MAY 19 NHL HISTORY
1974: The Philadelphia Flyers become the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup when they defeat the Boston Bruins 1-0 at the Spectrum in Game 6 of the Final.
Rick MacLeish scores a power-play goal at 14:48 of the first period, deflecting Andre Dupont’s shot past Gilles Gilbert for what turns out to be the only goal of the game.
Bernie Parent makes 30 saves for his second NHL playoff shutout. Parent wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after finishing 12-5 with a 2.02 goals-against average in 17 games.
1984: The Edmonton Oilers end one dynasty and start another when they defeat the New York Islanders 5-2 at Northlands Coliseum in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to win their first championship. Wayne Gretzky scores two first-period goals and assists on Ken Linseman’s goal early in the second period. Islanders rookie Pat LaFontaine scores twice in the first minute of the third period to cut Edmonton’s lead to 4-2, but goaltender Andy Moog keeps New York from getting any closer until Dave Lumley hits the empty net. The Oilers become the first former World Hockey Association team to win the Cup. Edmonton, which was swept by the Islanders in the Final a year earlier, goes on to win the Cup four times in five years. The loss ends the Islanders’ four-year run as champions and their streak of 19 consecutive series victories, still an NHL record.
1994: Stephane Matteau scores at 6:13 of the second overtime to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Matteau beats Martin Brodeur on the Rangers’ 50th shot of the game, putting New York ahead 2-1 in the best-of-7 series. It’s the first of two overtime goals by Matteau in the series.
1995: Goaltender Wade Flaherty makes 56 saves in his second NHL playoff start before Ray Whitney scores the winning goal at 1:54 of the second overtime, giving the San Jose Sharks a 5-4 victory against the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome in Game 7 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. After the Sharks fail to hold three two-goal leads, Flaherty survives a 17-shot barrage in the first overtime before Whitney, the No. 2 player taken by the Sharks in their first NHL Draft in 1991, gets the winner against Trevor Kidd.
1996: Paul Coffey becomes the highest goal-scoring defenseman in NHL playoff history by scoring twice in the Detroit Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. Coffey scores a power-play goal in the first period and a shorthanded goal early in the third. His 57 career playoff goals are one more than Denis Potvin.
2008: The Detroit Red Wings advance to the Final for the first time since 2002 by defeating the Dallas Stars 4-1at American Airlines Center in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final. Kris Draper, Pavel Datsyuk and Dallas Drake score in the first period to give Detroit a 3-0 lead, and Henrik Zetterberg adds a shorthanded goal early in the second. Chris Osgood makes 28 saves to help the Red Wings close out the Stars after Dallas wins Game 4 and 5. Datsyuk’s goal is his ninth of the 2008 playoffs and the 11th in a row that he’s scored on the road, including his last two in 2007.
2012: Chris Kreider scores one of the Rangers’ three third-period goals in a 3-0 victory against the Devils at Prudential Center in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final. It’s the fifth goal of the playoffs for Kreider, who joins the Rangers for the playoffs after their 82-game regular season concludes. He sets an NHL record for most goals scored in the playoffs by a player who has yet to play in a regular-season game, passing Eddie Mazur, who scores four times for the Montreal Canadiens in 1951 and ’52.
