This week in Sabres' History - Hasek's 70 save, playoff shutout

[Thwomp!]

April 27, 1994, Devils vs. Sabres at the Aud.  Brodeur vs. Hasek.  1st round NHL playoffs, game 6.  Sabres won in the 4th overtime period. This year is the 25th anniversary.  ESPN has a good article about it told by players from the game.

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/26579959/dominik-hasek-70-save-playoff-shutout-oral-history-25-years-later

Hasek's 70 saves is still an NHL playoff shutout record.

Dom's first full season as a starter,  he won his 1st of 6 Vezina trophies and finished 2nd for the Hart trophy (MVP).

Too bad the Sabres couldn't score in that series.  May have been able to make a run.  Outshot 70-50 in game 6, and outshot 46-18 in a 2-1 game 7 loss in Jersey.

 

 

[Thwomp!]

Who was there?  Who drank the most beer during that 6 hour game?  Who had to get up and go to work the next day?  Observations and memories? These are the most important questions for me.  I love the stories from fans related to these historic events.

[Stoner]

Terry said he saw the game with a pal from my town. (He lived for years only 10 miles or so from me.) That pal wasn't me. I have hated him ever since.

The thing about that goal is that Presley is clearly planted in the crease when Hannan scores.

[LTS]

I was in college and had a paper due the next day.  It was a team assignment and my team was distributed around campus.  We had agreed to finish up the paper after the game was over.  After the 2nd OT we realized that we better just work on the paper.  So, during the 3OT we worked on it and finished it up and returned home just in time to see the game end.

 

[Neo]

Sat in the golds, four or five rows behind the Sabres' bench.   I was a guest of "he who must not be named".  Went with a boss and two peers.

 

1)   Boss left "early".   The rest of us looked at one another, aghast.

2)   Twelve A.M., sound system plays "After Midnight".

3)   One A.M., sound system plays "One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, rock".

4)   Lafontaine missed the series.  It may have been seven one goal games, not counting empty netters.   At least six.   What would one Lafontaine goal in seven games have meant?

5)   Dads with sleeping toddlers on their shoulders, standing and sitting, standing and sitting.

6)   Never "losing the tie", because I had no where to put it.

7)   Lunch with Stephane Richer, years later in Tampa.   His two greatest Buffalo memories ... "a fake slap shot that got Phil Housley traded”*, and "Hasek going post to post to rob me with an open net in that playoff game (shaking head, still)".

8)  Work the next day didn't matter.  No one was working.

 

*  You can separate the world in several ways.   Those who've owned a bowling ball, and those who've not.   Those who like olives, and those who do not.  Those who have read Moby Dick, and those who've not.       .....   and, lastly, those who get the Housley reference, and those who do not.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by Neo

[Thwomp!]

Great stories!  Neo seems to remember it "like yesterday".

[Stoner]

9 hours ago, Neo said:

7)   Lunch with Stephane Richer, years later in Tampa.   His two greatest Buffalo memories ... "a fake slap shot that got Phil Housley traded”*, and "Hasek going post to post to rob me with an open net in that playoff game (shaking head, still)"

*  You can separate the world in several ways.   Those who've owned a bowling ball, and those who've not.   Those who like olives, and those who do not.  Those who have read Moby Dick, and those who've not.       .....   and, lastly, those who get the Housley reference, and those who do not.

Are you in for a treat. The only known video of said fake slapshot. And so much more! As the video description aptly describes: "An amateur TV host looks at poor quality highlight videos of the mediocre Montreal Canadiens NHL team in the 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs."

 

 

[Marvin]

I was a grad student in Applied Math at Moo U.  There was a bar in Lansing, Michigan where the bouncer was from South Buffalo.  The only 4 people left in the bar were Sabres fans.

[Neo]

38 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Are you in for a treat. The only known video of said fake slapshot. And so much more! As the video description aptly describes: "An amateur TV host looks at poor quality highlight videos of the mediocre Montreal Canadiens NHL team in the 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs."

 

 

AWESOME .... over the years, Ive looked and looked and looked.  I never found it.  What did you Google?

I was at a lunch table with Richer in Tampa.  It was a Lightning event; a player at every table set up.  Richer talked with me because few in the room understood hockey (1998 to 1999 ish).

Here it comes ....  GRATEFUL!

[Neo]

9 hours ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

I was a grad student in Applied Math at Moo U.  There was a bar in Lansing, Michigan where the bouncer was from South Buffalo.  The only 4 people left in the bar were Sabres fans.

