Taking a look back at when the Montreal Canadiens turned an 102 points season into a Stanley Cup victory in 1993.
Every year the Stanley Cup is awarded to an NHL team. It’s been 24 years since a Canadian team hoisted the cup, and that team was the Montreal Canadiens.
The 1992-1993 team had a new coach in Jacques Demers after previously being led by Pat Burns. Demers did a decent job with the team going 48-30-9. The record was good enough to finish third in the Adams Division.
New addition Vincent Damphousse and returnee Kirk Muller led the way in scoring. Damphousse was at the head with 39 goals and 58 assists, while Muller finished with 37 goals and 57 assists. Patrick Roy was the man in between the posts for the Canadiens. Despite being the number one goalie, he didn’t put up the greatest numbers with a Sv% of 0.894.
The Playoff Run
The Stanley Cup playoffs started with a first round bout against the Quebec Nordiques. It didn’t start the way the Habs wanted as they dropped the first two games. Fortunately, the team was able to bound together and win four in a row to clinch the series. When recounting the series, coach Demers said:
"The key was, when we lost the first two games of the playoffs, nobody panicked. And in Montreal, you could not lose the first two games to the Nordiques. Everybody was saying “Sweep, sweep …” But then we beat them four straight. That’s where we became the team that won the Cup. We’re down 0-2 to Quebec. A lot of people are panicking. And we stayed together. It’s hard to win the Cup, but we just seemed to roll on from there. Yes, Patrick was good, but it was everyone."
It was a much easier second round for the Canadiens as they blew past the Buffalo Sabres. Although they swept the series, it wasn’t easy as each game ended by a score of 4-3. Finishing early, they sat back and waited for the winner of the Penguins-Islanders series.
The Canadiens won the first three games of the Conference Finals against the Islanders extending their playoff win streak to 11 games. The Islanders tried to make the series more interesting by winning Game Four, but it wasn’t enough as the Habs came back to finish the series the next game.
Winning The Cup
It was off to the Stanley Cup Final against Wayne Gretzky‘s Los Angeles Kings. Montreal at that point had not won a cup since 1986, so the hunger was present. Game 1 didn’t go the Habs’ way as they lost 4-1. However, the team pulled together and won four in a row (again), to win the Stanley Cup. Three of those games were decided in overtime. Muller was the hero of the series, as his 2-1 goal in Game 5 was the eventual winner.
Roy was named Playoff MVP for the Habs and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy. The then 27-year-old was a big part of the team’s win putting up a Sv% of 0.929.
The expectations were low, and with a young team not many expected them to pull it off. However, they were able to fight through the adversity and bring the cup to Canada.
Rookie at the time Ed Ronan in an article for the National Post said:
"I know that I’ll never find that feeling again."
That may be true, but perhaps that feeling can return if the present day Habs can duplicate what the ’93 team did. It’s not that outrageous, their time is now.
Next: Top 10 Goals of the 2016-2017 Season
Do you have any memories of the ’93 Stanley Cup team? Can the Montreal Canadiens raise the Cup again in the near future? Let us know what you think in the comments below!