This Day In Hockey History -- May

This day in hockey history, May 1st 1965, goaltender Gump Worsley and the Montreal Canadiens shutout the Chicago Black Hawks 4-0 in game seven of the finals to win the Stanley Cup championship. Gumper's whitewash was only the second shutout in a game seven of the finals in league history. Also, Montreal’s Jean Beliveau became the first winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs.

This day in New York Rangers history, May 1st 1992, the Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 8-4 at Madison Square Garden in game seven of the Patrick Division semi finals. Adam Graves, Mark Messier and Darren Turcotte each scored two goals with Brian Leetch and Mike Gartner adding singles. This was the first game seven win in Rangers’ franchise history. The Rangers were 0-4 in previous game sevens. The Rangers are now 9-5 all time in game sevens, which ties an NHL record held also by Detroit (1949-64) and Boston (1983-94). Henrik Lundqvist has won six consecutive game sevens allowing only five goals with one shutourt for a 0.83 GAA anda .973

save %. Lundqvist's six game seven wins are tied for the most all time with Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy.

The Rangers in Game 7s, since 1992:

MAY 29 2015 the Rangers lost 2-0 to Tampa Bay in the conference finals. It was the

Rangers’ first-ever home loss in a Game 7 after previously going 7-0 as they fell just short of

getting back to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season.

MAY 13, 2015 defeated the Capitals 2-1 in overtime on the road.

APRIL 30, 2014 defeated the Flyers, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden

Lundqvist had 26 saves, making the Rangers’ second-period goals from Dan Carcillo and Benoit Pouliot hold up.

MAY 13, 2013 defeated the Capitals, 5-0, in Washington

The Rangers won a Game 7 on the road for the first time in franchise history behind 35 saves from Lundqvist, who had back-to-back shutouts to close out the series.

MAY 12, 2012 defeated the Capitals, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden

The Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1997 as Lundqvist shut the door after Michael Del Zotto made the score 2-1 midway through the third period.

APRIL 26, 2012 defeated the Senators, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden

The Rangers got goals from Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. Lundqvist stopped 26 shots and his teammates blocked another 23.

APRIL 28, 2009 lost to the Capitals, 2-1, in Washington

The 39-year-old Sergei Fedorov scored the game-winning goal with 4 minutes 59 seconds left to lift the Capitals, who had squandered a 3-1 series lead.

JUNE 14, 1994 defeated the Canucks, 3-2, at Madison Square Garden

The Rangers won their first Stanley Cup since 1940 on goals from Brian Leetch, Mark Messier and Adam Graves; Mike Richter had 28 saves.

MAY 27, 1994 defeated the Devils, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden

Matteau! Matteau! Matteau! Stephane Matteau scored the game-winning goal in the second overtime as the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1979.

MAY 1, 1992 defeated the Devils, 8-4, at Madison Square Garden

The Rangers jumped to a 6-1 lead and John Vanbiesbrouck made 33 saves as the Rangers won a Game 7 for the first time in their history.

This day in hockey history, May 2nd 1967, it was the final season before the NHL's great expansion westward and the Toronto Maple Leafs 1960's dynasty concluded one last great springtime playoff to become the last champion of the original six when they defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in game six of the Stanley Cup finals. This was the Leafs most recent Stanley Cup championship although things are looking brighter now for the Buds than in many years.

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This day in Philadelphia Flyers history, May 2nd 1976, Reggie Leach scored a goal in his seventh consecutive game to help the Flyers beat the Bruins 5-2 in game 3 of the semi finals.

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This day in Montreal Canadiens history, May 2nd 1985, Peter Stastny scored at 2:22 of overtime to give the Quebec Nordiques a 3-2 win over Montreal, in Game Seven of the Adams Division Finals in Montreal.
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This day in hockey history, May 2nd 1987, Bobby Smith scored a goal and added two helpers to lead the Canadiens to a 5-3 win over the Quebec Nordiques in game seven of the Adams Division finals at The Forum in Montreal. The Canadiens advanced to the Prince Of Wales Conference Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers.

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This day in hockey history. May 3rd 1964, Ron Hextall was born in Brandon, Manitoba. Hextall had one the most unusual rooke seasons a goalie could have winning the Vezina and Conn Smythe trophies but somehow losing the Calder Trophy to Luc Robitaille. While Robitaille had an outstanding rookie season finishing 9th with 45 goals and tied for 17th with 84 points, wouldn't being voted as the leagues best goalie by the GM's mean Hextall was actually a better player than Lucky Luke?

Hextall helped to revolutionize goaltending by frequently leaving his net to play the puck, being the first goalie to actually shoot and score a goal and then being the first to score a playoff goal. He also took on the role of enforcer and actually went after opponents and took penalties? He recorded 100+ PIMs in each of his first two seasons, the first goaltender to do that even once, and he still holds the records for most penalty minutes by a goalie in one season (1988-89) with 113. Not surprisingly he also hold the Flyers all time penalty record for goalies with 476. Hextall holds the Flyers goaltending records for most career games (489), wins (240), and points (28).

This day in hockey history, May 3rd 1968, the St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota North Stars 2-1 in double OT of game seven of their semi finals series to become the first expansion team to advance to the Stanley Cup finals . The Blues were the first team from the 1967 expansion class to play in the finals and they made it that far in each of their first three seasons in the league; 1967, 1968 and 1969.

This day in hockey history, May 3rd 1973, Henri Richard set a record by appearing in his 165th playoff game, a 7-4 Montreal Canadiens loss against the Chicago Blackhawks in game three of the Stanley Cup finals. Henri broke the previous record set by Red Kelly, and would finish his career with a then record 180 playoff games. Chris Chelios now holds the record with 266 games. Henri still holds the record for most Stanley Cup championships by a player with 11, no doubt the NHL's most unbreakable record of all time.

This day in hockey history, May 3rd 1995, Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins became the first European player to lead the NHL in scoring. He had tied Eric Lindros with 70 points in the lockout shortened season but prevailed on the tiebreaker with 32 goals compared to Lindros’s 29.

This day in hockey history, May 3rd 2004, the Calgary Flames Martin Gelinas scored the overtime winner in a 1-0 Flames win over the Detroit Red Wings. Gelinas had also scored overtime game winners in the Flames previous two playoff series that season to become the first player in NHL history to end three separate playoff series in one year with overtime goals.

