1992-1993: CANUCKS FLY HIGH WITH 101 POINT SEASON
On September 21, Jim Robson, who had called Canucks play-by-play action since their WHL days, was given the Foster Hewitt Award for excellence in hockey broadcasting and inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Canucks were looking to build on the successes of the previous season, but they would have to do so without their top line centre. Instead of re-signing with the Canucks and having Sovintersport (the governing sports body in the former Soviet Union) continue to draw a portion of his salary, Igor Larionov decided to play a year in Lugano, Switzerland and then return to the NHL the following season. But with such a strong lineup, the Canucks could not afford to protect a player who would not play for them this season and were forced to expose him in the Waiver Draft. He was chosen by San Jose. With the loss of Larionov, more production would be hoped for from Petr Nedved, who was entering his third NHL season.
Keeping the rest of their cast in order, for the most part, the Canucks won their first four games, outscoring the opposition 24-9. They slumped back to .500 in early November but then exploded, going 20-5-2 in 27 games. During that time, Nedved racked up a club-record point-scoring streak. He recorded 24 points in 15 games before being held pointless in a 5-2 win over Montreal on December 27. On January 19, a first-place showdown took place at Pacific Coliseum, as the Canucks (with 61 points), had a chance to overtake Pittsburgh as the league's top team. Unfortunately, the Canucks lost 5-2 and would never again get a chance to jump into first overall. The game also ended the club's amazing 18-game home unbeaten streak (16-0-2). Pavel Bure was scoring goals at an unprecedented pace for a Canuck and was voted to start in the All-Star Game with 246,447 fan votes. On March 1, in a neutral-site game in Hamilton against Buffalo, Bure became the first Canuck to score 50 goals in a season. Grant Fuhr was the goaltender and RW Dixon Ward and Robert Dirk drew the assists on the goal in a 5-2 win for the Canucks. Exactly a month later, Bure scored on Tampa Bay's Pat Jablonski to become the first Canuck to record 100 points in a season. He would then record his 60th goal into an empty-net in a 6-3 win over Calgary on April 11, a game in which the Canucks clinched the division title for the second straight year. It was Bure's last goal of the season to go with 50 assists for 110 points -- 15th in the league. The day after Bure recorded his 100th point, long-time owner Frank Griffiths was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builder's Category. Griffiths had owned the Canucks for 19 years now, although his son Arthur had gradually taken over the day-to-day running of the team over the past decade. A couple of other noteworthy accomplishments took place that spring. Ryan Walter played in his 1,000th NHL game on March 20 in a 7-2 home loss to the Islanders, and Kirk McLean recorded his 127th victory as a Canuck on April 7, passing Richard Brodeur as the Canucks all-time wins leader, in a 5-4 overtime victory over Edmonton. The Canucks beat Los Angeles 8-6 on April 15, the final game of the season, to record their 46th victory and 100th and 101st points of the season. It was the first time the team eclipsed the century-mark in points. It was also the first time that there were six 70-point scorers on the team. Bure, Cliff Ronning (85), Geoff Courtnall (77), C Murray Craven (77), Trevor Linden (72), and Nedved (71) all reached that mark. As well, Gino Odjick broke his own team penalty-minutes record (370).
Once again the Canucks matched up with Winnipeg in the opening round. The Canucks rolled to victories in Games One and Two by 4-2 and 3-2 scores before being beaten almost single-handedly by Winnipeg's star rookie, Teemu Selanne. Selanne, who shattered the rookie goal-scoring record during the season with 76, scored three times in helping the Jets to a 5-4 win. Two nights later, the Canucks put a strangle hold on the series, winning 3-1 to take a series lead of the same score. It appeared that the Canucks were poised to eliminate the Jets in five, thereby avoiding the long, grinding seven-game series of a year ago which made them ill-prepared for the division finals. The Jets scrapped their way to a 3-3 tie through 60 minutes, though, and won in overtime when Selanne's centering pass hit LW Tim Hunter in the shin and re-directed past McLean. Back in Winnipeg on April 29, the rabid fans were determined to send the series to a decisive seventh game, and the teams battled to another 3-3 deadlock with 3.4 seconds to play and a faceoff deep in Winnipeg's end. The Canucks won the draw and Sergio Momesso managed a shot on goal, which sneaked through Bob Essensa and into the net as time expired. The Canucks jumped off the bench, thinking they had won the game and the series, but a lengthy video review was unable to determine if the puck had crossed the line before time expired and it was ruled no goal. Eight minutes in to overtime Greg Adams drove hard to the Winnipeg net and was brought down by a Winnipeg backchecker. As he went down, the puck hit his skate and went into the net. Another replay was ordered, but this time a goal was awarded and the Canucks had won the series. There was little on-ice celebrating, though, as the incensed Winnipeg fans began littering the ice with debris, and so the teams quickly shook hands and vacated the playing surface.
The Division Final began on the afternoon of May 2 with the Canucks beating Los Angeles 5-2 to take the series lead. The Kings looked lethargic in the game, but came out gunning three nights later, as the dreaded combination of Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri accounted for five goals in the Kings 6-3 victory. In Game Three, the big scorers were at it again, as the Kings ran up a 7-4 win to take the series lead. The Canucks' big guns were not to be outdone, though, as they came back with an offensive onslaught have there own to win 7-2 in Game Four. Game Five was dominated by the Canucks, but Kelly Hrudey had his best outing of the series, keeping his Kings in a 3-3 tie through regulation time. Hrudey continued his theatrics in the fourth period, making several fine saves which included robbing Pavel Bure of what looked like a sure goal. But the Kings started to turn the tide in period number five and at the 6:31 mark Gary Shuchuk took a weak shot from a bad angle that found its way between Kirk McLean's arm and the goalpost to give the Kings the winning tally. The Canucks were now on the brink of elimination and played Game 6 very cautiously. They lead 2-1 late in the second period, but Dana Murzyn picked a bad time to take a double-minor for high-sticking. The Kings scored twice on the power-play in the last two minutes of the period to take the lead. The lead was increased in the third period before Trevor Linden got one back with less than four minutes to play. With the score now 4-3, the Canucks pulled McLean to try for the equalizer, but Wayne Gretzky scored into the empty net with 6.5 seconds to play to ice the series. For the second year in a row, the Canucks had been ousted in the second round after winning the division title. After over a decade of very modest post-season success, the fans of Vancouver were now hungry for something more.
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