June 17 NHL History
1989: The Quebec Nordiques begin the NHL Draft in Bloomington, Minnesota, by selecting Swedish center Mats Sundin; he’s the first European player to be taken with the No. 1 pick. Sundin comes to the NHL in 1990 and plays four seasons with Quebec before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1994. He retires after the 2008-09 season with 564 goals and 1,349 points, earning induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
1993: Boston Bruins defenseman Ray Bourque ties an NHL record when he’s named to the First All-Star team for the 10th time in his career.
1995: The underdog New Jersey Devils play an almost-perfect road game to start their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Devils limit the Detroit Red Wings to 17 shots and Martin Brodeur stops 16 of them in a 2-1 victory in Game 1 at Joe Louis Arena. New Jersey’s Stephane Richer and Detroit’s Dino Ciccarelli score power-play goals in the second period for a 1-1 tie. Forward Claude Lemieux score against Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon 3:17 into the third period to put New Jersey ahead to stay.
It was a stunning win by the Devils, who advanced to the Cup Final after a fifth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. The Devils set a single-season playoff record with their ninth road victory.
Detroit coach Scotty Bowman sets a record by leading a fourth team to the Cup Final.
1999: Ed Belfour makes 23 saves for his third shutout of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the seventh of his career, and the Dallas Stars defeat the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 in Game 5 of the Cup Final at Reunion Arena. The Stars take a quick 1-0 lead when defenseman Darryl Sydor scores 2:23 into the game and Belfour makes it stand up until Pat Verbeek scores with 4:39 remaining. Mike Modano assists on each goal. The victory gives Dallas a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.
2006: Not even the return of forward Erik Cole from a broken vertebra sustained on March 4 can help the Carolina Hurricanes, who lose 4-0 to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Cup Final at Rexall Place. The Oilers limit the Hurricanes to 16 shots against goaltender Jussi Markkanen, and Fernando Pisani scores his 13th goal of the playoffs early in the second period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. The Oilers tie the best-of-7 series 3-3. Cole played 18:31 and finished with two shots on goal and three hits.