When it comes to the playoffs in any professional sport, upsets are bound to happen.
This is especially true when it comes to the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs. It is actually one of the greatest things about our sport because every single postseason there is always a team that surprises.
Just ask the 2011-12 Presidents’ Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks, who were overthrown on Sunday by the eighth-seed Los Angeles Kings.
These kinds of upsets often occur in the earlier rounds of the NHL postseason. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the biggest first round upsets that have happened in previous NHL playoffs.
2010: No. 8 seed Montreal Canadiens shock NHL’s best team, the Washington Capitals
Going into the 2010 postseason, the Washington Capitals were the league’s best team and had an offensive arsenal at their disposal.
What the Capitals did not know was that the Montreal Canadiens had a secret weapon to counter their offence and his name was Jaroslav Halak. Simply put, Halak played out of his mind and stymied the Capitals time and time again to help his team beat the league’s best four games to three.
In Games 6 and 7, Halak stopped an astounding 94 of 96 shots and helped his team overcome a 3-1 deficit and defeat the Capitals in what had to be the biggest upset of the 2010 postseason.
2009: Anaheim Ducks beat the best team in the Western Conference, the San Jose Sharks
When an NHL team has a hot goaltender and timely goal scoring, anything can happen.
This is exactly what the Anaheim Ducks got in the first round in their 4-2 series win over the San Jose Sharks. The Ducks rode netminder Jonas Hiller’s two shutouts and the goal-scoring of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne to defeat Joe Thornton and the Presidents’ Trophy winning Sharks.
That postseason, the Ducks became the third team to beat the NHL’s top regular-season club in the first round since 2000, and just the fifth team since 1968.
2006: Edmonton Oilers shock the first place Detroit Red Wings
If you have been reading this piece carefully, you will notice that Presidents’ Trophy winners do not always have success in the postseason.
The Detroit Red Wings realized this in 2006 when they went up against the upstart Edmonton Oilers. The team ran into the hot goaltending of Dwayne Roloson and had trouble finding the tying goal as they lost three one-goal games in a 4-2 series loss.
The first-round series win for the Oilers was the start of something special as they came within one win of capturing the Stanley Cup.
2001: Toronto Maple Leafs Sweep the No. 2 seed Ottawa Senators
Going into the first round of the 2001 playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a tall order ahead of them as they got set to take on the second seeded Ottawa Senators.
The Senators had a terrific regular season compiling 109 points while the Leafs finished seventh in the Eastern Conference with 90 points. Luckily, the Leafs had a netminder by the name of Curtis Joseph, who led the Leafs in a four-game sweep of the Senators.
Joseph didn’t allow his first goal of the series until the final four minutes of Game 3, ousting the Senators from the first round for the third straight year.
2000: St. Louis Blues Presidents’ Trophy winning season ruined by San Jose Sharks
The 1999-00 season seemed like the perfect time for the St. Louis Blues to be a Stanley Cup contender.
Coming off their 114-point regular season and following the play of Hart Trophy winner Chris Pronger, the Blues went into the 2000 postseason as the team to beat. Unfortunately for the Blues, the San Jose Sharks believed otherwise and stunned the Blues by beating them in seven games thanks to great performances from forward Owen Nolan and netminder Steve Shields.
Again, if you have come this far in the piece, it should come as no surprise that a Presidents’ Trophy winner was ousted in the first round.
1998: New Jersey Devils continue to struggle in postseason with first round loss to the Ottawa Senators
Finishing first in the Conference does not always mean a team will have success when it matters most.
In 1998, the New Jersey Devils finished on top of the Eastern Conference with 107 points while their opponent, the Ottawa Senators, finished with 14 fewer regular season victories. The Senators surprised the Devils by winning the series in six games in what was their first playoff series win in franchise history.
Even New Jersey Devils captain Scott Stevens was surprised. ”They’re an average team that played great,” the Devils defenceman said after the loss. ”We’re an above-average team that played poorly.”
1994: San Jose Sharks stun the Detroit Red Wings
Going into the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Detroit Red Wings were heavily favoured to go deep and contend for hockey’s Holy Grail.
Unfortunately for the Red Wings, the third-year San Jose Sharks squashed those dreams. In what was a first-round upset for the ages, the Sharks beat the Wings, the league’s highest scoring team, four games to three and rode the big-time goaltending of small netminder Arturs Irbe.
Remember folks, this was a Sharks team that went 11-71-2 the previous season and now, had stunned a Cup contender.
1984: Steve Penney and the Montreal Canadiens shut down the Boston Bruins
Before Patrick Roy went on to star in the postseason for the Montreal Canadiens in 1986, there was goaltender Steve Penney.
Despite making four starts and losing all four in the regular season, Penney was named the starter for the Canadiens in their first-round matchup with the Boston Bruins. Penney went on to stone the Bruins and allowed just two goals in a three-game sweep.
Penney did his best impression of Canadiens legend Ken Dryden, who also beat the Bruins in the playoffs back in 1971.
1982: Los Angeles Kings script upset over powerhouse Edmonton Oilers
Going into the 1982 postseason, everyone knew just how dangerous Wayne Gretzky and the rest of the Edmonton Oilers squad would be.
That regular season, Gretzky scored a record 212 points (92 goals and 112 assists) and helped the Oilers lead the league with 400 goals en route to winning the Smythe Division title with 111 points. At the other end, the Los Angeles Kings finished with just 63 points and were 17 games under .500.
After the Oilers won the first two games of the series, the Kings pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in professional sports when they scored five goals in the third period and won the game on an overtime goal by Daryl Evans, which became known as the “Miracle on Manchester.” The Kings would use that game to propel them to a decisive 7-4 victory in the final game of the series.
The 48-point differential is the largest point differential that a team has overcome to win a series in the postseason.
1981: Wayne Gretzky and the 14th seeded Edmonton Oilers astound the Montreal Canadiens
In 1981, seeding in the NHL postseason was extremely different as 16 teams were seeded one through 16, regardless of what division or conference the teams played in.
That year, the storied Montreal Canadiens, who finished the regular season with 103 points, took on a bunch of youngsters on the Edmonton Oilers in the first round. Well, those young Oilers had Wayne Gretzky, who led the Oilers to a sweep of the third seeded Montreal Canadiens.
Gretzky had five assists in Game 1 as he and the Oilers won their first playoff series.
