Gretzky also scored on a playoff penalty-shot in 1984... does that count at ES...?)

After taking out even-strength empty-net goals from their total ESG, Gretzky had 68 ES goals and Messier 70. Gretzky then had 10 goals on 4-on-4 while Messier had 4 (I posted these 4-on-4 stats for many legends earlier in previous page if interested). Gretzky had two 3-on-3 goals while Messier had 1. Gretzky had two goals with a goalie pulled for an extra attacker while Messier had one. Those brought the numbers down to what I posted.

(Gretzky's penalty shot goal came during short-handed situation so it's a SHG, not ESG.)

Pre-summer-1985 rule change, Gretzky had 9+9 on 4-on-4 hockey while after it he had 1+4. Just in the 1985 playoffs Gretzky had 5+4 on 4-on-4 hockey (another two goals on 3-on-3 hockey), including a hat trick during a Stanley Cup Final game.
 
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Vujtek

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Chicago plays a 'home' game at Nassau Coliseum.
April 7, 1977 NHL playoffs, game 2.
Hawks couldn't play at Chicago Stadium due to the venue being booked by Led Zeppelin. It would've been a bit expensive to reschedule the concerts so Chicago would end up playing at home on the road. Isles would take the series 2-0.

For statistical purposes NHL seems to count this one as an away game for Chicago. See Islanders listed here as the home team:

Chicago Blackhawks - New York Islanders - April 7th, 1977

Chicago as a team and their players also are listed as in playing two away games for 1977 playoffs and none at home.

So while Black Hawks were tagged as 'home team' for that game, wearing their home white jerseys and having the last line change, NHL still lists it as an away game for them from stats point of view.
 
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brachyrynchos

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For statistical purposes NHL seems to count this one as an away game for Chicago. See Islanders listed here as the home team:

Chicago Blackhawks - New York Islanders - April 7th, 1977

Chicago as a team and their players also are listed as in playing two away games for 1977 playoffs and none at home.

So while Black Hawks were tagged as 'home team' for that game, wearing their home white jerseys and having the last line change, NHL still lists it as an away game for them from stats point of view.
Thanks for the clarification.
If you don't mind me asking, how was it handled with the Flyers in the spring of '68? I know they couldn't play the rest of their home games at the Spectrum after damages to the roof. I guess the games they played in Quebec were considered 'home' games but I think they might've played a few elsewhere. I read that the Flyers played the Seals at Madison Square Garden (3/3/68) which I'm guessing was a short notice kind of thing. Pretty odd either way.
 

Vujtek

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Thanks for the clarification.
If you don't mind me asking, how was it handled with the Flyers in the spring of '68? I know they couldn't play the rest of their home games at the Spectrum after damages to the roof. I guess the games they played in Quebec were considered 'home' games but I think they might've played a few elsewhere. I read that the Flyers played the Seals at Madison Square Garden (3/3/68) which I'm guessing was a short notice kind of thing. Pretty odd either way.

Flyers are listed as 'home team' and stats counted as being from home games for the seven games they played out of town during March of 1968.

Five of the games were played in Quebec, one in Madison Square Garden and one in Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens (vs. Bruins on March 7th).
 
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brachyrynchos

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Flyers are listed as 'home team' and stats counted as being from home games for the seven games they played out of town during March of 1968.

Five of the games were played in Quebec, one in Madison Square Garden and one in Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens (vs. Bruins on March 7th).
Thank you.
 

The Panther

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After taking out even-strength empty-net goals from their total ESG, Gretzky had 68 ES goals and Messier 70. Gretzky then had 10 goals on 4-on-4 while Messier had 4 (I posted these 4-on-4 stats for many legends earlier in previous page if interested). Gretzky had two 3-on-3 goals while Messier had 1. Gretzky had two goals with a goalie pulled for an extra attacker while Messier had one. Those brought the numbers down to what I posted.

(Gretzky's penalty shot goal came during short-handed situation so it's a SHG, not ESG.)

Pre-summer-1985 rule change, Gretzky had 9+9 on 4-on-4 hockey while after it he had 1+4. Just in the 1985 playoffs Gretzky had 5+4 on 4-on-4 hockey (another two goals on 3-on-3 hockey), including a hat trick during a Stanley Cup Final game.
Geez, I don't even remember 3-on-3 hockey back then. How often did that even happen?
 

Vujtek

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Geez, I don't even remember 3-on-3 hockey back then. How often did that even happen?

There's no data on how often it happened but obviously they were rare occurrences. Still without any data I would say that in 70's and first half of 80's there were more 3-on-3 hockey played than in today's game (outside of 3-on-3 overtime since 2015, obviously) as the games were rougher and there were more scrums adding to the likelihood of those situations.

Gretzky scored both of his 3-on-3 playoff goals in 1985 series against the Blackhawks. Both were full two-minute 3-on-3 situations resulted from offsetting roughing/charging minors to two players on each side, so from scrums. You basically never see those type of calls in today's game, even in the regular season.

Here's the first of Gretzky's goals (the game starts right after the scrum had happened so from 3-on-3 hockey):



Boxscore: Edmonton Oilers - Chicago Blackhawks - May 12th, 1985

Gretzky's second 3-on-3 goal in the following game (game #5 of the series) (3-on-3 sequence starting at 1:03:30 of the video):



Boxscore: Chicago Blackhawks - Edmonton Oilers - May 14th, 1985
 
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Iapyi

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The 90-91 Minnesota North Stars were the first-ever #16 seed to make it to the finals upsetting #1 Chicago and #2 St Louis on the way before losing to Pittsburgh.
 

quoipourquoi

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The 90-91 Minnesota North Stars were the first-ever #16 seed to make it to the finals upsetting #1 Chicago and #2 St Louis on the way before losing to Pittsburgh.

