Montreal/Hartford 1992 Adams Division Playoffs

[c9777666]

This is one of the strangest playoff series considering the stark contrast of these teams:

Hartford only made the playoffs because of the old divisional playoff format- the 5th/6th place Patrick Division teams that missed the playoffs (Flyers/Islanders) had better records. They wouldn't have sniffed the playoffs under the 1-8 conference format. They actually had a WORSE record than the 1991 North Stars team that made the Cup Finals!

They had a losing home record- in fact, they were the team Quebec ended a 38 game road winless streak against when Mats Sundin scored five goals in a 10-3 Whaler loss.

They had a 7-10-2 record from March 1 to the end of the regular season, yet clinched with 7 games left and were never threatened by Quebec for the last playoff spot.

They had 5 20-goal scorers, but had the 4th worst offense in a 22-team league.

After a few years of Sidorkiewicz/Whitmore tandem post-Liut, they had made a trade with Pittsburgh for goalie Frank Pietrangelo, who had played a role in the Pens' 1991 Cup run.

Contrast that with Montreal:

Fewest goals allowed, 5th best record in the league, a stellar Vezina-caliber season from Patrick Roy, Guy Carbonneau's 3rd Selke Trophy in 5 years.

They had traded for Kirk Muller from New Jersey in exchange for Stephane Richer.

Montreal also had 5 20-goal scorers, but Muller gave tham an impressive 36 goal season.

It seemed to be an obvious mismatch after the first 2 games, but Hartford- much maligned, bad home record, attendance below 10,000 frequently- somehow tied the series, making Roy look silly in game 3 (5 goals) before a more tightly played game 4.

In game 5, Hartford jumped out to a 3-1 lead midway through the second period, but gave up 4 goals in 5 minutes en route to a 7-4 defeat.

In game 6, the Whalers made it 3-for-3 at home in overtime with a goal from little known Yvon Corriveau. It was only the 3rd time all year the Whalers had won 3 consecutive home games, and the first two were in mid-October and late December-early January.

The Whalers had taken this series to the limit with probably the worst team of their 7 straight year playoff run from 1986-1992.

One thing that should be noted is that Montreal had been shaky on the road late in the season, going 1-5-2 in their last 8 away games.

They included a bad loss at last place Quebec and two showdown losses against the NY Rangers and Pittsburgh, giving up 15 goals in these 3 ugly losses.

Even their ties were less than stellar- one of them involved this comically bad goal by Andre 'Red Light' Racicot against Winnipeg;



With all that, it came down to a game 7 for Hartford ala 1986.

Montreal jumped out to a 2-0 1st period lead, but the Whalers tied it with 2 goals of their own in the 2nd period.

The game went into double overtime when Russ Courtnall helped the Habs avoid colossal embarassment:



Montreal from 1984-1993 won 10 straight first round series, but came very close to it ending in inglorious fashion.

The Whalers came closer to a best-of-7 playoff series win with THIS team than a much better team in 1990 that had taken Boston to the limit, but blew winnable games 4 and 7.

And this also was as close as we came to Montreal/Boston's streak of consecutive playoff series from 1984-1992 ending- Buffalo and Boston went 7 games too, but everything ultimately reverted to form (That streak would end a year later with Boston capitulating despite having a better team than 1992).

The Habs great escape vs. Hartford did not carry over ala their 1986 seven game encounter- they were shockingly swept by Boston, including an OT goal in game 2 at the Forum by the immortal Peter Douris, for their first 4 game sweep since 1952 even thought the Bruins had been thoroughly mediocre by Bruin standards that year.

Hartford would never make the playoffs again as the Whalers.

Pat Burns was fired and ultimately took the Toronto job.

What are your recollections of this surprising playoff series that had no business going the distance and beyond?

 

[blood gin]

iirc Yvon Corriveau almost won Game 7 with an OT breakaway

 

[quoipourquoi]

An important note for 1991-92 is that the league went on strike for two weeks with about 2 games left in the season, so any momentum going into Round 1 was gone as teams were trying to regain their sea legs.

