During our annual theme pitch for this semester, we all went around and nominated several different words and phrases to be considered for themes for our upcoming issues. “Had It, Lost It,” which was my nomination, finished as one of the top three themes. This is what inspired me to nominate it as a theme for a Loco Mag issue.
The date is May 16, 1996. The St. Louis Blues are deadlocked in a 0-0 tie in double overtime of Game 7 of their second-round series against the Detroit Red Wings, with a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line. Whichever team scores the next goal will be four wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.
Before I proceed any further, though, let’s take a closer look at the teams at hand.
St. Louis reached the postseason as the fifth seed in a weak Western Conference—only three teams had finished with a record above NHL .500—being largely carried by goaltender Grant Fuhr. Fuhr had started in 79 of the Blues’ 82 games that season, an NHL record that will likely never be broken. As the season progressed, St. Louis was middling in the standings. However, Mike Keenan, the team’s head coach and general manager, had made a massive acquisition for the team’s offense: Wayne Gretzky.
That’s right, The Great One himself had joined the Blues, uniting with former teammate Fuhr and franchise cornerstone Brett Hull in an attempt to bring the Stanley Cup to St. Louis for the first time. Gretzky was traded to the Blues after seven-plus seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, hoping for another shot at a championship. At age 35, Gretzky was still an incredible player, scoring above a point-per-game pace like he had in years past. He finished the season with 102 points in 80 games played, including 21 points in 18 games with St. Louis after being traded.
Like with any player, though, Gretzky started to slow down with age. He was limited to just 45 games in 1992-93 due to a back injury, but returned halfway through the season to help the Kings reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history. Los Angeles did not win the Cup that year, losing to the Montréal Canadiens in five games, but the team came very close despite Gretzky’s injury troubles.
When Gretzky was on the ice, he was the smartest player out there. He would fly past defenders and confuse opposing goaltenders as he sent the puck into the back of the net, visualizing a path to the goal whilst making split-second changes in his decisions. He’s called The Great One for a reason, after all.
A nine-time Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP, Gretzky consistently found himself high up in the scoring leaderboards, regularly leading the league in goals, assists, and points. His on-ice presence helped to elevate the Edmonton Oilers (and later, the Kings as well) from a good team to a formidable foe for any opponent. In addition to LA’s run to the Final in 1993, Gretzky helped Edmonton to five appearances in the Stanley Cup Final between 1983 and 1988, with the Oilers winning the Cup in all but one of these attempts. When you have Gretzky on your side, you always have a chance to win.
Now, in 1996, Gretzky was looking to reach the top with the Blues. Having previously been teammates with the likes of Mark Messier in Edmonton and Luc Robitaille in Los Angeles, Gretzky was teaming up with another superstar in Brett Hull.
Since being traded to St. Louis from the Calgary Flames in 1988, Hull had evolved into one of the best goal scorers in the league. Between 1989-90 and 1991-92, Hull scored 228 goals, the highest total by any NHL player over a three-year period since Gretzky notched 250 goals from 1981-82 to 1983-84. For his efforts, Hull was crowned as league MVP in the 1990-91 season, which was sandwiched between two third-place finishes in MVP voting.
Despite Hull’s continued success on the ice—he scored 43 goals in 70 games in 1995-96—things were not going so smoothly off of it. Hull had started to clash with Keenan throughout the season, thanks in part to Keenan’s decision to remove Hull from his post as team captain; Gretzky would later receive the captaincy upon his arrival. Notably, this was not the first time that something like this happened with Keenan involved.
Over his time as an NHL head coach and executive, Keenan’s rough coaching style and coinciding clashes with upper personnel had garnered him a negative reputation around the league. For instance, Keenan was fired by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1988 after four seasons as the team’s head coach; despite the Flyers qualifying for the playoffs every year (and reaching the Final twice), the players had grown tired of Keenan’s antics. Philadelphia GM Bobby Clarke said that the players had “lost their enthusiasm” while playing for Keenan, which led to his firing after the 1987-88 season.
After four years with the Chicago Blackhawks, Keenan spent one season as the head coach of the New York Rangers in 1993-94, helping the team to its first Stanley Cup championship since 1940. Shortly after the season, Keenan resigned from his position due to conflicts with general manager Neil Smith. According to Smith, Keenan had been pursuing positions with other teams, such as the Red Wings, during the 1994 playoffs—before the Rangers had even won the Cup.
Ultimately, Keenan signed with the Blues for 1994-95, and Jim Devellano and Scotty Bowman headed Detroit’s front office.