Would they technically count? They were indeed the 16th place team, but they would have had home ice against the 17th place Vancouver Canucks had they met in the Campbell Conference Finals.

Philadelphia had the 14th best record but were not one of the 4 teams in their division to qualify for the playoffs due to the system at the time.
 

stardog

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Does anyone know the record for most minutes a team played shorthanded in one game? Obviously this doesn't necessarily mean the most penalty minutes being called due to potential scores on ensuing power plays, but the actual game time minutes spent shorthanded during a 60 minute game?
Can't seem to find it?
Thanks!
 

Theokritos

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The public address announcer at Luzhniki Sports Palace in Moscow during the Summit Series was a Canadian who had defected to the Soviet Union, Carl Watts formerly of Winnipeg.


Very interesting, thanks!

I would object to the term "defected" though, which should be reserved for people leaving against the law of the land. In case of Carl Watts, it looks like a plain case of legal emigration, albeit to a not very common destination.
 

c9777666

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Would they technically count? They were indeed the 16th place team, but they would have had home ice against the 17th place Vancouver Canucks had they met in the Campbell Conference Finals.

Fun fact- if they had the mid 90s format (2 divisions, 1-8) the North Stars would have actually played 3rd place LA in a 2-7 round 1 matchup and Chicago would have faced Vancouver in 1-8
 

The Panther

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I've mentioned before how strong a season Doug Gilmour had in 1986-87 for St. Louis, but being in St. Louis it flew under the radar a bit. If we dismiss the entire month of October 1986, and just focus on November '86 through April '87, these were the NHL leading scorers:
150 - Gretzky (67 games)
100 - Gilmour (72 games)

Albeit Gretzky was +55 and Gilmour -2, but anyway Doug Gilmour was really bringing it for St. Louis that season. No other player but Gretzky scored 100 points from November 1st to season's end. (This is six years before he supposedly peaked in Toronto.)


Another oddity about this same 1986-87 season is Dino Ciccarelli, then of Minnesota. Ciccarelli was always a good scorer, of course, but he was punching above his offensive weight for much of 1986-87. Here's the scoring race on Dec. 14th 1986:
75 - Gretzky
53 - Lemieux
51 - Ciccarelli

And here were the goals leaders on that same day:
28 - Ciccarelli
27 - Gretzky
26 - Lemieux

By February 5th 1987, the scoring race leaders were:
136 - Gretzky
78 - Messier
77 - Kurri
72 - Ciccarelli
(Mario had by now missed a few games and Dino had surpassed him in scoring.)

Goals leaders:
50 - Gretzky
41 - Kerr
40 - Ciccarelli

Ciccarelli ended up 6th in the scoring race behind three Oilers, Mario, and Gilmour, but ahead of guys like Savard, Goulet, and Hawerchuk. It was the only season in his career he made it into the top eight scorers (he was ninth in 1981-82). It's a bit odd because it's not like Minnesota was anything great -- they were 8th offensively that year, and finished 10 games below .500.
 

The Panther

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In 1989-90, Paul Coffey of Pittsburgh achieved a sort-of unique distinction in obscure stats: Coffey was 1st in total-goals on-ice for, at 195, and he was 1st in total-goals on-ice against, at 168.

I'm not able to see any other player who did this weird "achievement". I note that Gretzky, Lemieux, and Lidstrom each came close once (being 1st in one category and 2nd in another), but I can't see that anyone else was 1st in both.
 

plusandminus

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In 1989-90, Paul Coffey of Pittsburgh achieved a sort-of unique distinction in obscure stats: Coffey was 1st in total-goals on-ice for, at 195, and he was 1st in total-goals on-ice against, at 168.

I'm not able to see any other player who did this weird "achievement". I note that Gretzky, Lemieux, and Lidstrom each came close once (being 1st in one category and 2nd in another), but I can't see that anyone else was 1st in both.

If we trust old data, Gary Bergman officially was during the 1967-68 season.
 

robsenz

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Apr 15, 2007
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In the 1972-73 season Dean Prentice and Eddie Shack became the first two players in NHL history to top 20 goals in a season for five different teams.

Impressive, but is it as impressive as Mike Sillinger scoring at least 10 goals on 57 different NHL teams?
 

FerrisRox

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Another oddity about this same 1986-87 season is Dino Ciccarelli, then of Minnesota. Ciccarelli was always a good scorer, of course, but he was punching above his offensive weight for much of 1986-87. Here's the scoring race on Dec. 14th 1986:
75 - Gretzky
53 - Lemieux
51 - Ciccarelli

This really stirred up an ancient memory for me. I had Dino Ciccarelli in my hockey pool that year and I was absolutely stacked on wing (and had drafted Dino well below where he was performing because despite having a good year the season before, he had an injury plagued year the one before that and had slipped in our draft) and that year I had a pretty lousy defence and I ended up trading Dino away over the Christmas break from school to a buddy of mine.

I swapped him for Larry Murphy and Petri Skriko to my buddy Cam. I can't believe I remember this, but I was certain Dino wasn't going to keep up the pace, but he ended up with a 100 point season.

He wanted to do Murphy straight up for Dino, but because of the way Dino was performing I was able to get Skriko thrown in and I think he ended up with over 70 points that year so it was a good deal.

So odd that I remember this transaction from so long ago.
 

Iapyi

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On March 11, 1971 against the L.A. Kings Phil Esposito collected his 59th goal and 127th point which both surpassed the old NHL record at the time.
 
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