All four division winners were taken the distance, with 6 of the 8 first-round matchups going 7 games.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

Did the Whalers lack depth as the top 3 offensive players (Sanderson, Cassels and Verbeek) I believe all played on the same line? Was Kevin Dineen still on this team and a good player at this point too?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i remember following this series, but not super closely.

what i remember about the hartford team, which is not much, is they had crazy center depth. john cullen, murray craven, andrew cassels (whom the habs had just given them for nothing), and a young bobby holik. unfortunately, the top three centers were all kind of the same player: sub-elite and non-physical pass-first guy with good but not game-changing defensive ability.

what i remember about those habs, whom i did follow, is that i thought it was the end of that core. three straight second round losses to the bruins, and they barely got past the whalers? yikes. i thought for sure they figured they were never going to get past the boston hump and make wholesale changes. like a trade roy and start again with a new philosophy type of teardown.

who knew that they just had to change the coach, get rid of the bad air (corson and courtnall for damphousse and bellows), and let the farm do the rest?

 

[McGarnagle]

Here's a natural follow-up question:

If the Whalers pull off that upset in the Forum against the vaunted Habs, say Corriveau buries that breakaway in game 7 OT, does it change the state of hockey in the Hartford market and perhaps prevent them from moving years later?

 

[c9777666]

i remember following this series, but not super closely.

what i remember about the hartford team, which is not much, is they had crazy center depth. john cullen, murray craven, andrew cassels (whom the habs had just given them for nothing), and a young bobby holik. unfortunately, the top three centers were all kind of the same player: sub-elite and non-physical pass-first guy with good but not game-changing defensive ability.

what i remember about those habs, whom i did follow, is that i thought it was the end of that core. three straight second round losses to the bruins, and they barely got past the whalers? yikes. i thought for sure they figured they were never going to get past the boston hump and make wholesale changes. like a trade roy and start again with a new philosophy type of teardown.

who knew that they just had to change the coach, get rid of the bad air (corson and courtnall for damphousse and bellows), and let the farm do the rest?

I can understand Corson being considered bad air, but Courtnall didn't have that bad apple reputation (that Corson would end up having in his other stops)?

 

[blood gin]

Here's a natural follow-up question:

If the Whalers pull off that upset in the Forum against the vaunted Habs, say Corriveau buries that breakaway in game 7 OT, does it change the state of hockey in the Hartford market and perhaps prevent them from moving years later?

I don't actually. It was a full 5 years later that Hartford moved and this series win vs. Montreal, while nice, wouldn't have had much of an impact. The Whale was not getting the same league darling protection that Arizona has gotten for the past decade. Once they saw an opening to get a team to a growing southern market with lots of transplants from the North they were going to go. Attendance even spiked quite nicely for Hartford in 1996-1997 and I believe they met Karmanos season ticket sales quotas to keep the team...but it didn't matter he was going to move 'em anyway

 

[Jim MacDonald]

I can understand Corson being considered bad air, but Courtnall didn't have that bad apple reputation (that Corson would end up having in his other stops)?

If it's cool to ask this as an aside and not steal this forum topic's thunder.....I was piqued to hear Shayne Corson was a bad apple....I'm remembering/thinking now he's played on quite a few teams.....what was his problem/deal?

 

[blood gin]

If it's cool to ask this as an aside and not steal this forum topic's thunder.....I was piqued to hear Shayne Corson was a bad apple....I'm remembering/thinking now he's played on quite a few teams.....what was his problem/deal?

He was just known to be a jerk and difficult to deal with. Standoffish, short with people at times, confrontational. But he was also dealing with some internal struggles...anxiety and a chronic ailment (colitis?) Seemed like something was always going on with him it seemed. Just a lot of drama followed him.

 

[Big Phil]

If it's cool to ask this as an aside and not steal this forum topic's thunder.....I was piqued to hear Shayne Corson was a bad apple....I'm remembering/thinking now he's played on quite a few teams.....what was his problem/deal?

Someone can tell me if I am wrong here but did he have issues with depression? I remember this (or maybe it was anxiety) being an issue when he was a Maple Leaf. His brother in law Darcy Tucker always had his back on and off the ice.