Devellano selected Steve Yzerman fourth overall in 1983, looking to help turn the tide of the franchise’s trajectory. Between 1966-67 and 1982-83, the Red Wings only qualified for the playoffs twice, making it no further than the quarterfinals each time.
Yzerman delivered offensively during both of his first two seasons, registering 87 points in 80 games in 1983-84 and 89 in 80 the following season. Detroit qualified for the playoffs both times, losing in the first round each time. Nevertheless, the team was on the right track, with Yzerman at the forefront.
After his 1985-86 season was cut short due to injury, Yzerman was named the Red Wings’ captain for 1986-87. Between 1986-87 and 1988-89, Detroit won two Norris Division titles and earned back-to-back berths in the Campbell Conference Finals, coming up short against Gretzky and the Oilers in 1987 and ‘88. During these runs, Yzerman was at his peak offensively, posting new career highs of 65 goals, 90 assists, and 155 points during the 1988-89 campaign.
As the years went on, the Red Wings became a regular presence in the postseason, qualifying in all but two years between 1983-84 and 1994-95. By the 1993-94 season, Detroit was one of the top teams in the NHL, finishing first in the Western Conference during the regular season. That season, forward Sergei Fedorov won the Hart Trophy, leading the Red Wings in scoring with 56 goals and 64 assists for 120 points.
In 1995-96, Fedorov was one of five Russian players playing for Detroit, alongside forwards Vyacheslav Kozlov and Igor Larionov and defensemen Vladimir Konstantinov and Viacheslav Fetisov. At the time, the Red Wings had the most Russian players out of any NHL team, and the group collectively became known as the Russian Five. All five players became regular members of Detroit’s lineup, hoping to help the Red Wings avenge their recent defeat in the 1995 Stanley Cup Final.
Detroit broke the NHL record for most games won during the regular season, winning 62 games in 1995-96. Fedorov, Yzerman, and Kozlov each scored 36 goals, with Fedorov leading the way with 39 goals and 107 points. The Red Wings’ 325 goals scored was the third-most in the league, and their 181 goals allowed was the fewest by any team that season. Needless to say, Detroit was a really solid team. Even so, this was a crucial year for the Red Wings; the team finished atop the Western Conference in each of the last two seasons (and first in the NHL in 1994-95) with nothing to show for it. One might say they had it and were in serious danger of losing it.
Detroit began the 1996 postseason with relative ease, outscoring the Winnipeg Jets 8-1 over the first two games of the opening round. After losing two of the next three games, the Red Wings closed out the series with a 4-1 victory in Game 6 at Winnipeg Arena.
St. Louis, meanwhile, had a much closer first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Every game except for Game 4 was decided by two goals or less, and three games went to overtime. The biggest story from this series, however, occurred in Game 2.
Fuhr went to make a routine save against the Maple Leafs, and the whistle blew shortly after to stop play. Blues defenseman Chris Pronger cross-checked Toronto forward Nick Kypreos, who then collided with Fuhr in the net (proceed with caution). Kypreos appeared to dramatize the impact of Pronger’s check, leading St. Louis to feel as though the collision was intentional. Regardless of Kypreos’s intent, Fuhr was severely injured, exiting the game with several torn knee ligaments. Backup goaltender Jon Casey was named the Blues’ starter for the rest of the playoffs, helping St. Louis to a six-game victory in the first round.
The Blues were the lowest remaining seed in the Western Conference, setting up a second-round series against the Red Wings, who were the best team in the regular season. The teams were long-time divisional foes, having been in the same division since the 1981-82 season. St. Louis had won two of their previous three playoff meetings against Detroit, most recently defeating the Wings in a seven-game comeback in 1991. With both teams needing just four more wins for a berth in the Western Conference Finals, they were hungry for a series victory.
The second round began at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. Game 1 was a back-and-forth affair, as the score was tied at 2-2 with just over two minutes in regulation. A whopping 21 penalties were handed out in this game, and three goals were scored on the power play. Fedorov put the Red Wings up 3-2 at 17:54 in the third period, leaving the Blues just 2:06 to try and force overtime. St. Louis failed to score another goal, and Detroit drew first blood in the series.
The Red Wings annihilated the Blues early on in Game 2, going up 5-1 by the end of the first period. St. Louis got one back in the second, but Detroit kept their foot on the gas in the third, scoring three more to win the game by a score of 8-3. Frustrations boiled over in the final frame, with the Blues taking 11 penalties in the period. Down 2-0, St. Louis was in trouble, and they desperately needed a win.
