Overlooked Impressive Stats/Performances in a Lost Playoff Series

[The Panther]

You can interpret "overlooked" as you like. But basically I'm not thinking of players who won the Conn Smythe in a losing cause (ex., Giguere in 2003; Hextall in 1987), because we all remember those and continue to talk about them. I'm thinking more of great performances/stat-lines from players, but we seldom hear about them.

Theoren Fleury has some amazing stat-lines in the playoffs. One is his impressive performance vs. San Jose in 1995 -- a series The Flames nevertheless lost. Fleury scored 7 goals and 14 points in the series, went +8... and lost. I'm not sure how you go +8 in a single series and lose, but that was a crazy one.

(I'm not sure whether to mention Fleury's first round vs. L.A. in 1993 or not. Fleury scored 12 points in the six game series, which sounds amazing, but then he went minus 7. Again, I'm not sure how you score 12 points in six playoff games and end up minus 7.)

When the Islanders' dynasty ended vs. Edmonton in 1984, the one guy you really couldn't fault was Clark Gillies, who outscored Gretzky and Messier in the series (but who remembers that now?). Gillies had 5 goals and 8 points in those five games.

I guess Gretzky vs. Calgary in 1986 counts here, as Wayne had 5 goals and 13 points in the seven games, which puts him on the score-sheet for 54% of the team's goals (he did, however, go minus 3).

I suppose there are lots of goalies who will fit the bill here. How about Mikka Kiprusoff vs. Tampa in 2004? Kipper had a .924 save percentage and allowed 1.86 goals against... What more do you want? But it wasn't good enough to get the Cup.


What ya got?

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[Hockey Outsider]

Theo Fleury was the first name to come to mind. In the seven seasons after the Flames' Cup they lost in the first round six times (missing the playoffs once). Fleury scored at a 113 point (per 82 game) pace. The only players who outscored him on a per-game basis were Lemieux and Gretzky.

In 1993, Adam Oates assisted on 9 of his team's 12 goals as they were swept.

Curtis Joseph was used as a scapegoat for the Red Wings. In 2003 and 2004, he stopped 93.1% of the shots he faced (3rd best among goalies appearing in 10+ games). During those two regular seasons, Detroit scored 3.20 goals per game in the regular season (just behind Ottawa for the league lead). In the playoffs, their offense vanished and they scored just 1.88 goals per game - 3rd worst out of the 17 teams that played in 10+ playoff games those two years.

This isn't quite what the question is asking, but a few game-specific points:

• Last spring, Sean Couturier became the only player in NHL history to score 5 points in a playoff game in a losing cause. (The really weird thing is nobody else on the Flyers got more than one point that night). The Penguins won 8-5 thanks to Jake Guentzel also having a 5 point game.
• Ray Ferarro is the only player in NHL history to score 4 goals in a playoff game and lose. He scored a natural hat trick in less than eight minutes in the third period after the game was essentially out of reach (Capitals were up 5-1 at that point; he had scored the Isles' sole goal before that).
• Steve Yzerman is the only player in NHL history to have lost multiple playoff games in which he scored a hat trick. Both games went to OT.

 

[Big Phil]

Doug Gilmour had 13 points in the Leafs' 7 game loss to the Kings in 1993.

Ovechkin had 14 points against the Pens in 2009

 

[Mulletman]

Selanne had 6 goals in 6 games against Nashville in 2011 as a 40 year old. He was also really close to scoring a 7th in the final minutes and possibly force overtime, but Anaheim got eliminated. Would've been interesting to see Anaheim make the second round that year as they would've faced Vancouver and Selanne was known to be effective against Vancouver around this time.

 

[pappyline]

Definitely Bobby Hull in 1963. This is from a sports illustrated article:

Bobby's current state, in fact, reminds one of the 1963 Stanley Cup playoffs, during which he played with a nose so severely smashed that the fracture extended into his skull. With the Hawks one game from elimination, Hull ignored the orders of his doctors, checked out of a Chicago hospital and flew by himself to Detroit. That night—with both eyes blackened, his nose encased in tape and blood draining into his throat—he played against the Red Wings. He scored three goals and an assist, but even that heroic effort was not enough to avert a 7-4 Chicago loss.

