Series won and lost in a single moment

[vadim sharifijanov]

i'm not talking about just when momentum shifted in a series. i'm talking about when something happened in a competitive series and one team literally didn't win again, or when everything was going right for one team and it completely shifted to the other team for the rest of the series.

for those who watch basketball, we just saw this in the NBA finals. at the end of game 1, with the game tied and the lebrons on the verge of stealing away home court advantage, george hill clangs a free throw that would have given them the lead, then after grabbing the rebound, j.r. smith thinks they're ahead and instead of calling for a timeout, runs out the clock while lebron screams at him. golden state blew the cavs away in overtime, en route to a fairly uncompetitive sweep. shades of nick anderson bricking four straight free throws and karmic payback for draymond green punching lebron in the nuts.

i just finally watched the 1993 habs documentary so these two are clear in my head:

game 2, 1993 finals. kings up 1-0 after gretzky scored all four points in game one. they call illegal stick on marty mcsorley, desjardins scores his second of the game on the PP. desjardins scores again in OT, habs also win the next three.

but here's another one that i had no memory of. pre-game warm up, game 3. hextall tries to do his usual pre-game routine at center ice but montreal goon mario roberge won't let him cross center ice. according to several habs players in the doc, hextall was rattled for the rest of the series. habs win four straight, the rest is history.

the weirdest thing about this? according to h-r, roberge didn't even play in game 3. in fact, he only played in three games that entire playoffs. a sports illustrated article from '93 corroborates what the documentary showed though.

which ones do you remember? throw me all of your aaron rome references, i can handle it.

Click to read more...

 

[Three On Zero]

2011 SCF, the hit that changed the series and woke up the bruins

 

[The Panther]

1988 Edmonton vs. Calgary, game two overtime (at the Saddledome), Gretzky scores. Once that shot went in, everybody in Alberta knew not only that that series was over, but that Edmonton was winning the Cup again.

I also had the sinking feeling when Roloson went down in the 2006 finals, game one, that the Oilers' goose was cooked.

 

[VanIslander]

As a Caps fan since Langway in 1982 I am vividly aware of that moment in the 1996 playoffs when my Caps shutdown Mario and Jagr heading into the 4th overtime only to watch the Pens' third weapon Petr Nedved bury the winner and turn the tide of the series. The air went out of our sails. Yeah, after that game the series was tied, but the feeling was we gave it our best, and we just couldn't stop them.

 

[frisco]

Game Three Eastern Conference Semis Washington at Pittsburgh. Pens leading by a goal and series tied 1-1. Wilson launches himself at Aston-Reese and breaks his jaw and concusses him. Should have been a five-minute major. Instead of a Pittsburgh PP, Capitals tie it a few minutes later (on a goal assisted by Wilson who shouldn't have been in the game). Then Wilson slew foots Maatta with a minute left to set up the winning 2-on-1 and subsequent goal.

My Best-Carey

 

[Roshi]

You dont have to go far for the latest. ’The Save’ by Braden Holtby on G2 dying minutes. It was the final undoing of every bad bounce and meltdown this Caps core had gone through to be there.

From that moment you knew its happening. But That puck goes in and holy s...



Caps tie the series away and take the confidence of overcoming all their inner demons. Vegas didnt have answers for that.

Edit. And on the painful side. This is ’the moment’ from 98. Long time this was supposed to never be mentioned within our fanbase, but i think time has finally erased most of the pain..



Detroit comes back and wins in G2 to make it 2-0 and sweep the series eventually. Losing that G2, Caps was out of breath and faith.

 

[sharkhawk]

Stanley cup finals 1992 game 1

Mario Lemieux scores from behind the red line to beat belfour

 

[frisco]

but here's another one that i had no memory of. pre-game warm up, game 3. hextall tries to do his usual pre-game routine at center ice but montreal goon mario roberge won't let him cross center ice. according to several habs players in the doc, hextall was rattled for the rest of the series. habs win four straight, the rest is history.

You'd think Hextall having his little routine interrupted would actually change the whole series? Was he that mentally weak? Just doesn't sound right.

My Best-Carey

 

[alko]

2000 Conference final, game 7, New Jersey : Philadelphia 1:0, 1th period:

 

[c9777666]

2002 West Finals

Patrick Roy- Statue of Liberty.

In the first 5 games of that series, the goals for were even- 13 goals for Detroit, 13 goals for Colorado.

After THAT moment, the Wings outscored the Avs 9-0 the rest of the way.

 

[c9777666]

I really think this planted a huge seed of belief in the heads of Anaheim. That game went 3 overtimes. They took Detroit's best shot.

And remember the Robitaille OT goal waived off with that famous image of Giguere waving it off?