Applied math, you.  Stats, me.  UB did not offer Applied Math at the time.  

Linear Algebra showed me I was no mathematician, “probably” because I wasn't “applied”.!

Edited April 25, 2019 by Neo

[Stoner]

8 minutes ago, Neo said:

AWESOME .... over the years, Ive looked and looked and looked.  I never found it.  What did you Google?

I was at a lunch table with Richer in Tampa.  It was a Lightning event; a player at every table set up.  Richer talked with me because few in the room understood hockey (1998 to 1999 ish).

Here it comes ....  GRATEFUL!

Sabres + Canadiens + 1990. There are other videos from that series. I also found one from the first round series in 83, Game 3. Some of the cellies in that game were fantastic. Shutt and Lafleur celebrated a goal with gusto — no wonder, Sauve had shut them out both games in Munreal. Then Tony McKegney running on his skates to center ice after scoring the series-winning goal.

Ah, heck, here it is.

 

[calti]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Sabres + Canadiens + 1990. There are other videos from that series. I also found one from the first round series in 83, Game 3. Some of the cellies in that game were fantastic. Shutt and Lafleur celebrated a goal with gusto — no wonder, Sauve had shut them out both games in Munreal. Then Tony McKegney running on his skates to center ice after scoring the series-winning goal.

Ah, heck, here it is.

 

dale mccourt

[matter2003]

On 4/24/2019 at 7:48 AM, Thwomp! said:

April 27, 1994, Devils vs. Sabres at the Aud.  Brodeur vs. Hasek.  1st round NHL playoffs, game 6.  Sabres won in the 4th overtime period. This year is the 25th anniversary.  ESPN has a good article about it told by players from the game.

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/26579959/dominik-hasek-70-save-playoff-shutout-oral-history-25-years-later

Hasek's 70 saves is still an NHL playoff shutout record.

Dom's first full season as a starter,  he won his 1st of 6 Vezina trophies and finished 2nd for the Hart trophy (MVP).

Too bad the Sabres couldn't score in that series.  May have been able to make a run.  Outshot 70-50 in game 6, and outshot 46-18 in a 2-1 game 7 loss in Jersey.

 

 

One of the most amazing games ever...4 OT's and Dave Hannan scoring the goal that took the series back to "Where Jimmy Hoffa is!"

[Kruppstahl]

On 4/24/2019 at 9:18 AM, Thwomp! said:

Who was there?  Who drank the most beer during that 6 hour game?  Who had to get up and go to work the next day?  Observations and memories? These are the most important questions for me.  I love the stories from fans related to these historic events.

Watched it at home on TV live and remember it very well.  

I was a nervous wreck throughout OT, hanging on every little play.  Miracle I didn't have a heart attack.

 

 

 

[MattPie]

I was in high school, watching the game in my bedroom, continuously thinking I should go sleep because I had to get up in the morning.

[bob_sauve28]

I watched it all, went to class at UB the next morning and came home and watched the replay again the next after noon and was jumping around cheering just as much after winning the replay! Good times! 

 

Quote

Dave Hannan, Buffalo Sabres forward: It was at the Aud [Buffalo Memorial Auditorium], which was a smaller rink. The Devils were just a big, big team. Really physical, and so good defensively. But we had great firepower, too: Pat LaFontaine, Dale Hawerchuk, Alexander Mogilny. In those days, I was on the checking line.

LaFontain did not play in the series though! I remember Muckler dressed him for warmups of game 7 just to mess with the Devils and one of the Devils (Scott Nichols??) was yelling at him, "Are you playing??" lol. I loved Muckler! 

Edited April 26, 2019 by bob_sauve28

[Stoner]

Was too much made of the smaller ice surface at the Aud?

[Marvin]

On 4/26/2019 at 5:32 PM, PASabreFan said:

Was too much made of the smaller ice surface at the Aud?

I don't think so.  Boston and Chicago were similar; they often had teams misjudging distances, times, angles, etc.

If a team clutched and grabbed back in the day (you know who they were), they could make it almost impossible for a team to get any speed through the neutral zone.  Similarly, the Sabres of the time would take a neutral zone turn-over, blow right by the vistors' defence, and be on top of the goaltender before anyone on the opposition could get their bearings straight.  I always figured that this advantage is what made the Sabres almost impossible to beat at home, but did not translate well on the road in the playoffs.