Gelinas actually put the puck into the net for a series winning goal in the finals but the Flames never got credit for the goal as the play happened so fast the human eye was incapable of making that call. While TV video and photgraphic evidence support the Flames on this point, the NHL's video review at that time provided only one camera angle which was insufficient to make that determination. Today each goal net has two high resolution cameras inside the crossbar giving a downward view of the goal line and there is no doubt that goal would be credited. That missed goal likely cost Calgary a Stanley Cup championship.

On this day in Montreal Canadiens history, May 4th 1969, the Canadiens defeated the St Louis Blues 2-1 in game four of the finals to complete a four game sweep and win the Stanley Cup. Serge Savard was voted the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

Some quirks of Stanley Cup engraving from this season;

Anthony "Tony" Esposito's name was misspelled on the Replica Stanley Cup created in 1992–93 as

P. FSPOSITO instead of A. ESPOSITO.

Gilles Tremblay missed the playoffs with a career ending injury. His name was still included on the Stanley Cup.

Lucien Grenier played 2 playoff games, but name was left off the Stanley Cup even though he qualified to be engraved on it

This day in hockey history, May 4th 1972, Bobby Orr scored a goal during a 5-2 Boston Bruins loss to the New York Rangers to set a new record for career goals by a defenseman with 17. And it only took Orr 47 games to break the record Red Kelly had set in 90 games. Orr won the Conn Smythe Trophy that year as the Bruins would win the Stanley Cup.

This day in New York Rangers history, May 4th 1997, the New York Rangers shutout the New Jersey Devils 2-0 in game two of the Eastern Conference semifinal with Mark Messier playing his 228th playoff game to break Larry Robinson’s league record for playoff appearances. Mike Richter became the Rangers all time leader in playoff shutouts with eight, passing Dave Kerr. Messier would eventually be passed by Chris Chelios (266) and Patrick Roy (247).

On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 8th 1975, the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in Game six of their Eastern Conference playoff semi finals at the fabled Montreal Forum. With this victory, the Sabres eliminated the Candiens and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their history. Although both teams had finished the regular season with 113 points, and Buffalo held the home ice due to tie breakers, the Sabres were considered underdogs to the impressive Canadiens. The expansion Sabres had opened the series with a pair of victories at their home rink, the Memorial Auditorium, 6-5 in overtime in game one and 4-2 in game two. When the series shifted to the Forum, the Canadiens virtually annihilated Buffalo with 7-0 and 8-2 victories in games three and four. With these dominant wins, Montreal seemed to demonstrate that they were the vastly superior team and were assured of victory in the series. But the Sabres rebounded with a 5-4 overtime victory in game five back at the comfortable confines of the Aud, setting the stage for their game six victory. At the Forum for the deciding game, the Sabres checking game was so determined that the Canadiens shot counter registered a single shot on goal throughout the second period, which would establish a franchise record for offensive futility. When the shot counter mysteriously rose to three as time expired with no apparent increase in the actual shots, it was presumed by some that the Canadiens had simply increased the number to avoid the embarrassment of the single shot on goal while facing playoff elimination. The Sabres victory over the Canadiens stands as their greatest playoff success. Montreal's lineup was a dynasty in the making which included 12 future Hall of Famers including coach Scotty Bowman and future coach/GM Glen Sather. This was Montreal's last playoff defeat before embarking on their four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1976-1979.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIE4E0voC94

On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 8th 1973, Gump Worsley decides to postpone retirement after watching the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens combine for 15 goals in game five of the Stanley Cup finals. Worsley had considered hanging up his gear after a long and storied career in the NHL after seeing his GAA rise from 2.12 in 1971-72 to 2.88 in 1972-73. But after watching the NHL's two best goaltenders, Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito, surrender a combined 15 goals, the Gumper decided he had another season left and played 29 games for Minnesota in 1973-74. The 15 goals set a record for the most goals ever scored in a finals game. Stan Mikita had two goals and two helpers and Jim Pappin scored twice for the Hawks while Claude Larose had a pair of goals for the Habs.
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On this date in hockey history, May 8th 1970, Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins was awarded the Hart Trophy as the MVP of the NHL. Orr was the first defenseman to win the Hart since 1944 when Babe Pratt of the New York Rangers won the award scoring 17 goals and 40 assists for 57 points in only 50 games. Orr went on to win the MVP three consecutive seasons. He also won his third consecutive Noriss Trophy as best defenseman that year, an award he would win for eight straight seasons. Orr is regarded by many as the best player ever, including this writer.
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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 8th 1982, Mike Bossy showed why he is the Boss of goal scoring as he led the New York Islanders to a 6-5 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in game one of the Stanley Cup finals by notching his third goal of the game against goalie Richard Brodeur at 19:58 of overtime. Bossy had tied the game at 15:14 of the third period. The Islanders swept the series in four consecutive games to win their third straight Stanley Cup championship.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju1Gfa_muak

On this date in hockey history, May 8th 1979, Stan Jonathan of the Boston Bruins scores his only NHL playoff hat trick in the Bruins' 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens, in game six of the semi finals at the Boston Garden.

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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 9th 1974, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in game two of the finals. This was the Flyers first victory at the Boston Garden since November 12th 1967, a streak of 0-17-2. Bobby Clarke led the way for the Flyers with the winner in OT among his three point game (2-1-3). Clarke's spontaneous knee high jump for joy became an iconic moment in team history.

On May 9th 1976, Reggie Leach scored for a record 10th straight Stanley Cup playoff game as the Flyers lost 4-3 at the Forum in Montreal in game one of the finals.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kbg_1Y7saA