 

[Big Phil]

Yvon Corriveau never had more than 20 points in a season but look at him here! Has a breakaway in double overtime and a point blank shot on Roy on a two-on-one in another rush. He looks like Joe Sakic here. Although could he have at least hit the net on the breakaway?

Either way, a strange thing with Hartford and Montreal. They did a similar thing in 1986 with a Game 7 overtime where Claude Lemieux scored. They were closer in points that year though, but the thing is Hartford was a surprisingly resilient 1st round opponent in those years. Even against Boston they took them to the limit in 1990 despite having no business doing so.

 

[c9777666]

Yvon Corriveau never had more than 20 points in a season but look at him here! Has a breakaway in double overtime and a point blank shot on Roy on a two-on-one in another rush. He looks like Joe Sakic here. Although could he have at least hit the net on the breakaway?

Either way, a strange thing with Hartford and Montreal. They did a similar thing in 1986 with a Game 7 overtime where Claude Lemieux scored. They were closer in points that year though, but the thing is Hartford was a surprisingly resilient 1st round opponent in those years. Even against Boston they took them to the limit in 1990 despite having no business doing so.

I will note about 1990, the Adams Division was a very tough division compared to the Patrick. If they actually seeded teams 1-8 by record rather than divisions, the 4th place Whalers actually had a better record then the Patrick Division's 1st place Rangers.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I can understand Corson being considered bad air, but Courtnall didn't have that bad apple reputation (that Corson would end up having in his other stops)?

without going into specifics, there were rumours that russ courtnall had a lot going on off the ice.

after robinson, naslund, and smith all moved on, it was expected that the next group of guys would take their place. chelios, carbonneau, richer, claude lemieux, corson, and courtnall. that was an ill-fated group.

carbonneau became the pillar, but he got a DUI in '92, rebounded by winning the cup in '93, and then was still flipped for a small 24 year old rookie in the '94 off-season after he flipped off a reporter. terrible trade.

claude lemieux apparently just could not get along with pat burns and was traded to new jersey, where he blossomed as a consistent scorer, for a broken down sylvain turgeon. terrible trade.

chelios got into some trouble, a lot of trouble(s) depending on whom you ask. traded for a declining denis savard. franchise-alteringly bad trade.

richer battled depression and iirc attempted to commit suicide several times. the pressures of being a french star on the habs did not help. traded for kirk muller, who new jersey wasn't willing to pay market value to. both players won cups with their new teams and played huge roles. very good trade for both teams.

corson had severe anxiety issues, which may or may not be related to him openly clashing with teammates and coaches on virtually every team he played for. traded for vincent damphousse, who had the same LW/C versatility, was every bit as good defensively if not better, and a far better offensive talent, plus he was french. excellent trade.

courtnall had a reputation that i don't think i go into here but i will quote this because it's in the public record:

Missed part of 1991-92 season with bruised right hand, an injury suffered when he was slashed by Jim Johnson during Montreal's Jan. 15, 1992, game at Minnesota. He did not return to action until Montreal's Feb. 15, 1992, game vs. Quebec. During the time he was out, Montreal broadcaster Mario Tremblay and coach Jean Perron both questioned Courtnall's willingness to play in pain. This enraged Courtnall, who particularly resented Perron's suggestion that Courtnall was more interested in scuffling in bars than on the ice.

1983 NHL Entry Draft -- Russ Courtnall

i mean, toronto traded him to the habs for an enforcer with a substance abuse problem, which gives you a sense of how courtnall for all his talent was perceived.

but i think beyond all that, corson and courtnall were just young guys who you weren't sure would ever take that next step and replace smith and naslund. (but at least no one expected them to replace lafleur, like poor stephane richer.) and as we saw through the rest of their careers, neither guy would ever become that kind of consistent impact player. corson had a 75 point season in 1990, then regressed back. then courtnall had his 75 point season in '91, then regressed back.

with both guys you also didn't know whether they were centers or wingers. and as much as it seemed like corson was this young power forward that you were just waiting for him to put it all together, he was 25 when they traded him. gary roberts, a direct comparable and himself a late bloomer, had already broken out two years earlier. and the #2 pick of that draft? none other than kirk muller, who had already been a consistent, team-carrying impact player for eight years. exactly the same kind of LW/C gritty two-way warrior, only muller had been carrying the mail for almost a decade while we were still waiting on corson.

