1994–95 Vancouver Canucks season

1994–95 Vancouver Canucks
Division 2nd Pacific
Conference 6th Western
1994–95 record 18–18–12
Home record 10–8–6
Road record 8–10–6
Goals for 153
Goals against 148
Team information
General Manager Pat Quinn
Coach Rick Ley
Captain Trevor Linden
Alternate captains Sergio Momesso
Dana Murzyn
Arena Pacific Coliseum
Average attendance 13,932
Team leaders
Goals Pavel Bure (20)
Assists Pavel Bure (23)
Points Pavel Bure (43)
Penalties in minutes Dana Murzyn (129)
Wins Kirk McLean (18)
Goals against average Kirk McLean (2.75)
<1993–94 1995–96>

The 1994–95 Vancouver Canucks season was the team's 25th NHL campaign. Goaltender Kirk McLean earned all eighteen of the Canucks' wins during the lockout-shortened, forty-eight game season. Pavel Bure was not the same offensive dynamo that he had been over the prior two seasons, each of which saw him hit the 60-goal mark, but he did still lead the club in goals (23), assists (23, and tied with Jeff Brown), points (43) and shots (198). A trade with the Dallas Stars on April 7th, 1995 saw Russ Courtnall join his brother Geoff on the Canucks. The team finished the season with as many wins as losses, good for 6th place in the Western Conference, and they led the league with 12 ties. This was also the team's final season at the Pacific Coliseum before moving to GM Place, now known as Rogers Arena.

Playoffs

In the post-season, Vancouver was the clear underdog against the third-place St. Louis Blues, who had members from the 1994 Stanley-Cup champion Rangers team, as well as their head coach, Mike Keenan. After losing game one at the Kiel Center by a score of 2-1, the Canucks won game two by a score of 5-3 behind Kirk McLean's 33-save performance and Pavel Bure's shorthanded insurance goal in the third period. The shots on goal were 26 for Vancouver and 36 for St. Louis, as they had been in the first game. The Canucks carried over their momentum from their win into game two to the Pacific Coliseum for game three, which they then won 6-1. Sergio Momesso scored twice. The Canucks were looking to win game four as well, leading 2-1 after Russ Courtnall's shorthanded goal at 4:41 of the second period. But the Blues got their jump from Brendan Shanahan who scored a natural hat trick to give the Blues a 4-2 lead. Glenn Anderson would add another goal at 13:01 of the third period as St. Louis went on to win 5-2 to square the series at two games apiece. In game five at the Kiel Center, the Canucks scored 4 times on their first 19 shots, as Curtis Joseph would be pulled in favor of Jon Casey. Trailing Vancouver 5-4 with under 12 minutes to play, Murray Baron tied the game at 8:22 of the third period. The game would go into overtime where Cliff Ronning scored at 1:48 of the first overtime period to give the Canucks a 3-2 lead in the series.

Looking to close out the series at home in game six, the Canucks were dominated by the Blues who won by a score of 8-2. Esa Tikkanen picked up four points in the game (2 goals and 2 assists). Kirk McLean allowed six goals on just 17 shots. With the series tied at 3-3, a crucial game seven in St. Louis took place on Friday, May 19. Although the Blues had twice as many shots as the Canucks (44-22), Curtis Joseph allowed 4 goals on 21 shots while Kirk McLean made 41 saves. Call-up rookie Adrian Aucoin began a successful NHL career by blasting a slapshot on the power-play to give the Canucks the lead, and Pavel Bure added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds remaining to seal the game 5-3 and earn the Canucks a 4-3 series win. It was Bure's seventh goal of the playoffs. It was a series with marked offensive output, as each team scored 27 goals over the seven games. The Canucks' special teams dominated throughout, as Vancouver scored 11 power-play goals and six short-handed goals in the series.

In the second round, the Canucks faced the Chicago Blackhawks. Both teams skated to a 1-1 tie before Joe Murphy scored the winner at 9:04 of the first overtime period. Blackhawks goaltender Ed Belfour stopped 26 of 27 Vancouver shots. Game two was also close, as Chicago edged Vancouver 2-0 on goals by Jim Cummins and Patrick Poulin. Down two games to none in the series, the Canucks battled desperately to get a win at home in game three, but relinquished leads of 1-0 and 2-1. Ironically it was ex-Canuck Murray Craven who tied the game at 2-2 with 45 seconds remaining in the third period to send the game to overtime. Chris Chelios scored at 6:22 of the first overtime period as the Hawks took a commanding three-games-to-none series lead. In game four, Vancouver broke a 1-1 tie on two goals by Roman Oksiuta to lead 3-1 in the second period, but Chicago came back again on goals by another ex-Canuck Gerald Diduck and Jeremy Roenick, leaving the score after 60 minutes tied at three goals apiece. Once again, the overtime hero was Chris Chelios, who scored 5:35 into the extra frame to give the Blackhawks a 4-0 sweep over the Canucks, advancing them to the third round for the first time in three years.

Regular season

Pacific Division
No. CR GP W L T GF GA Pts
12 Calgary Flames 48 24 17 7 163 135 55
26 Vancouver Canucks 48 18 18 12 153 148 48
37 San Jose Sharks 48 19 25 4 129 161 42
49 Los Angeles Kings 48 16 23 9 142 174 41
511 Edmonton Oilers 48 17 27 4 136 183 38
612 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 48 16 27 5 125 164 37

[1]

Note: No. = Division rank, CR = Conference rank, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
       Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Western Conference[2]
R Div GP W L T GF GA Pts
1 p – Detroit Red Wings CEN 48 33 11 4 180 117 70
2 x – Calgary Flames PAC 48 24 17 7 163 135 55
3 St. Louis Blues CEN 48 28 15 5 178 135 61
4 Chicago Blackhawks CEN 48 24 19 5 156 115 53
5 Toronto Maple Leafs CEN 48 21 19 8 135 146 50
6 Vancouver Canucks PAC 48 18 18 12 153 148 48
7 San Jose Sharks PAC 48 19 25 4 129 161 42
8 Dallas Stars CEN 48 17 23 8 136 135 42
9 Los Angeles Kings PAC 48 16 23 9 142 174 41
10 Winnipeg Jets CEN 48 16 25 7 157 177 39
11 Edmonton Oilers PAC 48 17 27 4 136 183 38
12 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim PAC 48 16 27 5 125 164 37

Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific

bold – Qualified for playoffs; x – Won division; p – Won Presidents' Trophy

Schedule and results

Note: R = result

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring leaders

Source: Hockey-Reference.com[3]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes; PPG = Power Play Goals; SHG = Shorthanded Goals; GWG = Game Winning Goals

Player Pos GP G A Pts +/- PIM PPG SHG GWG
Bure, PavelPavel Bure RW 44 20 23 43 -848622
Linden, TrevorTrevor Linden C 48 18 22 40 -540901
Courtnall, GeoffGeoff Courtnall LW 45 16 18 34 281701
Jeff Brown D 33 8 23 31 -216301
Momesso, SergioSergio Momesso LW 48 10 15 25 -265601
Ronning, CliffCliff Ronning C 41 6 19 25 -427302

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Playoffs

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Player GP TOI W L GA SO Sv% GAA

References

  1. Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al., eds. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  2. "1994-1995 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
  3. "1994-95 Vancouver Canucks Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved February 27, 2012.

External links

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