On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 9th 1978: Ken Dryden made 23 saves for his 10th career playoff shutout 2-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens as the Montreal Canadiens swept of the Toronto Maple Leafs in four straight games in the semifinals. Jacques Lemaire scores in the first period and Steve Shutt gets a power-play goal early in the second for the Canadiens, who win their eighth straight playoff game on the road.
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On this date in Stanley Cup history history, May 9th 1981, the Minnesota Nhl North Stars defeated the Calgary Flames 5-3 at the Met Center to win their semi final playoff series in six games. This victory sent the North Stars into the finals for the first time in franchise history. Rookie Brad Palmer scored twice while Gilles Meloche made 23 saves.
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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 10 1970, Bobby Orr scores “The Goal”, the most famous goal in NHL history 40 seconds into overtime against the St. Louis Blues. The goal culminated a four game sweep for the Boston Bruins and won the Stanley Cup championship. Orr was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs.
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This day in hockey history, May 10th 1973, Pit Martin scored a hat trick as the Chicago Blackhawks lost 6-4 to the Montreal Canadiens the sixth and deciding game of the Stanley Cup finals. The win made the Canadiens the 1973 Stanley Cup Champions.
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This day in hockey history, May 10th 1954, Red Kelly of the Detroit Red Wings was named the first winner of the Norris Trophy for the NHL's best defenseman. The trophy was named after James E. Norris, the Red Wings owner from 1932-52. The Norris trophy has been awarded 63 times, by 24 different players. Bobby Orr won it eight times, Niklas Lidstrom seven times and Ray Bourque five times. Those three players have won it a combined 20 of a possible 63 opportunities.
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This day in New York Rangers history, May 11th 1997, Adam Graves scores 14:08 into overtime to eliminate the New Jersey Devils in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE4f7sCZZEk

This day in hockey history, May 11th 1971, Jean Beliveau scored his final playoff goal in Montreal's 5-2 win over Chicago in game four of the Stanley Cup finals. It was his 79th career playoff goal, second all time behind Maurice Richard’s 82. Wayne Gretzky holds the current record with 122 career playoff goals.
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This day in Montreal Canadiens history, May 11th 1968, it was Toe Blake's final game as coaching Les Habitants and the Canadiens defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at the Montreal Forum to sweep the best fo seven final series and win their 15th Stanley Cup championship.
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This day in hockey history, May 11th 1972, the Boston Bruins shutout the New York Rangers 3-0 in game six of the finals to win the Stanley Cup. Bobby Orr scored the first goal of the game, making him the fourth player to score two Stanley Cup winning goals in his career. Orr was also awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. He was the first player to be voted MVP of the playoffs twice.
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This day in playoff history, May 11th 1992, Jaromír Jágr scored the first ever penalty shot goal in Pittsburgh Penguins playoff history in their 3-2 win over the New York Rangers in game five of the Patrick Division finals.
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Despite scoring 105 points for the Toronto Marlboros in the 1983-84 season, including 51 goals (10th best in the OHL), Steve Thomas went undrafted. The Maple Leafs were quite familiar with Thomas since the Marlboros played their home games at Maple Leaf Gardens and signed him as a free agent on this day in hockey history May 12th 1984. He found immediate success as a pro with Toronto's AHL farm the St. Catharines Saints in 1984-85 posting 42-48-90 totals in 64 games. Thomas made his debut as a full time Maple Leaf in 1986-87 with 20 goals and 37 assists in 65 games, then adding 14 points in 10 playoff games (6-8-14).
The Leafs traded Thomas to Chicago on September 3rd 1987 along with Rick Vaive and Bob McGill for Ed Olczyk and Al Secord. Thomas was an effective scorer for Chicago with 82 goals in 201 games including 40 goals in 1989-90. But the Hawks shipped him to the Islanders on October 25th 1991 along with Adam Creighton for Brent Sutter and Brad Lauer. With the Isles Thomas scored 118 goals in 275 games including 37 in 1992-93 and 42 in 1993-94.
All together Thomas played 1,235 games with seven different teams and scored 421 goals and 933 points with 1,306 PIMs. In the playoffs he played 174 games scoring 54 goals and 53 assists. Four of those points exactly nine years later when he scored twice and added two helpers for a big 7-5 win for the Islanders over the Penguins to force a game 7.
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This day in hockey history, May 12th, 1995, the New Jersey Devils defeated the Boston Bruins 1-0 in overtime in game four of the eastern conference quarterfinals, this was the third shutout in a row for Martin Brodeur. The Bruins had won game three 3-2 and lost game five 3-2 losing the series in five games, scoring only five goals while the Devils had 14 in the five games. The Devils outscored the Penguins 17-8 in five games in the next round. Against the Flyers in the conference finals the Devils gave up q comparatively exorbitant 14 goals but recovered in the finals with only seven goals against in a four game sweep of the Red Wings. With 34 goals against in 20 games that was a GAA of 1.7 per game.
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This day in hockey history, May 12th 1996, the St. Louis Blues defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in game five of the western conference semifinals. Brett Hull scored a goal and an assist to reach 100 playoff points, the second player in Blues history to hit the milestone, in their 3-2 win at Detroit in Game 5 of the conference semis.
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On this day in hockey history, May 12th 1973, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed free agents Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom." It could be argued that every European player collecting a salary in the NHL today owes a share to Börje Salming. Way back in 1973, he opened the doors to North American professional hockey for his fellow countrymen. At that time, after the first Summit Series, Canadians and Americans had come to respect the disciples of the Soviet hockey school, but the Scandinavian players were nicknamed ‘Swedish chickens.’ The joke was based on Sweden’s national colors, but no doubt it had a double meaning. Börje Salming helped eradicate that stereotype. (From the HHOF website)
http://www.smu.ca/webfiles/23Stark.pdf
Please click the link above to learn about Borje Salming in a 30 page academic treatise.
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On this date in NHL history, May 13th 1933, The NHL Board of Governors voted to lower the salary cap from $70,000 to 65,000 per team. Of course that wouldn't even cover the stick budget for a team today.
On this date in hockey history, May 13th 1939, Art Ross submitted to the NHL Board of Governors a new type of hockey stick made of metal with a replaceable blade made from wood. Ross had always been an innovator. As a player he became one of the first to carry the puck up ice rather than pass to a team mate. He designed the modern hockey puck with beveled edges to increase control while stick handling. Ross improved the goal net with a design that kept the puck from ricocheting out that the NHL used for nearly 50 years. He also donated the Art Ross Trophy to be awarded each season to the NHL's leading scorer. Over 40 years after he introduced his metal stick, Brad Park became the first NHL player to use an aluminum stick in 1980.
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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 13th 1987, Kent Nilsson scored a pair of goals and two assists, with Glenn Anderson picking up five helpers as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 at Edmonton's Northlands Coliseum in Game 5 of the Campbell Conference Finals. With this victory, the Oilers advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals vs the Philadelphia Flyers.
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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 13th, 1980, Denis Potvin scored a power play goal with one second remaining in the penalty at 4:07 of overtime. This goal gave the New York Islanders a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game One of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals. It was the first OT power play goal in Stanley Cup Finals' history.
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This day in hockey history, May 13th 2006, Jason Pominville scored at 2:26 of OT to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 win and a 4-1 series win against the Ottawa Senators in the fifth game of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Pominville was the first player in playoff history to score a series ending shorthanded goal in overtime. He attacked and exploited Senators star forward Daniel Alfredsson who was playing point on the power play, wheeling around him on the off wings to score his spectacular game winner. Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret delivered one of his Hall Of Fame calls intoning "Now do you believe. These guys are good scary good."
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEpr8moQBPs