 

[Hockeyholic]

What's shocking about this series was the number of empty seats in both arenas.

 

[Sanf]

My memories from this series are more fresh than others because I did some research from this few... well some more years ago.

As a kid for no really particular reasons I was fan of Frank Pietrangelo. And he did have great series in this one. With a goalie with rather short NHL career he did have few playoff moments.

Also Whalers have some retro value for me. I don´t know if anyone remember the game Faceoff... Back when I still played games I used to play with Whalers in this one...

I tend to remember that there was one game available in internet youtube? back then.

Like said my memories from this one are more fresh and the top or atleast hottest line in this series for Whalers was actually Andrev Cassels-Murray Craven-Yvon Corriveau. Can´t really remember who played with who, but in that clip it does seem that Cullen and Verbeek was in same line...

 

[Big Phil]

What's shocking about this series was the number of empty seats in both arenas.

I can't find the attendance figures. But that would surprise me a lot if there were legitimate empty seats in the Montreal Forum for a playoff game although at times it looks like there was. Could be from near the end of a game they were winning or something. I would suspect the Forum for sure would have been sold out but there might have been some lack of interest in playing the Whalers in Round #1 when the true test of playing the Bruins was what the fans were waiting for. I would guess this might have been why some perhaps didn't show up for the game?

 

[blood gin]

Whalers Playoff Attendance Hits Record Low

This article was stating they had something like 5,600 for a playoff game vs. Montreal. I knew they had some empties that year but THAT MANY? wow. In a 15,600 seat arena

 

[HisIceness]

I knew the Whalers qualified for the 1992 playoffs but wow, I didn't know it was under those circumstances. That almost sounds like the way some ECHL teams used to qualify for the playoffs in the 90's.

Here's a natural follow-up question:

If the Whalers pull off that upset in the Forum against the vaunted Habs, say Corriveau buries that breakaway in game 7 OT, does it change the state of hockey in the Hartford market and perhaps prevent them from moving years later?

From a couple of Whaler-turned-Hurricane fans that I know, they've said as a group that the Ron Francis trade pretty much was the beginning of the end of the franchise in Hartford and almost nothing they could have done short of winning the Cup would have saved them.

They've also said that even pre-Karmanos, there were rumblings on local talk radio shows about a possible relocation. When exactly I'm not sure (1992-93 seemed to be the year they agreed on) and how serious it was I'm not sure either, but FWIW that's from a couple of former Whaler season-ticket holders.

 

[WildGopher]

What are your recollections of this surprising playoff series that had no business going the distance and beyond?

Stories like this, where a team comes within a whisker of knocking off a vastly superior team, are remembered fondly by their fans - part of the legend and lore of a team.

I know, because I remember the thrill the then-recent-expansion North Stars gave fans here in '71 when they nearly knocked off the dynasty Canadiens in a semi-final round. No 1967 expansion team had ever beaten an O6 team in a playoff game until the Stars surprised the Habs twice in that round, and many still think the Stars tied game 6 with fractions of a second left in the game, which could have sent the series to a 7th game like the Whalers did.

The Whale has got some great history: Avco Cup, and another Avco final, the (relatively) strong start in their first NHL year compared to the other former WHA teams, and some of the memorable playoff series you mention. I hate to see some people pooh-pooh the idea of Hartford or CT in general being too small or too ancient history to get a franchise again. It's a great hockey area that with a rich history that deserves a solid look by the NHL. Thanks for posting that great hockey story!

 

[c9777666]

I can't find the attendance figures. But that would surprise me a lot if there were legitimate empty seats in the Montreal Forum for a playoff game although at times it looks like there was. Could be from near the end of a game they were winning or something. I would suspect the Forum for sure would have been sold out but there might have been some lack of interest in playing the Whalers in Round #1 when the true test of playing the Bruins was what the fans were waiting for. I would guess this might have been why some perhaps didn't show up for the game?

I think it has to be that they played the Whalers. I don't recall empty seats at the Forum when they played Buffalo in 1990-1991.

 

[tony d]

This was also the last year Hartford made the playoffs before they moved as well.