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#TBT: Maple Leafs Garden Construction, Roli the Goalie, Red Wings End Cup Drought, and More

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Kyla Lane
6 years ago
The Stanley Cup Finals are a beautiful thing and this week’s Throwback Thursday article looks at some big moments from the Finals of years past. Here’s a look back at the week June 1-7 in the hockey world:
Before jumping into each team’s history, here’s some fun NHL facts for you:
  • June 6, 1956: The NHL passed the rule that allowed penalized players to leave the penalty box if the opposing team scored on the power play. Before the rule was made, players had to serve the full two minutes regardless of how many goals the opposing team scored with the advantage.
  • June 5, 1963: The first NHL Entry Draft, called the Amateur Draft back then, was held in Montreal. Prior to this, teams signed players in their teens to their sponsored junior teams.

CanucksArmy

June 4, 2011: Alex Burrows nets the winner only 11 seconds into OT against the Bruins in Game 2 of the Finals, tying the record for the second-fastest OT goal in playoff history:

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June 1, 2011: Roberto Luongo makes 36 saves to become the sixth goaltender to get a shutout in his first appearance in the Finals when the Canucks beat the Bruins 1-0 in Game 1.

Flamesnation

June 7, 2004: The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Flames in Game 7 of the Final in a heart breaking 2-1 loss.
June 3, 2004: The Flames beat Tampa in Game 5 of the Finals to tie a single-season NHL playoff record with their 10th road win.
June 2, 1972: The Flames’ name was born when 19-year-old Mickey Goodman wins a contest to name the new Atlanta Franchise the “Flames”. The team would obviously keep its name when moved to Calgary.
June 1, 1982: “Badger Bob” Johnson was hired by the Calgary Flames. He would go on to coach the Flames for five seasons (the longest in Flames history) and would lead them to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

Jetsnation

This week was a little slow in Jet’s history, so I figured I’d take the opportunity to take a little trip down memory Laine (ha!) to before last year’s Draft. Here’s what Laine had to say when he met with the Jets (can now confirm he was picking up the right vibes):

TLN

June 3, 1982: Leafs legend Dave Keon retires from the NHL after 18 seasons (15 in Toronto). He won four Cups with the Leafs and was awarded the Conn Smythe in 1967.
June 1, 1931: Construction began on the iconic Maple Leafs Garden. Five months later it was open for business for the start of the regular season.

Oilersnation

June 5, 2006: Since y’all probably know what’s coming, I thought I’d start this one out a bit lighter: Chris Pronger scored on a penalty shot against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. It’s the first successful penalty shot in Cup Final history.
June 5, 2006: Ahh, Roli. On this day, Dwayne Roloson went down and out with a knee injury in Game 1 against the Hurricanes after playing every game prior in the Oilers playoff run. He was replaced with Ty Conklin, one of the most fondly remembered goaltenders in Oilers history (note the sarcasm), who would misplay the puck in the last minute of the game and help the Hurricanes to a 5-4 Game 1 win. The Oilers also dropped a 3-0 lead in this game, but I think I’ve opened up the memory vault enough for this day.

Wingsnation

June 7, 1997: The Red Wings end a 42-year Stanley Cup drought when they sweep the Flyers to win the Cup for the first time since 1955.
June 5, 1997: The Red wings score six unanswered goals in a 6-1 win against the Flyers in Game 3 of the Finals.
June 4, 2008: With their Game 6 win against the Penguins, Nicklas Lidstrom is the first European-born captain to win the Stanley Cup and, at 46, Chris Chelios becomes the oldest player to hoist the Cup.
June 2, 2008: The Red Wings are 35 seconds away from winning their fourth Cup in 12 seasons when the Penguins score to force the game into OT. The game would be the fifth-longest in Finals history and would go in favour of Pittsburgh in triple overtime.

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