That could have been Detroit dodging a bullet and that Ducks team could have missed a chance to set the tone and the champs finding a way to win.

And that planted a BIG seed of doubt for the Wings.

When you're as big an underdog as Anaheim was, you come at the king, you best not miss.

And they didn't.

 

[Michael Farkas]

That goal in the 2003 Final when Giguere didn't move...Thorne immediately says afterward "bad line change" and Davidson and Clement go "he didn't move, Giguere didn't move"...I feel like it was Langenbrunner's or Friesen's maybe...for some reason I can't readily find it...

 

[Kevs Security]

2002-3 series Dallas against Anaheim. Anaheim was up 3 to 1 in game one, Dallas tied the game with three minutes left in the third period. After four overtime periods, Sykora scored for the Mighty Ducks. It was the 4th longest playoff-game ever. After the game Mike Modano said: "this is it, guys. We can't win this. The God is not on our side. We can't win. They are better." Guess what? Game 6, Anaheim advances to the third round.

 

[K Fleur]

Game 6 of the ECSF. Mother’s Day.

The Penguins were up 3-2 in the series. Martin St.Louis’ mother passed away just days earlier and this was his first Mother’s Day without her. 3:30 into the game:



It all plays out like something from a Hollywood movie, and that was it for the Penguins that year.

 

[DannyGallivan]

i'm not talking about just when momentum shifted in a series. i'm talking about when something happened in a competitive series and one team literally didn't win again, or when everything was going right for one team and it completely shifted to the other team for the rest of the series.

for those who watch basketball, we just saw this in the NBA finals. at the end of game 1, with the game tied and the lebrons on the verge of stealing away home court advantage, george hill clangs a free throw that would have given them the lead, then after grabbing the rebound, j.r. smith thinks they're ahead and instead of calling for a timeout, runs out the clock while lebron screams at him. golden state blew the cavs away in overtime, en route to a fairly uncompetitive sweep. shades of nick anderson bricking four straight free throws and karmic payback for draymond green punching lebron in the nuts.

i just finally watched the 1993 habs documentary so these two are clear in my head:

game 2, 1993 finals. kings up 1-0 after gretzky scored all four points in game one. they call illegal stick on marty mcsorley, desjardins scores his second of the game on the PP. desjardins scores again in OT, habs also win the next three.

but here's another one that i had no memory of. pre-game warm up, game 3. hextall tries to do his usual pre-game routine at center ice but montreal goon mario roberge won't let him cross center ice. according to several habs players in the doc, hextall was rattled for the rest of the series. habs win four straight, the rest is history.

the weirdest thing about this? according to h-r, roberge didn't even play in game 3. in fact, he only played in three games that entire playoffs. a sports illustrated article from '93 corroborates what the documentary showed though.

which ones do you remember? throw me all of your aaron rome references, i can handle it.

1990 - Winnipeg Jets lead the Edmonton Oilers three games to one. Back then, that was a guaranteed series win as only two teams in history ever came back from that deficit to win a series.

Then, head coach Bob "Goat of the Franchise" Murdoch, decided to robotically stick with his alternating goalie strategy, pulling red hot Bob Essensa for ice cold Stephane Beuregard. That led to three straight wins for Edmonton and likely cost the Jets their best shot at a Stanley Cup.

 

[De Montreal]

Bruins had the Canadiens in a chokehold at the point, with a 3-2 lead in the series and home advantage. If not for Thornton useless antics, PK Subban doesnt get pissed off. He was a monster for game 6 and 7. Even at the end of game 5, when the game was over, you could tell he was mad - he was screaming for that puck on the PP so he could blast it past Rask. It was his way to show the Bruins they werent done, and that he was coming for them. The bears hunting season was open.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

You'd think Hextall having his little routine interrupted would actually change the whole series? Was he that mentally weak? Just doesn't sound right.

mentally weak? probably not. giant crazy hothead? i'd believe it.

remember,



that was with a minute and a half left in an elimination game six where his team was down by 2 goals. it was also that howe/propp/poulin/kerr team's last and arguably best chance to win the cup, with two other cores overlapping, especially tocchet (but also samuelsson, sutter, eklund who all solidly entered their primes in '87) and now also adding the youngsters that would later become the '96 panthers (mellanby, gord murphy, carkner). they also got mike bullard at the deadline, giving them their first bona fide scoring center since bobby clarke retired.

everything was in place to take that last shot. pull the goalie, score a quick one, repeat, force game seven. who would throw away an opportunity like that to settle a score?

but as i said, i have no memory of this hextall thing. i just saw it on the 1993 habs documentary that sportsnet produced a couple months ago. what's interesting to me is that mario roberge was dressed solely to mess with hextall. he didn't play in the game and had no business being on the ice for the warmup.

i wish the footage was on the internet but basically, roberge was just standing there trying to stare hextall down. everytime hextall tried to skate over the center ice dot, roberge slashed him in the pads.

here's patrice brisebois:

Before Game 3 began, a player who wasn’t even in the lineup and only played three games that spring helped Montreal swing the momentum.