 

[Star Ocean]

Peter Forsberg vs kings in 2001

 

[Sadekuuro]

Peter Forsberg vs kings in 2001

They won that series though.

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

Doug Weight scored 13 points in 7 games in the first round of the 2003 playoffs against the Canucks. The Blues still lost the series. Nobody else on the Blues' team managed to score half of Weight's points.

 

[Voight]

Ovechkins 14 points against the Pens in 2009.... he single handedly dragged his team to a pivotal game 7 and literally carried them on his back.

 

[Dingo]

Ovechkins 14 points against the Pens in 2009.... he single handedly dragged his team to a pivotal game 7 and literally carried them on his back.

Not good enough. His team lost therefore everyone on the Pens roster was better.

 

[Dingo]

Forsberg must’ve done something one of the two years he led the playoffs in scoring with his team done after three rounds.

 

[c9777666]

1983 Sabres-Bruins:

Barry Pederson had a whopping 16 points in that 7 game series, but he wasn’t even the leading scorer on his own team (Rick Middleton had 19 points, still the all time record for points in an NHL playoff series).

Pederson actually had more goals in that series than Middleton (7-5), and he had a goal in game 7, but another Bruin scored twice that game and had the series’ iconic moment:



Overshadowed by not one but two of his teammates

 

[VanIslander]

Claude Lemieux's greatest playoffs was NOT:

• His Habs team-leading 10-goal, 4 game winners! In the 1986 Stanley Cup;
• His Devils team-leading 18-point Game 7 conference finals run against Messier's guarantee in '94;
• His Conn Smythe staggering 13 even-strength goals (no other Devil had more than 6) in the 1995 Stanley Cup.

Nor was it: years later he led the Avs in shots in the Game 7 conference finals run in 1999 against Dallas, and the following year the 34 year old returned to NJ and led all Devils in shots, though only contributed secondary scoring (10 playoff points) on another Stanley Cup victory.

HIS GREATEST POSTSEASON WAS NONE OF THE ABOVE!! It was a conference finals run in 1997 as the Avs fell to the Wings in six games. Lemieux did NOT turtle offensively: his 73 shots was 23 more than any teammate, his 13 goals were 5 goals more than any Av, he also easily led in even strength (9 to 5) and game winners (4 of his team's 10 wins).

That was the peak of his career, in terms of individual effort - gone unappreciated in the Draper noise. Not the Conn Smythe year.

 

[c9777666]

Claude Lemieux's greatest playoffs was NOT:

• His Habs team-leading 10-goal, 4 game winners! In the 1986 Stanley Cup;
• His Devils team-leading 18-point Game 7 conference finals run against Messier's guarantee in '94;
• His Conn Smythe staggering 13 even-strength goals (no other Devil had more than 6) in the 1995 Stanley Cup.

Nor was it: years later he led the Avs in shots in the Game 7 conference finals run in 1999 against Dallas, and the following year the 34 year old returned to NJ and led all Devils in shots, though only contributed secondary scoring (10 playoff points) on another Stanley Cup victory.

HIS GREATEST POSTSEASON WAS NONE OF THE ABOVE!! It was a conference finals run in 1997 as the Avs fell to the Wings in six games. Lemieux did NOT turtle offensively: his 73 shots was 23 more than any teammate, his 13 goals were 5 goals more than any Av, he also easily led in even strength (9 to 5) and game winners (4 of his team's 10 wins).

That was the peak of his career. Not the Conn Smythe year.

What made that all the more impressive is that he had a poor regular season in 1997 (11 goals in 45 games a year after he nearly cracked 40 reg season goals but had only 5 playoff goals and Sakic became the team’s Mr. Clutch that spring)

 

[VanIslander]

... Sakic became the team’s Mr. Clutch that spring...

Everybody and their dog heard about Sakic's play in the 1996 playoffs.