With the series shifting to the Kiel Center, the Blues had a chance to tie the series on their home ice. Al MacInnis, Brian Noonan, and Shayne Corson all scored to put St. Louis up 3-1, but Yzerman answered back with a hat-trick to give the Red Wings a 4-3 lead. Determined to not let the Blues go down 3-0, enforcer Tony Twist tied the game at 4-4 in the third period, and Igor Kravchuk launched the game-winner to give St. Louis the overtime victory.
Game 4 was a contentious, penalty-laden contest; by the end of the first period, nine penalties had been assessed between both teams. After Detroit’s Bob Errey was called for high-sticking, Gretzky scored the game’s only goal on the ensuing power play. Casey saved all 29 shots he faced to bring St. Louis all the way back to a series tie.
The series went back to Joe Louis Arena for Game 5, now tied at two games each. Game 5 was a much calmer affair; only six penalties were handed out all game, two in each period. Hull got the Blues on the board first, but Kris Draper tied things up for the Red Wings in the second period. Late in the frame, Gretzky put St. Louis back in front 2-1, and in the third, Yuri Khmylev added to the Blues’ lead. Kozlov cut Detroit’s deficit to 3-2, but it was all for naught, as St. Louis won Game 5 to go up 3-2 in the series.
Down 3-2, the Red Wings could only afford one more loss in the series. Heading back to the Kiel Center for Game 6, Detroit needed to avoid losing four in a row after winning the first two games of the series. Were the Red Wings about to lose it all?
No, no they were not.
Detroit took a 2-0 lead in the opening frame and were ahead by as many as three by the third period. Neither team managed to score in the second, though the Blues had plenty of chances to do so. The Red Wings took four penalties in the period, giving St. Louis four chances to score on the man advantage.
Instead, Detroit’s 2-0 lead remained intact heading into the third, and the score became 3-0 after Dino Ciccarelli scored a power play goal for the Red Wings. Steve Leach scored the Blues’ first goal of the game—finally, a power play goal for St. Louis! Hull then got the Blues within one goal a minute later, but Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidström put the game out of reach with only 29 seconds left. With a 4-2 victory, the Red Wings tied the series at 3-3 to force a winner-take-all Game 7.
Back at Joe Louis Arena for Game 7, neither side could get a goal across. Casey and Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood denied every shot they faced, keeping the game scoreless through the end of regulation. Things were relatively quiet after the second period, despite the high tensions of an elimination match like this one. Three Blues were penalized in the first period, and the Red Wings took two penalties over the first two periods. Aside from that, however, it was all Casey and Osgood, the goaltending duel that surely nobody had on their bingo card prior to the start of the playoffs.
The pressure rose even higher after the first overtime period, with both goaltenders stopping every shot on goal. Casey in particular made some crucial stops for the Blues, like this one here. Then, just over a minute into the second overtime, this happened, the “Had It, Lost It” moment.
Gretzky attempted to intercept the puck from the Red Wings, but failed to maintain possession of it. ESPN play-by-play commentator Gary Thorne said, “Gretzky, had it, lost it,” as the play was happening, before Yzerman took control of the puck and skated down the ice. Yzerman then shot the puck all the way from the blue line and past Casey to give Detroit the series victory, 1:15 into the second overtime period. After 81:15 of game time, the Red Wings prevailed over the Blues with a 1-0 victory in Game 7. Casey and Osgood saved a combined 68 shots in the game, with Casey saving 39 of Detroit’s 40 shots on goal.
The Red Wings failed to win the Stanley Cup in 1996, losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals. Detroit defeated St. Louis in the playoffs again in 1997 and 1998, on their way to winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Gretzky did not re-sign with St. Louis due to his strained relationship with Keenan, and the Blues fired Keenan during the 1996-97 season. Hull left the team in free agency after the 1997-98 season, signing a three-year contract with the Dallas Stars. The Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999, and Hull won another Cup with the Red Wings in 2002; St. Louis lost to both of these teams in the second round of the playoffs.
“Had It, Lost It” moments like this happen in sports quite often. Some teams win it all, and a lot of others do not. The Blues had a shot to win the Stanley Cup with Gretzky on their side, but came up short against Detroit and lost their chance. The Red Wings almost lost the series after dropping three in a row, which would have cemented the team’s reputation as a group that could not get it done in the postseason. Suffice it to say, both combatants were on the verge of collapsing at various points in this series.
No matter the sport, every playoff series carries its own set of stakes. Both teams are vying for a championship, but only one can walk away as the winner. One will emerge victorious, and the other will let their chances of winning slip from their grasp.
Featured image by Patrick Hood.
