Obscure hockey facts/stats (Part 2)

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pnep

Registered User
Mar 10, 2004
2,981
1,490
Novosibirsk,Russia
Pat Quinn played in 11 NHL playoff games, and was never on the winning side in a single one of them.

I say this a lot, but... That's gotta be a record, right?

In fact, I bet the player with the next highest number is not even that close. Probably 6, maybe 7.

@pnep? Players with most career playoff games without a win?


17 Games
 

Matsun

Registered User
Aug 15, 2010
592
466
Makar has 80 points in 72 playoffs games, Bobby Orr had 88 in his first 72.
 

Yozhik v tumane

Registered User
Jan 2, 2019
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I’m curious as to who had the most playoff losses before their first win?

Has someone been swept five times in a row before squeaking out a win?
 

Staniowski

Registered User
Jan 13, 2018
3,622
3,185
The Maritimes
I read today that Ken Dryden, in the third-to-last game of his NHL career, became the first goaltender to record a point in the Stanley Cup Finals in NHL history.

Lemaire (Shutt, Dryden).

Does anybody know if this is accurate?
 

reckoning

Registered User
Jan 4, 2005
7,054
1,342
I read today that Ken Dryden, in the third-to-last game of his NHL career, became the first goaltender to record a point in the Stanley Cup Finals in NHL history.

Lemaire (Shutt, Dryden).

Does anybody know if this is accurate?
Yes. Only others to do it are Casey, Vernon, Brodeur, Giguere, Osgood and Kuemper. All after Dryden.
 

ES

Registered User
Feb 14, 2004
4,240
898
Finland
Top four teams have at least 25 years since their last Stanley Cup which is a record. Dallas Stars is the most recent champion, having won in 1999. Rangers last won in 1994, Oilers in 1990. Panthers hasn't won yet but they have one more year without Cup than Rangers.

1994 had a maximum drought of 20 years (20th season for Scouts/Rockies/Devils franchise) while Canucks, Leafs and Rangers had droughts of 24, 27 and 54 years.

A year later, Flyers had 20, Devils 21, Blackhawks 34 and Red Wings 40 years from their first season or most recent Cup.
 

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
19,471
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Tokyo, Japan
Here's one:

October 15, 1986 Quebec @ Edmonton:
(Final four Oiler goals scored):
Esa Tikkanen (3) Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri
Esa Tikkanen (4) Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri
Glenn Anderson (2) Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier
Glenn Anderson (3) Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier

October 17, 1986 Detroit @ Edmonton:
(All four Oiler goals scored):
Steve Smith (1) Wayne Gretzky, Esa Tikkanen
Jari Kurri (3) Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey
Jari Kurri (4) Wayne Gretzky, Jeff Beukeboom
Jari Kurri (5) Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey

October 19, 1986 Edmonton @ Los Angeles:
(first Oiler goal scored):
Esa Tikkanen (5) Wayne Gretzky
_________________________________

Thus, Wayne Gretzky had the primary assist on 9 consecutive Oiler goals.
 

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
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Tokyo, Japan
Esa Tikkanen never scored more than 78 points in a season. Yet from November 4th to December 19th 1988, Tikkanen scored 45 points in 23 games and went +21. (He was no longer playing with Gretzky at this point.)

Gary Roberts finished top-10 in NHL goals only once in his career. Yet from 1989-90 to 1993-94, Roberts was third NHL in even strength goals (well behind Brett Hull but only 5 goals behind Yzerman). And Roberts played 15 fewer games than Yzerman.
 
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The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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Tokyo, Japan
It's late May 2024 and the Oilers are still alive in the playoffs. Currently, their player plus/minus results include the following:

+12 Evan Bouchard
-12 Darnell Nurse

Twenty-four goals different at ES is a pretty huge difference for two players playing the same position over a 15-game sample.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
36,250
7,461
Regina, SK
Edmonton just tied a 50-year old record for fewest shots on goal in a playoff win, with 10.

Chicago set the record in 1974, and new jersey tied it in 1990.

There has only been one instance of fewer shots in a playoff game: infamously Toronto's 6 in 2000.

Surprisingly, the 8 teams who've taken 10 or 11 shots in a playoff game are 5-3 in those games. They've got 12 GF and 13 GA, but are 10-6 if you disregard Toronto's 2004 collapse vs Philly in game 5.

Total shots are 255-84 in those 8 games.
 

Yozhik v tumane

Registered User
Jan 2, 2019
1,916
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Most playoff games without winning the Stanley Cup:



1. Joe Pavelski 201 (21)

2. Patrick Marleau 195 (25)

3. Joe Thornton 187 (30)

4. Dale Hunter 186 (31)

5. Steve Thomas 174 (49)

6. Adam Oates 163 (69)

7. Brad Park 161 (75)

8. Brian Propp 160 (77)

9. Jeremy Roenick 154 (91)

10. Mike Fisher 146 (107)



Edit: Overall rank added. It’s fascinating to me that out of the top 100 in playoff GP, there aren’t even ten career losers. Of course with more opportunities, your chances at winning will increase. That makes these guys’ playoff careers even more depressing.