This day in New York Rangers history, May 13th 1979, the Blueshirts defeated the Canadiens 4-1 at the Montreal Forum in game one of the 1979 Stanley Cup finals. Montreal came back with four straight wins to win the Stanley Cup for the fourth straight season.
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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 14th 1995, the Quebec Nordiques defeated the New York Rangers 4-2 at Le Colisee in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals. This was the final NHL game played in Quebec City.
In the 1994–95 shortened 48 game season, the Nordiques played well and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. The team faltered in the postseason and was eliminated in the first round by the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers.
The playoff loss proved to be Quebec's swan song in the NHL as the team's financial troubles increasingly took center stage, even in the face of renewed fan support over the previous three years. Quebec City was by far the smallest market in the NHL, and the second-smallest market in North America to host a big-league team (behind only Green Bay, Wisconsin). The league's Canadian teams (with the exception of Montreal, Toronto, and to a lesser extent, Vancouver) found it difficult to compete in a new age of rising player salaries. This made many of the players concerned about their marketability, especially since the Nords always played in the long shadow of the Canadiens. In addition, most players were skittish about playing in what was virtually a unilingual Francophone city. Then as now, there were no privately owned English-language radio stations in the city, and only one privately owned English-language television station. The only English-language newspaper is a weekly. Unlike in Montreal, public address announcements were given only in French.
Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec's provincial government. It didn't go through, and in May 1995, shortly after the Nordiques were eliminated from the playoffs, Aubut was forced to sell the team to a group of investors in Denver, Colorado. The franchise was moved to Denver where it was renamed the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche would win the Stanley Cup in their first season after the move, and add another in 2001.
The Nordiques had planned to change their logo, colours, and uniforms for the 1995–96 season, and the new design had already appeared in the Canadian press.
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http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cewkq_1995-eastern-conference-quarterfinals-new-york-rangers-vs-quebec-nordiques_sport

This day in Montreal Canadiens history, May 14th 1977, Jacques Lemaire scored twice, including the winning goal at 4:32 of overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 2-1 win at Boston in game four of the finals. Montreal swept the Bruins in four straight games to clinch the 1977 Stanley Cup, their 20th Stanley Cup championship.
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On this date in hockey history, May 18th, 1973, Bobby Orr became the first player in NHL history to win an individual award for six consecutive seasons when he was named the winner of the James Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman.
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This day in Toronto Maple Leafs history, May 18th, the Leafs bought Jacques Plante from the St Louis Blues. The legendary Plante brought his hall of fame career to Toronto with six Stanley Cup championships, seven Vezina trophies and one Hart trophy with the Montreal Canadiens. Plante posted a 48-38-15 record with a 2.46 GAA in 3 seasons with the Leafs. Plante played 40 games with a carer best 0.942 save % in his first season with Toronto. He served as a mentor for young Bernie Parent who also became a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 19th 1974, Rick MacLeish scored the only goal as the Phiiladelphia Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins 1-0 in game six of the playoff final to become the first post 1967 expansion team to win the Stanley Cup. Bernie Parent earned was named the Conn Smythe Tropht winner as playoff MVP having gone 12-5 with a 2.02 GAA and two shutouts..

On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 19th 1984, the Edmonton Oilers defeated the NY Islanders 5-2 in Game five of the playoff finals, with Wayne Gretzky scoring a pair of goals and one assist, to win the 1984 Stanley Cup Championship. This was the Oilers first Cup win and they became the first former WHA team to win the Stanley Cup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cqHcTZfGGs
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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 19th 1989, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 at the Montreal Forum in game three of the playoff finals. In that game, Larry Robinson became the first player to play in 200 NHL playoff games.
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This day in New York Rangers history, May 19th 1994, in an epic playoff series the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Meadowlands in New Jersey with Stephane Matteau scoring the game winner at 26:13 of overtime.

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This day in hockey history, May 19th 1995, the San Jose Sharks defeated the Calgary Flames 5-4 with Ray Whitney playing on a vintage post- CCCP line with Igor

Larionov and Seirgei Makarov scoring the winning goal at 21:54 of overtime in game seven of the Western Conference quarter finals. Goaltender Wade Flaherty starting

only his second playoff game made 56 saves.

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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 25th 1975, an unforgettable night unfolded at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium during game three of the Stanley Cup finals against the Philadelphia Flyers. First, a bat found it's way into the building and had been flying around over the ice surface during the game. Eventually, the Sabres Jim Lorentz

reached up with his stick and knocked the creature out of the air, killing it, earning Lorentz the nickname “Batman”. The Flyer Rick MacLeish picked the bat up barehanded and carried it off the ice.

That was just the beginning.

It had been a a warm day outside and the building was not air conditioned so a fog had begun to form that eventually covered the ice. The fans sitting in their seats could see the play fine but at ice level visibilty was severely limited for the players. So during stoppages in play, the Sabres and Flyers players would carry sheets stretched between them and skate laps around the rink to disburese the fog before resuming play. Defensive stalwart Bill Hajt scored to tie the game 4-4 and send it to overtime where the French Connection line performed it's magic. Rene Robert scored after 18:29 of play with a shot from a bad angle that goalie Bernie Parent never saw coming through the fog. The goals gave Buffalo a 5-4 win and cut the Flyers series lead to 2-1. The Sabres would even the series with a 4-2 win ingame four but the Flyers won game five and six to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.
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This day in hockey history, May 20th 1965, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Andy Bathgate, Billy Harris and Gary Jarrett to the Detroit Red Wings for Marcel Pronovost, Aut Erickson, Larry Jeffrey, Ed Joyal, and Lowell MacDonald.
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This day in hockey history, May 20th 1966, the expansion Minnesota North Stars named Wren Blair General Manager more than a year before their first NHL game. He would also coach the team from 1967-1970.

