Detroit Red Wings miss playoffs for first time since 1990

The Red Wings lost to the Hurricanes 4-1, killing their playoff hopes and ending a 25-season run.

It actually happened.

The Detroit Red Wings have officially been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With wins for Boston and Toronto Tuesday night, the Red Wings were mathematically eliminated from contention as they also lost 4-1 to the surging Carolina Hurricanes.

It brings to an end what was the longest active NHL playoff streak. However, the Red Wings were still four years short of Boston’s all-time record of 29 consecutive playoff appearances, which ran from 1968-1996.

The new longest active playoff streak is 10 by the Pittsburgh Penguins, which should extend to 11 this season.

When last the Red Wings missed the playoffs in 1990, their top scorer was 24-year-old Steve Yzerman with 127 points, followed by ousted Florida Panthers coach Gerard Gallant’s 80 points. Borje Salming played 48 games for the Wings that season, his last in the NHL and Jacques Demers was the head coach.

Nicklas Lidstrom, 19, was one year removed from being picked in the third round by the Red Wings and hadn’t yet left Sweden to play professional hockey in North America. In fact, he remained in Sweden for the season after as well.

Here are some other noteworthy tidbits from the last time the Red Wings were officially a non-playoff team:

…67,678 fans watched the Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan to win the World Championship belt in WrestleMania VI, held at Toronto’s SkyDome.

…Ken Griffey Jr. was about to start his second season in the major leagues. Sandy Alomar Jr. was about to begin his AL-rookie-of-the-year campaign. They retired five and eight years ago, respectively.

…Jack Nicklaus appeared on the PGA’s Senior Tour for the very first time. And he won the tournament.

…A mostly unknown band named Nirvana was in discussions with producer Butch Vig to record an album called Sheep. It would take another 14 months to record and produce and release the album, which would eventually be called Nevermind.

…A rap group named Digital Underground released a video for a song called The Humpty Dance. In the background of the video, a lesser member of the young group, some guy named Tupac Shakur, can be seen dancing along with the beat.

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