Obscure hockey facts/stats (Part 2)

[cupcrazyman]

Ken Dryden

-Won the Conn Smythe Trophy a year beforee he won the Calder Trophy
-Won an individual Trophy (7) in every year he played except one
-Never lost more than 10 games in a regular season
-Played in less than 400 regular season games
-Seasonal GAA was never greater than 2.30

 

[cupcrazyman]

An obscure piece of trivia is that the photo used in Gretzky's rookie card was shot at Springfield Civic Centre almost exactly one year earlier. On November 9, 1978, photographer Steve Babineau captured Gretzky glancing up at the scoreboard in the second period during a powerplay as time was winding down. Gretzky eventually scored the only Oilers goal of the game.

Speaking of Gretzky. There's a neat little article mentioning Gretzky when he was 13, playing as a defenceman, saying that he had scored 900 goals up to that point. He was billed as another "Bobby Orr".

This of course leads us to the fact that Orr and Gretzky actually were teammates in one game.
On April 25, 1980 Orr and Gretzky played in a charity game to raise money for former NHL'er and Orr's old Oshawa teammate Bill Heindl [1946-1992]. Heindl attempted suicide six months earlier by jumping off a bridge and ended up in a wheelchair.


View attachment 498556

 

[Kahvi]

Longest win streak for Canadiens this season so far: 1 game.

I looked at some early 1990's expansion teams record, and even the 1992-1993 Sharks and Senators won 2 games in a row at one point (Sharks also had W, T, W at one point). Lot of games left, but has any team ever finished the season without winning at least 2 in a row?

Ok, I found one team: 1980-81 Winnipeg Jets. Three times they won a game and tied the next one. So that's two games in a row without losing, even though that's not exactly the same thing.

Same thing for 1974-75 and 75-76 Washington Capitals, no two wins in a row but at one point two games without losing (T, W). Same for 1978-79 Colorado Rockies

 

[pnep]

Longest win streak for Canadiens this season so far: 1 game.

I looked at some early 1990's expansion teams record, and even the 1992-1993 Sharks and Senators won 2 games in a row at one point (Sharks also had W, T, W at one point). Lot of games left, but has any team ever finished the season without winning at least 2 in a row?

Ok, I found one team: 1980-81 Winnipeg Jets. Three times they won a game and tied the next one. So that's two games in a row without losing, even though that's not exactly the same thing.

Same thing for 1974-75 and 75-76 Washington Capitals, no two wins in a row but at one point two games without losing (T, W)

SEASON	Team	W Streak
1917-18	MTW	1​
1919-20	QUB	1​
1927-28	CHI	1​
1929-30	PIP	1​
1930-31	PHQ	1​
1934-35	STE	1​
1974-75	WAS	1​
1975-76	WAS	1​
1978-79	COR	1​
1980-81	WIN	1​

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[The Panther]

Not exactly 'obscure', but interesting: Select Wayne Gretzky scoring totals, regular season + playoffs combined. Season and points-per-game in bold.

1980-81
89GP: 62G + 123A = 185PTS (+51) 2.08 PPG

(for the following five seasons, Edmonton scores at least 401 goals each year):
1981-82
85GP: 97G + 127A = 224PTS (+79) 2.64 PPG

1982-83
96GP: 83G + 151A = 234PTS (+81) 2.44 PPG

1983-84
93GP: 100G + 140A = 240PTS (+96) 2.58 PPG

1984-85
98GP: 90G + 165A = 255PTS (+127) 2.60 PPG

1985-86
90GP: 60G + 174A = 234PTS (+70) 2.60 PPG

(Oilers score less than 400 goals hereafter):
1986-87
100GP: 67G + 150A = 217PTS (+79) 2.17 PPG

(Coffey leaves):
1987-88
83GP: 52G + 140A = 192PTS (+49) 2.31 PPG

(Gretzky traded to L.A.):
1988-89
89GP: 59G + 131A = 190PTS (+11) 2.13 PPG

1989-90
80GP: 43G + 109A = 152PTS (+4) 1.90 PPG

1990-91
90GP: 45G + 133A = 178PTS (+30) 1.98 PPG

(Gretzky's prime years end)