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This day in hockey history, May 20th 1968, the Los Angeles Kings traded their first round draft pick in 1970 to the Boston Bruins for Skip Krake. The Bruins selected Reggie Leach with that pick. Leach would score 381 NHL goals and earn a reputation as the deadliest sniper of his era. Skip scored 23 goals in 249 NHL games including eight goals in 88 games for the Kings and four goals for Buffalo in 1970-71 before moving on to the WHA where he scored 52 goals in 207 games.

This was an era when the 1967 expansion teams failed to understand the value of the draft picks in the new amateur draft established in 1964. Expansion team like Buffalo (1970) and the New York Islanders (1972) used their draft picks especially the first overall choice to acquire players like Gilbert Perreault and Denis Potvin and build powerful teams.

But the Kings continued to make these bad value trades such as trading a number one pick in 1979 to Boston for goalie Ron Grahame. The Bruins selected Ray Bourque (8th overall) with that pick. The Kings also traded first round picks to Buffalo in separate deals for Rick Martin in 1981 and Jerry Korab in 1982. The Sabres used those picks to draft Tom Barasso (5th 1981) and Phil Housley (6th 1982).

Imaging Ray Bourque and Phil Housley on the blueline in La La land with Marcel Dionne and the Triple Crown Line.

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This day in WHA history, May 20th 1979, the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Edmonton Oilers 7-3 in the last game of the final WHA playoff championship series for the

Avco Cup. Dave Semenko of the Oilers scored the final goal in the history of the

WHA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO9YaO_CEm8

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This day in hockey history, May 20th 1985, after playing 13 seasons with the Boston Bruins Terry O'Reilly retired. He would coach the Bruins for two seasons. Although O'Reilly had a well earned reputation as a fighter, he could also score and put up 90 in 1977-78 points including 29 goals finishing seventh in scoring - one point ahead of HOF'ers Gilbert Perreault and Bobby Clarke, sixth in assists and sixth with 211 PIM's.

He scored 77 points in 1978-79 with 205 PIM's. He finished his career with 204 goals and 402 assists for 606 points, a +212 plus/minus and 2,095 minutes in penalties.

In the infamous December 23, 1979, incident at Madison Square Garden, during a post-game scrum, a New York Rangers fan drew blood when he hit Stan Jonathan in the face with a rolled up program, then stole his stick and wielded it like a weapon. O'Reilly scaled the glass boards and charged into the stands where he grabbed the fans shoe and hit him in the head.. His teammates followed when other fans tried to intervene. O'Reilly was suspended eight games for his part in the brawl.

He was nicknamed "Taz" for the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character because of O'Reilly's reckless, hard driving style of play. He was very protective of his teammates. When the Bruins retired O'Reilly's No. 24, Ray Bourque noted that O'Reilly's banner "hangs next to mine, protecting me again."

He became the replacement head coach of the Bruins during the 1986–87 NHL season and kept his job until 1989, when he left to care for, and spend more time with, his son who was seriously ill with liver disease. In that time, he took the Bruins to the Stanley Cup finals in 1988, where they were defeated by the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers.

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Rather than play for a quickly deteriorating Detroit franchise, Gordie Howe retired in the fall of 1971 with one year left on his contract with the Red Wings. In 1973 when

he was offered a chance to play in the World Hockey Association, the two-year old

rival to the NHL, Howe penned his name on a contract. At 45 and already a member

of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Howe slid a sweater over his broad shoulders to play for the Houston Aeros. His primary motivation was the chance to play on the same team

as his two sons, 19-year old Marty and 18-year old Mark. In a way, Howe's two year retirement was merely a waiting period until his boys were ready to slash across the

ice and slam elbows with their dad.Gordie

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This day in hockey history, May 21st 1956, Eric Nesterenko and Harry Lumley were bought from the Toronto Maple Leafs for $40,000.

( was that Canadian or U.S. dollars?)

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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 21st , 1979, the Montreal Canadiens

defeated the New York Rangers 4-1 in game five of the playoff finals to win the

1979 Stanley Cup Championship. This was Les Habitants fourth consecutive championship, one short of the record they set from 1956-1960.

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This day in hockey history, May 21st 1980, The Atlanta Flames were sold to a

group of Canadian businessmen who announced that they would move the team

to Calgary Alberta.

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This day in hockey history, May 21st 1997, Pat Burns was hired by the Boston

Bruins as their new head coach replacing Steve Kasper.

Burns coached in 1,019 games with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and New Jersey Devils. He is the only coach in NHL history to win

the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year three times. He won the award

with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins.

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This day in WHA history, May 22nd 1978, Bobby Hull scored the winning goal

as the Winnipeg Jets beat the New England Whalers 5-3 in game four of the

playoff finals, to win the 1978 Avco Cup, as the WHA Champions.

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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 22, 1986, rookie's led the way for the Montreal Candiens in a 1-0 victory against the Clagary Flames as the Habs won their 100th game in the playoff finals. With this victory, the Habs won the Stanley Cup, taking the series in five games. Patrick Roy earned the shutout and Claude Lemieux set a rookie record with his fourth game winning goal in the series. That's not a misprint, Montreal did not win their 100th playoff game, it was their 100th win in the finals alone. They also set a record becoming the first team to win ten home games in a single playoff year.

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This day in Chicago Blackhawks history, May 22nd 1992, the Blackhawks set an NHL record with their 11th consecutive playoff win by beating the Oilers 5-1 in a game that eliminated Edmonton from the playoffs. The Blackhawks advanced to the Finals for the first time in 19 years, where they lost to the Penguins. Chicago rookie goalie Ed Belfour was the benefactor of the record, and subsequently gained the record for consecutive wins. Chicago would be back for the Cup in 2010.

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On this date in hockey history, May 22nd, 1970, Buffalo and Vancouver were officially granted NHL franchises along with a due bill of $6,000,000 each for expansion fees. “As a first venture into the publicity field, a contest was announced to choose a name for the Buffalo team, with rewarding, if almost, overwhelming results. Mail poured in from as far away as Vancouver; Bangor, Maine; and even an entry from Germany.