To this thread's point: Claude easily outperformed Joe in Colorado in the 1997 playoffs. The Avs lost to Detroit in the conference finals and the pre-Internet Don Cherry CBC only criticized Claude at every chance.

 

[Troubadour]

Peter Forsberg vs kings in 2001

More like Forsberg-Oilers 98. It's not forgotten though.

 

[wetcoast]

Dennis Maruk had a 5-4-9-13 line in 85-86 when Minny lost to St Louis 3-2 in that 5 game series.

He was also plus 5 and was involved in 65% of Minny goals in the series.

That Minny team actually had some good players but some were young other were old and alot of them didn't have a great playoffs that year.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Sundin put up 4 G, 5 A, 9 P (+3) in a 7 game loss to the Devils in 2001. Those are very good stats considering the era and the strength of the Devils back then.

 

[Ishdul]

It's brought up a fair bit but in 2007 Turco put up a .952 SV%, 3 shutouts and 1.30 GAA in a 7 game loss to Vancouver.

 

[frisco]

Mario nine goals and 14 points vs. Philly in 1989 2nd round.

Hasek .950%, 1.61 GAA against the Devils in 1994 first round loss.

My Best-Carey

 

[Staniowski]

An interesting thing about the Oilers' 7-game win against the Flames in '84 is that Calgary had a trio of players who put up very nice numbers: Lanny had 13 points (to match Gretzky), MacInnis (20 yrs old) had 12 points, and Reinhart had 11 points. And, of course, MacInnis and Reinhart both played a bit less than the 7 full games, as they were injured by Messier in Game 7, and both left the game. The Flames scored 27 goals in the series.

 

[The Panther]

1983 Sabres-Bruins:

Barry Pederson had a whopping 16 points in that 7 game series, but he wasn’t even the leading scorer on his own team (Rick Middleton had 19 points, still the all time record for points in an NHL playoff series).

Pederson actually had more goals in that series than Middleton (7-5), and he had a goal in game 7, but another Bruin scored twice that game and had the series’ iconic moment:



Overshadowed by not one but two of his teammates

We're looking for series that the player's team LOST, not series they won.

 

[The Panther]

Ovechkins 14 points against the Pens in 2009.... he single handedly dragged his team to a pivotal game 7 and literally carried them on his back.

Avoid using "literally", please, unless Ovechkin did this with his teammates:

 

[The Panther]

Mario nine goals and 14 points vs. Philly in 1989 2nd round.

That was such a weird series! Pittsburgh was sort-of on the rise, but wasn't quite a good team yet, while Philly was on the decline, but was still pretty decent.

The teams split the first four games, and then came the famous game five in Pittsburgh, in which Mario had 4 goals and 2 assists just over halfway though the game (the last of which was when Rob Brown scored, and then Hextall tried to attack him for celebrating his goal). The Flyers scored 7 goals that night, on the road... and lost handily, 10 - 7.

In retrospect, I am guessing Paul Holmgren did/said something to his team in the second intermission, or they changed their defensive strategy, because the series went strongly in Philly's favor after the 40-minute mark of game five. It was 9-3 Pittsburgh after two periods, but the Flyers actually got it close, to 9-7, in the third, before Mario ended it with an empty-netter. The Flyers then won games six and seven (only Mario scored in game seven, after 10 goals by the Pens in the previous home game).

Zarley Zalapski had 8 assists in the series.
Paul Coffey and Dan Quinn each went minus 9 in the series. Mark Howe (Philly) was +8.
Tim Kerr scored 10 goals and 15 points in the series (!).

Fun times.

 

[The Panther]

Maurice Richard, 1945, vs. Toronto!

The Rocket scored 6 goals and 8 points in the six matches, but the Habs fell. (Center Elmer Lach also had eight points.)


And, again, The Rocket vs. Toronto in the 1951 Finals. The Leafs won it in five games -- every game was decided in overtime -- and Montreal scored only 10 times in the wholes series. But Richard got 5 goals and 2 assists, so they didn't lose on account of him!