1992-93
69GP: 31G + 74A = 105PTS (+12) 1.52 PPG


1996-97
97GP: 35G + 82A = 117PTS (+17) 1.21 PPG


NOTES:
-- The stats underlined are the highest-such totals ever (RS + playoffs).
-- Gretzky's +127 in 1984-85 is, I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong), the highest such ever except for Larry Robinson's +132 in 1976-77. (Still, the highest ever for a forward.)
-- Very hard not to argue 1984-85 as Gretzky's greatest-ever season, all things considered.
-- Funny that 1985-86 is still the most assists ever despite the Oilers losing in the second round.
-- The 1988 vs. 1987 result kind of proves that losing Coffey didn't lower Gretzky's production.
-- Gretzky's outstanding 1990-91 regular season unfortunately looks a bit more human after L.A.'s "meh" playoff result is factored in.
-- Context (somewhat) for points-per-game totals would also include that 1986-87 saw a sudden drop in scoring, and then the same from 1989-90 onward. Of course, 1996-97 is the transition season into the dead-puck era.

 

[The Panther]

SEASON	Team	W Streak
1917-18	MTW	1​
1919-20	QUB	1​
1927-28	CHI	1​
1929-30	PIP	1​
1930-31	PHQ	1​
1934-35	STE	1​
1974-75	WAS	1​
1975-76	WAS	1​
1978-79	COR	1​
1980-81	WIN	1​

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

There are still a lot of games to go this season, but geez Montreal is toying with some really dangerous company in terms of post-WWII teams here...

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Does anyone know the season (and/or calendar year) that featured the most players reaching the 500 goal mark?

I think the answer, if we're talking about NHL seasons, is 1995-96. Four players reached the milestone - Lemieux (who jumped from 20th to 9th all-time), Messier, Yzerman, Hawerchuk. But curious is anyone can confirm/disprove.

(EDIT - actually it looks like the 2006-07 season has more, with five. Selanne, Modano, Sundin, Recchi and Bondra all reached 500 that season).

 

[frisco]

Phil Esposito broke the previous goals record of 58 by scoring 76. The 31.0% increase over the old record is the highest ever.

At the end of the 1959-60 season, Gordie Howe was the league's active leading scorer. At the end of the 1979-80 season, Gordie was the league's active leading scorer.

At the end of the 2011-12 season, Jaromir Jagr was the league's active leading playoff goal scorer with 78. In 2017-18, Jagr was the league's active leading playoff goal scorer still with 78.

The Cleveland Barons (1978, semi-merged with Minnesota) was the only franchise to fold in the four major professional sports leagues since 1955.

My Best-Carey

 

[Kahvi]

Phil Esposito broke the previous goals record of 58 by scoring 76. The 31.0% increase over the old record is the highest ever.

Without looking I'm sure Selänne's 76 goals that broke Bossy's rookie goal scoring record, is also the highest % increase in rookie scoring record. But the most interesting part is of course that in both cases it's 76 goals scored that has the highest increase

 

[hacksaw7]

We all know about Tugnutt's Boston Garden firing squad game...but the 2nd most saves ever in a regular season game was accomplished by Mario Lessard. March 24th 1981 at the Met Center, Lessard's Kings would defeat the North Stars 4-3, he would face 68 shots and make an astounding 65 saves, all in regulation

The LA Kings were outshot 68-19 in that game. And won

Can't thing of another regular season game where a team was outshot by 49!!

Wonder if youtube has this game...

 

[hacksaw7]

Between 12/26/1981 and 1/27/1982, the Los Angeles Kings played 16 games. Their record in those games was 0-7-9. In fact they finished that stretch with six consecutive tie games

Not sure if that's a record...just found it to be a bit weird. That Kings squad was one of the more bizarre teams in the annals of NHL history. This same club would upset Edmonton in the first round. And here they are having a 16 game winless stretch. But getting points in more than half those games

 

[Big Phil]

The Bruins had several coaches in the 1970s despite being a great team that entire decade.

 

[frisco]

Pittsburgh's first four Cups were won by coaches in their first year with the team.

