Nitzy's Hockey Den

The Los Angeles Kings enter the 2012 Stanley Cup Final on a bit of a roll. They are 12-2 in the post season and overall since Jeff Carter played his first game on February 25, they have a record of 25-7-3. There is something to be said for getting hot at the right time of year. There is perhaps no greater example of this than the Toronto Maple Leafs of 1966/67. On January 14, 1967 the Leafs had posted a record of 17-11-8 and were in third place, 3 points out of first. They then proceeded to go into the tank as few can losing the next 10 games in a row. Every loss but one was decided by two or more goals. By Feb. 8 they had dropped out of a playoff spot and were now 23 points from first place. The Leafs ineptitude is shown in their "scoring" leaders over the 10 game stretch; (there are no readily available game scoring logs from this period, so I had to compile game by game box scores from The Hockey Summary Project http://hsp.flyershistory.com/ 10 Game Losing Streak Ja...

On May 29, 1992 the St. John's Maple Leafs lost Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals to the Adirondack Red Wings. After defeating the Wings 5-2 in Game 6 in Adirondack, the tables were turned with a 5-2 home loss for the Cup. The amazing thing about the seven game series was each and every game was won by the road team. The series was a battle between once and future Toronto Maple Leaf goaltenders. Allan Bester led Adirondack to the Cup and was named MVP of the playoffs finishing with 14-5 record and 2.56 GAA. The Baby Leafs were backstopped by Damian Rhodes and Felix Potvin. The respective coaches were Marc Crawford for St. John's and Barry Melrose for Adirondack. Potvin single-handedly pushed the series to a seventh game by absolutely stealing game six in upstate New York. The Cat turned aside 50 Red Wings shots including all 18 in the third period, while Bester allowed the only two Leaf shots in the first period to beat him and stopped a mere 13 of 17 shots for the game. ...

Last game, the good folks at Hockey Night in Canada flashed up a quick graphic and made mention of a little known record that Rangers rookie Chris Kreider tied with his fourth playoff goal. His four equal the most scored in a post season by a player who had not previously played a regular season match. Pretty obscure, but pretty cool. The only other player to score four goals prior to playing in the regular season was Montreal Canadien Eddie Mazur. The two guys that scored three goals were Oiler Ray Cote and current Capitas GM, George McPhee with the Rangers. Now, I have been an in depth follower of hockey for over 30 years and even though I was a mere 12 year old punk in 1983 and a Gretzky idolizer, the name Ray Cote rang only the smallest bell in the depths of my hockey recollections. Cote signed as a free-agent after a fairly productive junior career which ended with an 88 point season for the Calgary Wranglers in 80/81. After a full season in Wichita of the CHL he blossome...

Flyers Ilya Bryzgalov allowed 37 goals while playing 11 playoff games this season. In his 11 playoff games, Jonathan Quick has given up a mere 16 goals. In fact it has taken Quick 23 games to give up his last 37 goals... dating back to March 11. Since that date, Quick has a record of 18-3-2, 5 shutouts with a goals against average of 1.59 and a .944 save percentage. His playoff won/lost record of 10-1 is approaching legendary territory. The greatest single post-season Won/Lost records in history are as follows: Grant Fuhr 1988, 16-2 Grant Fuhr 1985, 15-3 Billy Smith 1982, 15-3 Ken Dryden 1978, 12-3 Ken Dryden 1977, 12-2 Ken Dryden 1976, 12-1 Gerry Cheevers 1970, 12-1 Jacques Plante 1960, 8-0 Terry Sawchuk 1952, 8-0 Bill Durnan 1946, 8-1 Bill Durnan 1944, 8-1

I'm reading a biography on Ron Ellis titled "Over the Boards" and there is mention of Ellis making the Second All-Star squad in the 1962/63 Metro Toronto Junior A Hockey League. The league was an off-shoot of the Ontario Hockey Association created by Maple Leaf owner Stafford Smythe. It was basically a "house league" for the Toronto Maple Leaf sponsored Marlboros and St. Michael's Majors (which then became the Neil McNeil Maroons). Joining Ellis on the All-Star team was a 14 year old Robert Gordon Orr. This was Orr's first season of junior hockey, he stood 5' 6" and weighed 135 lbs. Playing against mainly 19 and 20 year olds, Orr's brilliance still shone through. The 62/63 All-Star Teams (age in brackets) First Team Gary Dineen C Neil McNeil Maroons 38-32-63-95 (19) Mike Corbett W Neil McNeil Maroons 37-44-50-94 (20) Duncan MacDonald W Toronto Marlboros 26-20-15-35 (20) Jim McKendry D Neil McNeil Maroons 34-2-17-19 (na) ...

The amazing Martin Brodeur advances to the Stanley Cup semi-finals for the first time in ten years, and shows no signs of slowing down. On top of an 8-3 record and 2.05 GAA, Brodeur has now equalled the record for most points in a playoff year by a goaltender with 3 assists. Below are the goalies that have accomplished this. Martin Brodeur, NJ, 2012 Glen Healy, NYI 1993 Kirk McLean, Van 1993 Tom Barrasso, Pit  1993 Grant Fuhr, Edm 1985 Grant Fuhr, Edm 1984 Ken Dryden, Mon  1979 Gilles Gilbert, Bos  1974 It has been almost 20 years since a goalie collected three helpers in the playoffs. Coincidentally it happened three times in 1993. A look at the circumstances of each of the record holding helpers: Gilbert 1974 Apr 13 Bos 6, Tor 3 Cashman ( Hodge, Gilbert ) (EV) Apr 21 Bos 8, Chi 6 O’Reilly ( Smith, Gilbert ) (EV) Apr 25 Bos 5, Chi 2 Esposito ( Hodge, Gilbret ) (PP) Dryden 1979 Apr 18 Mon 5, Tor 1 Lafleur ( Larouche, Dryde...

Every time I watch a Philadelphia Flyers game in this years' playoffs it seems they are getting some sort of scoring from their fantastic group of rookie players. The combination of Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Erik Gustafsson have collected 10 goals and 19 total points so far over 9 games, far and away the most any playoff team has received from rookies this playoff.   How does the Flyers rookie contingent rank in terms of playoff rookie scoring contribution of the past? Pretty darn good, but far from the best. Recently, Flyer Ville Leino notched 19 points in the 2010 playoffs and before him, Jeremy Roenick had 18 for Chicago in 1990. Joe Mullen for St. Louis and Barry Pederson of Boston each had 18 points in 1982, and Don Maloney notched 19 points for the Rangers in 1979. All of these guys were pretty much the only rookie on their respective squads that contributed much at all. A great example of a team that had multiple rookies chipping in was t...

I'll be 85 years old if it takes another 45 for the Toronto Maple Leafs to win a Stanley Cup. I certainly hope it doesn't take that long. Below are a few quotes from the Montreal Gazette and Canadian Press of May 3, 1967 after Toronto had beaten Montreal for their last Stanley Cup. "You've got Expo so let us have the Stanley Cup."- Leaf playoff points leader Jim Pappin joking with Montreal writers after the game. "I can't fault my players for a game like this. They worked hard but the puck wouldn't go in." - Canadien coach Toe Blake "The Old Boys A.C. played pretty well tonight. It was a great team effort." - Leaf coach,  Punch Imlach "I wanted all our old guys to enjoy this one, this may have been their last game together." - Imlach on why injured and unable to play Johnny Bower was dressed as well as back-up goalie Al Smith. "We might not have outplayed them but we certainly outscored them."-...