Only two Presidents’ Trophy winners nabbed the Stanley Cup in the same year in the 1990s. Neither would not have finished their follow-up had their opponent closed out the conference final in Game 6.
One other third-round set saw the eventual victor enter a must-win situation in Game 6. That team salvaged its season with a home overtime win, then claim a back-and-forth regulation road triumph.
Sure, for the better part of the 1990s, the beloved Wales and Campbell Conferences were as dead as the puck. But the reversion to conformist geographic names and defensive-minded competition did not diminish the drama of the playoffs.
Of the decade’s 150 postseason series, 38 went to a Game 7. Of those two-way do-or-die bouts, 11 went to sudden death. Overtime or not, another handful capped one team’s comeback or upset or both.
As always, we take every game of every series into account. The closer the games, the better, though one blowout will not eliminate a contender. Extra and decisive points, however, come from edge-of-your-seat elimination contests and the broader implications of a given series’ outcome.
Under those criteria, the 10 most memorable NHL postseason series of the 1990s shake out as follows.
10. 1994: New Jersey vs. Buffalo
Of the three games in this conference quarterfinal to end in a two-goal difference, two would have been a single-goal final if not for a last-minute dose of insurance. Buffalo started its upset bid with a 2-0 escape from New Jersey. The Devils later took a commanding 3-2 series lead with a 5-3 win.
In between, the teams traded 2-1 victories before Buffalo came from behind to take Game 4, 5-3. New Jersey surmounted a 3-1 deficit in its Game 5 victory.
Looking to force Game 7, the Sabres forced overtime via Dominik Hasek’s stalwart goaltending. He matched Martin Brodeur’s efficiency through the equivalent of two games in one night. Finally, his 70-save effort was rewarded in the seventh period when Dave Hannan beat Brodeur on Buffalo’s 50th shot.
Hasek was valiant again in Game 7, repelling 44 out of 46 stabs. But back in their building, the Devils overcame an early deficit to win the deciding contest, 2-1.
9. 1999: Dallas vs. Colorado
An anticlimactic finish is the main knock on this titanic tangle between the first-place Stars and second-place Avalanche. The Western Conference Final featured the maximum three lead changes plus four road wins, one overtime and a Game 5 goal-fest.
To start, each team won a game at Reunion Arena after surrendering the first goal. Upon shifting to Denver, Dallas took the lead on a 3-0 shutout, then fell in OT in Game 4. The Avs built on their regained momentum by stealing a 7-5 seesaw in Game 5, punctuated by Peter Forsberg’s last-minute empty netter.
Dallas now faced the specter of winning the Presidents’ Trophy, only to fall in Game 6 of the third round for the second straight spring. Colorado’s prospects looked even brighter when Claude Lemieux drew first blood in the final minute of the opening frame.
But it was all Stars from there. The eventual Stanley Cup champions scored four consecutive goals to force Game 7. Three nights later, they started with another unanswered quartet and cruised to an identical 4-1 triumph.
8. 1996: Detroit vs. St. Louis
After an 8-3 romp gave the two-time Presidents’ Trophy-winning Red Wings a 2-0 lead, this series looked destined for unremarkability. But that drubbing dissolved from memory when the Blues took 5-4 overtime and 1-0 regulation squeakers back home.
With a subsequent 3-2 win at Joe Louis Arena, St. Louis seized home-ice advantage. While Detroit responded with a 4-2 victory at the Kiel Center, the Blues set a tone for Game 7 by scoring twice within the final five minutes.
Over the series, Blues backstop Jon Casey faced the brunt of the rubber. The Red Wings ultimately outshot St. Louis, 223-162. But Casey sustained a staring contest with Chris Osgood for four-plus periods in Game 7.
That was until Detroit captain Steve Yzerman sent a cathartic bar-down slapper home for the 1-0 conference-semifinal clincher. Upset averted.
7. 1997: Buffalo vs. Ottawa
With the series and Game 3 each deadlocked at 1-1, the aforementioned Hasek withdrew due to injury. Enter rookie Steve Shields, who was now tasked with outdueling Ottawa veteran Ron Tugnutt.
Shields blinked early in his first relief shift, but held on while his teammates secured a come-from-behind 3-2 road win. He was equally stalwart in a 1-0 overtime loss that retied the series.
Despite being pulled from a 4-1 loss in Game 5, Shields got the nod again with the second-seeded Sabres’ season at stake. He would turn away all 31 shots for a 3-0 win at Ottawa’s Corel Center.
In the ensuing Game 7, the Senators outshot Buffalo for the sixth consecutive contest. And they cracked open a pair of one-goal leads. But Derek Plante bagged Buffalo’s second equalizer with 13:31 left in regulation. He followed up in the resultant overtime with the series clincher at 5:24.
6. 1999: Pittsburgh vs. New Jersey
The first-place Devils were two minutes and 12 seconds away from averting a reprise of the previous year. They had been upset by eighth-seeded Ottawa in the 1998 conference quarterfinals. But late in Game 6, they looked poised to repress the pesky Penguins.
That was when regular-season MVP Jaromir Jagr put the last twist on a series already full of them. He bagged the late-regulation equalizer, then followed up in overtime for a 3-2 win.
That marked the third come-from-behind victory for either team. It also gave Pittsburgh a chance to claim the third lead change of the series. The Pens put themselves on pace to that with a late second-period outburst, turning a 1-1 deadlock into a 3-1 lead. They eventually claimed a 4-2 win in Game 7 to ice New Jersey.