Dominik Hasek (1994) and Marty Turco (2007) both lost playoff series despite playing in all the games and posting a save percentage over .950.

Maurice Richard recorded 64 PIM in 10 playoff games in 1946-47. This was the NHL record for a playoff year until Barclay Plager had 73 in 1968 (18 GP).

Wayne Gretzky broke the regular season assist record five times. Once over Orr and then bettered himself four more seasons.

My Best-Carey

 

[frisco]

The only players to play in the all the first four best-on-best tourneys: 1972 Summit Series, 1976 Canada Cup, 1979 Challenge Cup, and 1981 Canada Cup were Valeri Vasiliev, Vladislav Tretiak, and Gilbert Perreault.

My Best-Carey

 

[Nogatco Rd]

The only players to play in the 1972 Summit Series, 1976 Canada Cup, 1979 Challenge Cup, and 1981 Canada Cup were Valeri Vasiliev, Vladislav Tretriak, and Gilbert Perreault.

My Best-Carey

Pretty crazy. I wonder why no one else showed up?

 

[frisco]

Pretty crazy. I wonder why no one else showed up?

Yeah, it was mainly Perreault going in one-and-one on Vasiliev and if he got by him then Tretiak was waiting. All the Soviets had to do was dump the puck into the empty net a few times and that was the game.

My Best-Carey

 

[Kahvi]

There are still a lot of games to go this season, but geez Montreal is toying with some really dangerous company in terms of post-WWII teams here...

Canadiens have now won 4 straight after my original post

 

[Harry Waters]

Dominik Hasek (1994) and Marty Turco (2007) both lost playoff series despite playing in all the games and posting a save percentage over .950.

That's actually crazy. And how frustrating must that be? You're basically stopping everything that comes at you and you're still losing.

 

[hacksaw7]

That's actually crazy. And how frustrating must that be? You're basically stopping everything that comes at you and you're still losing.

In games 6 and 7 vs NJ in 1994 Hasek's save percentage was .982. He faced 116 shots in those 2 games (9+ periods)

 

[FerrisRox]

The only players to play in the all the first four best-on-best tourneys: 1972 Summit Series, 1976 Canada Cup, 1979 Challenge Cup, and 1981 Canada Cup were Valeri Vasiliev, Vladislav Tretiak, and Gilbert Perreault.

My Best-Carey

Perreault left the team in '72, so while he did play in the tournament, he didn't complete it, so I would put Vasiliev and Tretiak a tier above him.

 

[FerrisRox]

Pretty crazy. I wonder why no one else showed up?

How are there not more likes for this?!? This is, without a doubt, the hardest I have ever laughed from a comment here in twenty years!

 

[cupcrazyman]

Wayne Gretzky scored his 500th goal into an empty net

Who were the other players that scored their 500th the same way ?

 

[seventieslord]

From April 18, 1992 (when Nicklas Lidstrom began his streak) until April 20, 1992 (when Larry Robinson's streak ended), all of what would eventually become the nine longest playoff ironmen streak of all-time, were active.

 

[Big Phil]

The only players to play in the all the first four best-on-best tourneys: 1972 Summit Series, 1976 Canada Cup, 1979 Challenge Cup, and 1981 Canada Cup were Valeri Vasiliev, Vladislav Tretiak, and Gilbert Perreault.

My Best-Carey

I guess in all fairness Marcel Dionne fits the bill here. Although he didn't play in 1972. I asked him a couple of years ago at a card show why they never let him play. He said that they were all promised they would play, and then it changed after the bombing in Game 1. He felt that since he and Perreault were younger they had more energy and probably could have benefited from letting them play more, but alas.

 

[Big Phil]

Here is something with the city of Pittsburgh. They have not won a championship at home since 1960 (Maseroski's Game 7 home run). Since then the Pirates have won in 1971 and 1979, both on the road. 6 Super Bowls by the Steelers, all at neutral sites. And then all 5 Penguin Cups were won on the road. Ironically only once the Pens actually were in the position to win one of them at home, but then lost Game 5 vs. San Jose in 2016.