Marleau only missed the playoffs thrice in 23 years. 11 times his team didn’t get out of the first round, four times they made the conference finals, and once the cup finals. Hunter was somewhat surprising to see so high. I know he had a long career, but I didn’t think of those Nordiques and Capitals teams as particularly good particularly often. He did jump ship just before the Nordiques got terrible, though, and did make five runs to the Conference finals including the 1998 cinderella SCF run with the Caps, and his final season with the Avs in 1999.

Thomas is interesting as well. He played for six different teams, but kind of at the wrong times with exceptions. Joined the reigning champions Devils in 1995-96 when they’d go on to miss the playoffs. Was with the Keenan Hawks but not when they made the finals, but instead was with the Islanders when they upset the Penguins and went to the conference finals. Solid run that time where he was runner-up in team scoring. Made the finals once in Anaheim, played his last games with Detroit in the 2004 playoffs.

Adam Oates to me looks like a really solid playoff performer most of the time, it’s a shame he never got to win.

Park and Propp I reckon are two of the all-time unluckiest. Park made the finals three times, Propp a whopping five, and no cigar. Damn. Roenick, guess it’s his injuries and stuff, but he was a legit superstar early in his career and you probably figured he would get more chances at winning than he did. Made the finals in 1992, then had to wait 12 years for the next big opportunity, where the Flyers’ dreams ended one game 7 goal down vs eventual champs the Bolts.

Fisher feels like the springboard for the increasing randomness I expect will start to appear after the playoff GP top 100. Not a bad player, solid defensively, long career and was part of good Senators teams and the Preds’ run to the SCF. I guess he’s not that much more surprising to see than Hunter and Thomas, I just didn’t realize how long he’d been around and for pretty good teams.
 
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overpass

Registered User
Jun 7, 2007
5,330
3,010
Edmonton just tied a 50-year old record for fewest shots on goal in a playoff win, with 10.

Chicago set the record in 1974, and new jersey tied it in 1990.

There has only been one instance of fewer shots in a playoff game: infamously Toronto's 6 in 2000.

Surprisingly, the 8 teams who've taken 10 or 11 shots in a playoff game are 5-3 in those games. They've got 12 GF and 13 GA, but are 10-6 if you disregard Toronto's 2004 collapse vs Philly in game 5.

Total shots are 255-84 in those 8 games.

The 1974 Chicago game and 1990 NJD, like the Edmonton game, both had the winning team score in the first 5 minutes of the game.

The 1974 game must have been super frustrating for the Kings and their fans. Chicago scored 40 seconds into the game and then nobody scored again. They were down by a goal for over 59 minutes. Just a week after LA had scored 11 goals against Vancouver.
 

reckoning

Registered User
Jan 4, 2005
7,054
1,342
It's late May 2024 and the Oilers are still alive in the playoffs. Currently, their player plus/minus results include the following:

+12 Evan Bouchard
-12 Darnell Nurse

Twenty-four goals different at ES is a pretty huge difference for two players playing the same position over a 15-game sample.
Before this, the biggest gap I had heard of between teammates in the playoffs was on the 1993 Los Angeles Kings:

Charlie Huddy +9
Luc Robitaille -13
 
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overpass

Registered User
Jun 7, 2007
5,330
3,010
It's late May 2024 and the Oilers are still alive in the playoffs. Currently, their player plus/minus results include the following:

+12 Evan Bouchard
-12 Darnell Nurse

Twenty-four goals different at ES is a pretty huge difference for two players playing the same position over a 15-game sample.

I thought of Karlsson and Cody Ceci in 2017, but they were only 20 apart (+13 and -7).

I wonder if anyone can beat Ceci's 2017 and 2024 combined.
 

blogofmike

Registered User
Dec 16, 2010
2,246
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Most playoff games without winning the Stanley Cup:

1. Joe Pavelski 201
2. Patrick Marleau 195
3. Joe Thornton 187
4. Dale Hunter 186
5. Steve Thomas 174
6. Adam Oates 163
7. Brad Park 161
8. Brian Propp 160
9. Jeremy Roenick 154
10. Mike Fisher 146
It's the sad Sharks version of seeing the all time playoff points list and seeing Oilers at the top.
 
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The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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Tokyo, Japan
Not exactly obscure, but Connor McDavid's points totals of RS + playoffs the past three seasons:

2022
156
2023
173
2024
163 (and counting)

I point this out, remembering how as recently as about 2017 such point totals would have seemed inconceivably impossible.
 
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