5. 1999: St. Louis vs. Phoenix
This middleweight Western Conference quarterfinal packed three overtime games, four come-from-behind victories and three elimination-game wins.
The Coyotes took the first turn flexing resilience whilst hosting the first two contests. They rebounded from a setback in Game 1 and deleted two early deficits for a series-tying, 4-3 OT win. They then took two straight from St. Louis, though not without letting the Blues whittle their 4-0 lead to 4-3 and a 5-3 difference to a 5-4 final in the last minute of Game 3.
With their backs to the wall, the Blues had their persistence pay off. They trailed Game 5 until 8:10 remained in regulation, but came away with a 2-1 overtime win. They twice trailed Game 6 before drawing a 3-3 knot late in the middle frame and eventually claiming a 5-3 decision.
In the ensuing rubber match, a scoreless deadlock held up en route to America West Arena’s third OT of the spring. Visitor Pierre Turgeon ensured it was the last, tipping St. Louis’ series clincher home at the 17:59 mark.
4. 1997: Edmonton vs. Dallas
The seventh-seeded Oilers led Game 1 early, then secured a split of the first two tilts in Dallas with a 4-0 shutout in Game 2.
By this year, the Stars were taking shape as a core group that would win the Cup in two years, then make a repeat final appearance. But the remnants of Edmonton’s dynasty would ensure a wave of growing pains first.
In Game 3, the first of five straight one-goal outcomes in the matchup, the Oilers deleted a 3-0 deficit in the third period and won in overtime. After dropping an identical 4-3 decision, they stole a 1-0 victory in double-OT at Reunion Arena.
Dallas’ season-saving 3-2 squeaker at Edmonton Coliseum accounted for the fourth road win of the series. That was 20 seconds away from being the last, as the Stars safeguarded a 3-2 lead late in Game 7.
But Andrei Kovalenko forced another overtime on the Oilers’ behalf. In the next frame, Todd Marchant beat ex-Edmonton goalie Andy Moog to complete the upset.
3. 1994: Vancouver vs. Calgary
Given their subsequent back-to-back 4-1 series wins over San Jose and Toronto, not to mention their seven-game Cup-final thriller versus the Rangers, it is easy to forget how the Canucks entered the 1994 playoffs. They were the seventh seed in the Western Conference, having finished 12 points behind their first-round adversary.
On that note, Vancouver’s 5-0 blowout of the Flames in Game 1 was stunning enough. The Canucks would lose Game 2, 7-5, but not without mounting a valiant comeback after trailing by three goals three times. They then conceded two close shaves, 4-2 and 3-2, inching to the brink in the process.
A long-standing 1-1 knot in Game 5 broke via Geoff Courtnall at 7:15 of overtime. Having saved their season, the Canucks returned home and pulled off another sudden-death triumph. Trevor Linden’s tally forced a deciding contest back at the Saddledome.
Flashy home hero Theo Fleury gave the Flames 1-0 and 3-2 leads in Game 7. The latter difference lasted from the 10:34 mark of the second period until 16:23 of the third. With 3:37 left in their season, the Canucks perked back up again via Greg Adams.
The resultant overtime spilled to a second sudden-death stanza, where Pavel Bure capped Vancouver’s third straight walk-off and third road win of the series.
2. 1993: Los Angeles vs. Toronto
Like its 1999 successor, the 1993 Campbell Bowl series saw the upper hand switch hands three times. But L.A.’s 5-4 escapes in Games 6 and 7 lent it substantially more drama.
After dropping a 4-1 score in what would be the set’s most lopsided game, the Kings erased two deficits for a 3-2 equalizer at Maple Leaf Gardens. They proceeded to take a 2-1 series lead at home, then let it evaporate in back-to-back 4-2 decisions.
With a virtual best-of-three at hand, the Leafs took their own turn erasing 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in Game 5. Their second equalizer begat overtime, and Toronto’s Glenn Anderson struck in the final minute of the fourth period.
In Leafs Nation, Game 6 lives with an incurably bitter aftertaste. After losing two early leads, Toronto filled a 4-2 pothole, as Wendel Clark completed a hat trick. But after Wayne Gretzky’s high-sticking infraction escaped the officials, L.A.’s centerpiece scored in sudden death to save the Kings’ campaign.
Back at the Gardens, the Great One had his own three-goal night. His final tally proved the winner after Dave Ellett cut L.A.’s 5-3 lead in half with 67 seconds to spare.
1. 1994: N.Y. Rangers vs. New Jersey
Another conference final that featured the maximum possible lead changes and a one-goal difference in Game 7. As a bonus, this set was settled in the matchup’s third double-overtime tilt.
The Devils took the first of those three sudden-death decisions in Game 1, 4-3. They scored three regulation equalizer along the way, with Lemieux’s 3-3 tally coming in the last regulation minute.
The Rangers returned the favor in the Meadowlands in Game 3, seizing a 3-2 walk-off win and 2-1 series lead. But New Jersey ran up an aggregate score of 7-2 whilst seizing Games 4 and 5. A subsequent pair of unanswered goals gave Game 6’s upset-minded host a 2-0 lead entering the third period.
That was when Blueshirts captain Mark Messier followed through on his famous pregame pledge. His natural hat trick drew a 2-2 knot, broke the tie and provided insurance for a 4-2 win.
Back in Manhattan, the Devils nearly reran their resilience from Game 1. Vaclav Varada channeled Lemieux by drawing a knot in the last minute of the third period. But like he did in Game 3, Rangers forward Stephane Matteau found New Jersey’s net in double-OT.
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