Brisebois: Mario Roberge was our tough guy — great guy, team guy. He watched the warmup [in Quebec] and [Nordiques goalie] Ron Hextall was stretching in the neutral zone, and right after he stretched, he went to the middle of the ice and did a circle around the dot. That was his ritual. So Mario asked Jacques, “Can I do the warmup? I just want to do something.” He stood for the whole warmup right in the middle of the ice and Ron Hextall was getting f—ing nuts. Nuts! He lost his concentration right there. I’m telling you, after that, Ron Hextall was never the same.

Celebrating the '93 Montreal Canadiens and Canada's last Cup

fwiw, that sports illustrated article i quoted in the OP contradicts breezy's account and says hextall was excellent, at least in games 3 and 4:

. . . the Nordiques were outchecked, outhustled and outshot by their supposedly less-skilled opponents. That they were out-scored only 2-1, in overtime, in Game 3 and 3-2 in Game 4 was largely due to the grace and guts of goaltender Ron Hextall, whose spirited play was wasted.

. . .

The most vicious territorial struggle of Game 3 came during the pregame warmup, when Montreal's Mario Roberge stood his ground over the center-ice dot. It seems the superstitious Hextall must skate over the aforementioned dot before every game. Twice as Hextall approached it, Roberge slashed him on the pads. Jawboning ensued. Threats were made. Then Roberge was jostled by Quebec's Owen Nolan—his hardest hit of the night. In the old days, a bench-clearing brawl would have erupted, and 600 minutes in penalties would have been assessed. Not in the '90s. Hextall touched his dot, the prospective combatants dispersed to their sandboxes, and the third game was able to begin.

After the teams exchanged goals, both Roy and Hextall were spectacular, but it was Hextall who endured more pressure.

. . .

The game went into OT, where Hextall stoned the Canadiens from in close time after time. In the first 10 minutes of overtime, the Canadiens had 12 shots on net from 10 different players, not including a goal that was disallowed because Stephan Lebeau batted it in with a high stick. Finally, on their 50th shot of the game, the Canadiens got their second goal—a lucky one that bounced in off Nordique defenseman Alexei Gusarov's skate after Hextall had kicked out a shot by Vincent Damphousse.

. . .

Said Muller, "Hextall's been coming up big, but our attitude is, Don't get frustrated, keep shooting. If you keep working, hopefully you get a break."

https://www.si.com/vault/issue/711022/55

 

[Tarantula]

72/73 cup finals, game 7, Jaques Lemaire blasting a 60 footer past the home town Hawks goalie, Espo. I believe it was 2- 0 Hawks at that point.

 

[BHD]

Cloutier letting in that goal in Game 3.

 

[Brodeur]

2000 Conference final, game 7, New Jersey : Philadelphia 1:0, 1th period:

Philadelphia tied the game back up at 1 and it was a tight game up until the end. Philadelphia won three games in that series without Lindros, so it's tough to say that hit was the primary reason they lost the series.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Roberge on Hextall was great.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I realize the Devils had already won game 1 of the 1995 finals, but they won the series (and the Cup) in Game 2 when Stevens crushed Kozlov, then threatened Ciccarelli, and nobody on the Red Wings did anything about it.

 

[GMR]

Lidstrom's center ice blast on Cloutier didn't just change that series, but the rest of the 2002 playoffs.

 

[GMR]

I really think this planted a huge seed of belief in the heads of Anaheim. That game went 3 overtimes. They took Detroit's best shot.

And remember the Robitaille OT goal waived off with that famous image of Giguere waving it off?

That could have been Detroit dodging a bullet and that Ducks team could have missed a chance to set the tone and the champs finding a way to win.

And that planted a BIG seed of doubt for the Wings.

When you're as big an underdog as Anaheim was, you come at the king, you best not miss.

And they didn't.

Thanks for bringing back good memories. That POS should be arrested for wearing pads that big.

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

2002-3 series Dallas against Anaheim. Anaheim was up 3 to 1 in game one, Dallas tied the game with three minutes left in the third period. After four overtime periods, Sykora scored for the Mighty Ducks. It was the 4th longest playoff-game ever. After the game Mike Modano said: "this is it, guys. We can't win this. The God is not on our side. We can't win. They are better." Guess what? Game 6, Anaheim advances to the third round.

Wait, Modano actually said that? Do you have a link?