The names were as varied as the postmarks, some serious, others obviously tongue-in-cheek. Over 13,000 names were sent in, over 1,000 of them different; as many of the applicants submitted names already in use, or spin-offs on anything and everything connected with buffaloes.
The selection committee was looking for a completely new name, one that wasn’t being used by any team in professional sports – a name that would lend itself to news items (a concession to the newsmen who would have to write the headlines), and particularly a name that would disassociate itself from the usual Buffalo team titles.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, the names poured in. Bees, Mugwumps, Flying Zepplins, Knoxen, Herd, Border Riders, and Comets fell by the wayside. The field was narrowed to a single name very quickly. The more it was repeated, the more it began to fit the image the Buffalo group was trying to establish.
Four people had submitted the name “Sabres” and a draw was held to determine which of the four would receive the first prize of a pair of season tickets. Mayor Sedita performed the honors, and Robert Sonnelitter, Jr. went down in Sabres history as the man who named Buffalo’s NHL team.

The name “Sabres” fitted the specifications to a “T”. As a press release from Chuck Burr’s department would point out, “A sabre is renowned as a clean, sharp, decisive and penetrating weapon on offense, as well as a strong parrying weapon on defense.” While there were sportswriters and sportscasters who would laugh openly at the thought of the infant Sabres being anything decisive or sharp for several years to come, it did open the door for some great lead-ins for the stories they would have to report.

In addition, Sabres was a completely new name in professional sports, and it also got away from the Bisons-Bills-Herd mentality.

So Sabres it was, and would be. The days of referring to the “group” or “team” were over, and through liberal amounts of publicity (and window decals) the name Sabres became almost a household word before the club picked up its first player. Finding the players became the next order of business.” (Quoted from A Spin Of The Wheel by Ross Brewitt)

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This day in hockey history, May 22nd 1970, the Montreal Canadiens traded Ernie

Hicke and Montreal's 1st choice (Chris Oddleifson).to the Oakland Seals in

exchange for first round draft choice in 1971 along with Francois Lacombe and

cash. Montreal GM Sam Pollock used that number one pick which became the

first overall choice to draft Guy Lafleur from the Quebec Remparts.
.
Sam Pollock should have let the Seals keep the cash and Lacombe but probably had them included to obscure his true intent as the 1967 expansion teams never seemed

to grasp the value of their draft choices.

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This day in hockey history, May 22nd 1972, the ice age came to Atlanta as the expansion Atlanta Flames.announced that Bernie Geoffrion would coach the new

team.

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This day in hockey history, May 19th 1994, Pierre McGuire was fired as head

Coach of the Hartford Whalers.

Here are a few excerpts from the Hartford Courant report on McGuire's termination:

"In 15 years of covering the NHL, we had never seen a coach so universally disrespected and disliked within his own organization.

McGuire fancied himself two parts Scotty Bowman and one part Bob Johnson. It turned out to be a superhuman leap of faith on his part.

At 32, McGuire was the youngest head coach in the NHL. He never had been a head coach at any level. And it showed. He is book smart and X's and O's smart, but often not people smart.

When a young man is so headstrong, so emotional, so calculating, such a control freak, so full of ambition and so full of himself, he will either rocket to the top or crash."

"In a blistering post-mortem, captain Pat Verbeek called McGuire's firing the best thing that could have happened to the Whalers. He said other teams mocked their coach. He said his own teammates had no respect for McGuire. He said a number of players wouldn't have wanted to play in Hartford anymore."

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On this date in hockey history, May 23rd 1977, Gordie Howe and his sons, Mark and Marty, left the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association and joined the New England Whalers.

On May 23rd 1979, The New England Whalers, had joined the NHL in the 1979 expansion to absorb four WHA teams, changed their name to the Hartford Whalers, because the Boston Bruins wanted to maintain their position in the New England market.

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This day in hockey history, May 22nd 1986, with rookie Patrick Roy in the nets the Montreal Canadiens shutout the Calgary Flames 1-0 in game four of the finals with Claude Lemieux scoring a rookie record fourth game winning goal of the series. The win made the Canadiens the first team to win 100 games in the Stanley Cup finals

which is incredible. This win also made Montreal the first team to win ten home

games in one playoff year.

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This day in hockey history, May 23rd 1968, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Jim

Pappin to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenseman Pierre Pilote.

This was an ill advised trade for Toronto GM Punch Imlach who gave up a young promising forward for Pilote who was a former three time Norris Trophy winner but past his prime.

Pilote played only one season for the Leafs before retiring while Pappin averaged 30+ goals with 216 goals in seven seasons with Chicago.

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This day in hockey history, May 23rd 1977, Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and

Marty left the Houston Aeros, and joined the New England Whalers of the WHA.

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This day in hockey history, May 23rd 1979, upon joining the NHL in the 1979 expansion (WHA - NHL merger) the New England Whalers changed their name to

the Hartford Whalers. The name change was required for the "merger" because the Boston Bruins felt the New England name infringed upon their market.

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This day in hockey history, May 24th 1980, the New York Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in OT of game 6 of the finals to clinch the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. It was the first in their run of four consecutive Stanley Cup championships.

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This day in hockey history, May 24th 1974, the Philadelphia Flyers traded Al MacAdam, Larry Wright and a first round draft pick in 1974 (Ron Chipperfield)

to the Oakland Seals for Reggie Leach.

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This day in hockey history, May 24th 1986, Bobby Smith scored the winning goal, as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Flames 4-3 in Calgary, in Game 5 of the Finals, to become the 1986 Stanley Cup Champions.

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This day in hockey history, May 24th 1988, a power outage put the lights went out in Boston at 16:37 of the second period with the game tied 3-3 between the Bruins and the Oilers in game four of the Stanley Cup Finals. The scoring totals counted, but the game was replayed. Legend has it that the Garden dwelling rats chewed through the power cables. It is only a coincidence that two Bruins players (Ken Linseman, Brad Marchand) have been nicknamed "The Rat."

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This day in hockey history, May 24th 1979, the Boston Bruins fired coach Don Cherry.

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This day in hockey history, May 24th 1989, Phil Esposito was fired as General Manager and Coach by the New York Rangers.

Esposito the GM took over as coach with two games left in the 1988-89 season when he fired Michel Bergeron.

In making the announcement, John Diller, executive vice president of Madison Square Garden Sports Group, which owns the NHL team, said, "We announced at the end of the season that we would undertake a thorough assessment of the entire Ranger organization."

". . . It is our belief that new hockey leadership is necessary at this time in order to achieve the goals we have set for this franchise. The decision with respect to Phil, who has completed his third season as Rangers general manager, was not an easy one. He has made many contributions to the franchise both as a player and as a general manager."

After firing Bergeron on April 1 and coaching the Rangers through the last two regular-season games, Esposito was behind the bench for four games of a playoff against Pittsburgh. The Rangers lost all six of those games.

After the sweep by the Penguins, the 47-year-old Esposito was given a vote of confidence by the Rangers' hierarchy.

Esposito, who completed his 18 year NHL playing career with the Rangers in the 1980-81 season, first coached the team during the 1986-87 campaign. After replacing Ted Sator, Esposito compiled a 24-19 regular-season record before the Rangers were beaten in the first round on the playoffs by Philadelphia, four games to two.

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Happy Birthday to Lionel Conacher. "The Big Train" was voted Canada's athlete of the half century form 1900-1950.

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On this date in Stanley Cup history, May 25th 1978, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 6 of the playoff finals to win the 1978 Stanley Cup championship, This was the Canadiens third consecutive championship.

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Happy birthday to Nick Fotiu, born this day in hockey history, May 25th 1952. Nick became the first New York city native to play for the Rangers and was one of the most popular players.

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This day in New York Rangers history, May 25th 1994, after guaranteeing victory, Mark Messier scored a hat trick in the third period of game six against the New Jersey Devils to force game seven in the Eastern Conference finals.

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May 25th Happy Birthday to Robert Picard, Wayne Dillon, Mickey MacKay, Morris Mott, Nikita Filatov, Andy Wozniewski and Rick Wamsley.

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This day in hockey history, May 25th 1989, The Calgary Flames defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in game six of the finals to win their first Stanley Cup championship. It was the first time that Les Habitants lost the final game of the Cup finals on home ice.

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This day in hockey history, May 25th 1991, the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Minnesota North Stars 8-0 in game sif of the Finals. Mario Lemieux led the way with a goal and 3 assists as the Penguins won their 1st Stanley Cup Championship.

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This day in hockey history, May 24th 1994, the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in Vancouver with Greg Adams scoring at 20:14 of OT to lead to eliminate the Leas and advance to Stanley Cup finals.

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This day in hockey history, May 26th 1966, Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black hawks was named the winner of the NHL's Hart Trophy, as the league's MVP.

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This day in New York Rangers history, May 26th 1971, the Blueshirts traded Peter McDuffe to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a first round pick in the 1971 NHL Draft, which they used to select Steve Vickers.

Vickers won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1972-73 with 30 goals and 53 points in 61 games.

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This day in New York Rangers history, May 26th 1976, the Broadway blueshirts traded center Rick Middleton to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Ken Hodge.

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This day in WHA history, May 26th 1977, the Quebec Nordiques defeated the Winnipeg Jets 8-2, to win the 1977 Avco Cup, as the champions of the World Hockey Association.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os2ZoBycgY8

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This day in hockey history, May 26th 1988, The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Boston Bruins 6-3 in game five of the final at Northlands Coliseum. The Oilers win the series 4-0 but in five games because game four was not finished due to a power failure at Boston Garden and the game was not counted in the series outcome.

Wayne Gretzky scored once and added two helpers to become the first player in NHL history with 250 career playoff points. with the win Edmonton became the first team in NHL history to win 11 home games in one playoff year.

After the game, the Oilers stated a new tradition by posing for a casual team picture with the Cup on the ice.

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This day in hockey history, May 26th 1992, Brent Sutter scores midway through the second period to put the Chicago Blackhawks up 4-1 over the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in game one of the Stanley Cup finals at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena.

But the Pens tally twice before the end of the period with Rick Tocchet and Mario Lemieux denting the twine to pull within a single goal at the second intermission trailing 4-3. Jaromir Jagr ties the score with 4:55 remaining in the third period and Mario Lemieux nets the winner with 13 seconds left. Pittsburgh's victory ended Chicago's 11 game playoff winning streak which set a single season record.

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This day in Stanley Cup history, May 26th 1995, the New Jersey Devils took game four 2-1 against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Neal Broten's game winner was his second goal of the game and came at 18:36 of overtime on New Jersey's 51st shot against goaltender Ken Wregget giving the Devils a 3-1 lead in the best of seven series.

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This day in hockey history, May 26th 1992, Brian Burke was named as the new General Manager of the Hartford Whalers replacing Ed Johnston.

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This day in hockey history, May 26th 1950, "Gentelman" Joe Primeau the former Toronto Maple Leafs star player was hired as coach of the Leafs. He replaced Hap Day who had been a part of six Stanley Cup champion teams in Toronto, five as a player 1932, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948 and in 1949 as a coach.

The Leafs had a record of 41-16-13 In Primeau's first season behind the bench and finished the season defeating the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the finals to win another Stanley Cup.. Primeau coached the Leafs for three seasons until March of 1953 when he resigned after the team missed the playoffs. He is the only coach to lead teams to Memorial Cup, Allan Cup and Stanley Cup championships.

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This day in hockey history, May 26th 1986, Mario Lemieux won the Lester B. Pearson Award, awarded by the NHLPA as voted by the players to be the league’s most “outstanding player.” In 2009 the name was changed to the Ted Lindsay Award.

Controversy arose over which player deserved the award that season, Wayne Gretzky won the Hart trophy as MVP eight times and five Lester B. Pearson trophies. Every time that he won the Pearson he also won the Hart, but the opposite didn't occur.

One of the three seasons that Gretzky won the Hart but lost the Pearson was 1985-86. Gretzky broke the regular season scoring record that season and also broke the assist record with a record 163 in 80 games.

Considering that Gretzky's 215 were far superior to Mario Lemieux' 141 points it makes one wonder by what standard anyone could evaluate Mario as the better player. Gretzky had 52 goals, Mario had 48.

Were the players just getting tired of voting for Gretzky? If so they did it one last time in 1986-87.

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This day in Buffalo Sabres history, May 26th 1975, the Sabres had just lost game five of the Stanley Cup finals 5-1 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia the day before. Don Luce had been the only Sabre player to solve Bernie Parent who stopped 23 of 24 shots. Sabres goaltender Gerry Desjardins surrendered five goals on 26 shots.

With game six scheduled for the next day in Buffalo, coach Floyd Smith had a tough decision to make about his starting goaltender.

Bernie Parent was rock solid in the nets for Philadelphia in the series surrendering only 11 goals on 144 shots with one empty netter while Desjardins had given up 17 goals in five games on 130 shots. Roger Crozier had only played four playoff games that year going 2-2 with a 3.00 GAA but had substantial postseason experience including a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with Detroit in 1966.
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This day in Toronto Maple Leafs history, May 27th 1993, the Leafs led the Western Conference Finals 3-2 in games and fought valiantly to come back from a 4-2 deficit in the third period of game six. Wendel Clark became the first and only Leaf to score a hat trick in May but Wayne Gretzky broke the hearts of Leaf Nation by scoring the overtime winner for a 5-4 Los Angeles Kings victory forcing a return to Maple Leaf Gardens for game seven. A controversial non call on a Gretzky high stick on Doug Gilmour in overtime has haunted Leafs fans for 25 years.

With the score tied, 4-4, in overtime, Gretzky clipped Doug Gilmour with a high stick, drawing blood. Under the rules at the time, it should have been an automatic five-minute penalty and a game misconduct. Fraser, however, missed the call. Some in Canada feel he simply didn't want to make the call, not at that moment in the game and not against Gretzky. Gretzky stayed on the ice and seconds later scored the winning goal.

The moment is the most controversial play in Toronto Maple Leafs history. It is a play that has grown larger over time as Toronto hasn't been that close to the Stanley Cup Final since.

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This day in Buffalo Sabres history, May 27th 1975, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Sabres 2-0 in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals to win their second straight Stanley Cup championship.

The game was scoreless through two periods until Bob Kelly broke the tie just 11 seconds into the third period assisted by Reggie Leach and Jimmy Watson. Orest Kindrachul set up an insurance goal by Bill Clement at 17:11 (Or O Kindrachul as that blasted Flyers play by play announcer would call him).

Roger Crozier was strong in the nets for Buffalo with 29 saves on 31 shots but Bernie Parent was even stronger stopping all 32 shots that he faced. Bot teams were scoreless on six power play chances.

Bernie Parent recorded the shutout and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP for the second consecutive season. Parent and Mario Lemieux (1991,1992), are the the only players to win that award in back to back seasons.
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This day in hockey history, May 27th 1966, Jack Kent Cooke chose the name "Kings" from entries submitted in a fan contest for his new NHL franchise in Los Angeles to start play in 1967. Apparently he wanted his club to take on aura of royalty with the team wearing the same colors as the Los Angeles Lakers, his NBA franchise.

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This day in hockey history, May 27th 1994, Stephane Matteau scored the winning goal at 4:24 of the second overtime propelling the New York Rangers to a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York, advancing to the Finals where they’d win their first Cup in 54 years. It was Matteau’s second double OT winner of the series, he had one in Game three, and the goal call by Howie Rose on the radio is the most celebrated call in Rangers history. Ironically Matteau's son Stefan Matteau was drafted by the Devils in 2012 with the 29th overall pick.

This day in hockey history, May 28th 1974, the expansion Washington Capitals used the #1 pick overall to select Greg Joly in the NHL Amateur draft held in Montreal, helping to lay the foundation for the worst single season record ever in NHL history.

While the Caps 1974-75 record is on par with the Senators and Sharks from 1992-93 at 8-67-5, it was the goal differential and 1-39-0 road record that makes this caps team special. The Capitals scored just 181 goals that season while allowing an NHL record 446. Their best goalie was Michel Belhumeur, who finished the year with a 5.36 goals against average. The worst loss that the Capitals had was 12-1, and they actually pulled that off twice.

While the '74 draft wasn't one of the great ones and lacked a superstar consensus #1 choice like Guy Lafleur or Gil Perrreault, Joly was an appealing prospect as an offensive minded defenseman, tallying 21-71-92 totals in 61 games for the WHL Regina Pats in 1973-74. He just didn't pan out in the NHL with with nearly identical 21-76 97 totals but accomplished in 365 NHL games.

History shows how poorly the Capitals evaluated prospects for that years draft, passing up future stars also taken in the first round like Wilf Paiment (2nd overall), Clark Gillies (4th) and Pierre Larouche (8th).

Then to prove their bad judgment wasn't a fluke the Cap's led off the second round drafting 19th by taking Mike Marson and passing on future superstar hall of Famers Bryan Trottier (22nd) and Mark Howe (25th). They also missed future 50 goal scorers Guy Chouinard at 28th and Danny Gare at 29th as well as "Tiger" Williams (28th) and Ron Greschner (29th).

In round three the Caps drafted plugger John Paddock 37th, passing on future islanders standout Bob Bourne (38th) and multiple 50+ goal scorer Charlie Simmer (39th) who would become the NHL's deadliest sniper as the trigger man on the famed Triple Crown Line.

No doubt the New York Islanders and Jimmy Devellano thanked the Caps for their misses by drafting Gillies and Trottier for their budding Stanley Cup team on Long Island.

Washington traded Joly to Detroit on November 30, 1976 in exchange for Bryan Watson who would become the Capitals all time favorite player. Although Alex Ovechkin may earn that honor if he carries the Stanley Cup around the ice after the last game of this season.

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This day in hockey history, May 28th 1935 , Gord Strate was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He played 61 NHL games over three seasons with Detroit, from 1956-57 to 1958-59, recording no points in his NHL career. He holds the record for the most NHL games played without scoring a single point although he did pick up 34 penalty minutes.

Over those same three season he also played 134 games in the minor league with the Brandon Regals (WHL), Edmonton Flyers (WHL) and Cleveland Barons (AHL) with 24 assists and no goals - a virtual orgy of scoring prowess compared to his NHL totals.

In in 404 minor pro games he scored five goals and 59 assists. As a junior with the Edmonton Oil Kings he played 104 games over three seasons with ten goals and 22 assists. I assume he made his living in hockey as a stay at home defenseman.
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May 28th Happy Birthday to Mark Howe, Errol Thompson, Terry Crisp, Red Horner, Ron Wilson, Pat Peake and Gary Inness.

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This day in hockey history, May 28th 1981, Jean Ratelle retired from the NHL

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This day in hockey history, May 28th 1987, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-2, in Philadelphia in game six of the Stanley Cup finals to force a decisive game seven back in Edmonton.

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This day in hockey history, May 29th 1993, the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in game seven of the Campbell Conference Finals.
Wayne Gretzky set a Stanley Cup record, with his 8th career playoff hat trick, and added an assist to lead the Kings to victory. With the win Los Angeles advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals and broke the hearts of millions of Leafs fans. Toronto sports fans felt a little better after their Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series.

This Day In Hockey History -- May