The set-up: MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. Yes, everyone has seen Brad May’s goal that sent the Bruins home for the playoffs. Hell, they made it into a little commercial for this year’s playoffs. Without question, it marked the apex for the Muckler/LaFontaine/Mogilny teams. However, what never seems to get mentioned is what happened afterwards. Of course, you wouldn’t want to relive a series that may have ended the apex of the Mogilny/LaFontaine era. The Sabres were entering the 2nd round of the 93′ playoffs for the first time in 230 years (Not a typo. OK, first time since 1983). The Sabres were playing Montreal, who were the 3rd seed in the Adams Division playoff round. However, don’t let the seed fool you, as the Habs had over 100 points during the regular season. Now, I mentioned #89 and #16, because they were sensational during the regular season. Statistically speaking, Patty and Alex made Drury/Briere look like Satan and Curtis Brown. Mogilny was just..epic. The Russian chipped in with um, just 76 goals. yes…76 GOALS!!!
I can only imagine that RJ must have lost his voice while annoucing all of Mogilny’s 76 goals. Feeding most of #89’s goals was LaFontaine, who had 95 assists on the year to go along with his 53 goals. Yes, 148 POINTS?! Was this like the steroid era of the NHL? Just ridiculous! I remember watching this team as a kid, and you couldn’t ask for a better product. The Sabres had arguably the two most explosive teammates in the NHL. A duo that could rival Jagr and Lemieux in Pittsburgh.
What happened: Usually, if you look up the NHL archives, when you see a team get swept in the playoffs, the first thought that comes to mind must be, “Well, that should have been easy.” Yes, the Sabres did get swept by the Canadians, but it shouldn’t have been four games. All four games were decided by just one goal, with 3 of those games being decided in OT. After the Habs beat the Sabres in Montreal for the first two games, the series switched to WNY. I’m sure the building was buzzing with tons of stupid Habs fans.
Game three would be a moment that may have changed the vision of the franchise. I don’t remember it all that well, so, lets goto youtube.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXaQYiW1_eo&w=425&h=349]
Ouch!
Then, later on, LaFontaine hurt his knee, but was still able to finish the contest, but you knew he was affected by it. The Sabres went onto lose this game and with #89 and #16 out, the Sabres gave a nice effort in game 4, but ended up losing in OT.
Now, the post script for #89 and #16 was pretty bleak. The duo only played 38 more games together. That’s it. LaFontaine re-injured the same knee the following season and only played 16 games. Then, during the lockout shorten 50-game season, Patty played only 22 games. It’s a 2-year block that always seems to get lost when discussing the career of LaFontaine. As for Mogilny, well, with him recovering from his leg injury and with his key centermen playing only 16 games, #89’s season was disappointing. Mogilny went from 76 goals to just 32. Man, talk about a drop off. During Mogilny’s lockout shorten season, he scored 47 points in 50 games, but with the Sabres cutting costs because of the construction of the Marine Midland Arena and a high payroll, Mogilny was expendable. In the offseason, Alexander the Great was dealt to Vancouver for Mike Peca, a 1st round pick which turned out to be Jay McKee, and Mike Wilson, who sucked.
The duo that combined for 275 points during the 92/93 season were separated.
What if #89 and #16 didn’t get hurt? You can look at this through a couple of different viewpoints. Lets look at the short-term aspect of it. The Sabres were swept by the Habs, but those games were all very tight. Maybe if the duo stayed together and healthy, they could have beaten the Habs. If they did, the Sabres would have faced off against the shell-shocked Islanders, who had just lost Pierre Turgeon to a vicious hit delivered by Dale Hunter after #77 had scored in game 5 against the Caps. The Habs made short work of the Islanders and went on to win the Stanley Cup. This all probably would have been a long shot, as the Habs were a really strong team.
In the long-term, which is what I want to focus on, the duo was never the same. The following season was “the year of Hasek.” During the regular season, Dom started for an injured Grant Fuhr and played lights out for the rest of the season. Dom sported a GAA of 1.95 and had 7 shutouts in just 58 games. His year earned him the first of six Vezina trophies. The problem for the Sabres was that they couldn’t give Dom enough goal support. The Sabres had only one player in the top 35 in scoring and that was Dale Hawerchuk, who was ranked 26th. You saw this first hand in the playoffs, when the Sabres lost in seven games to New Jersey, where the offense only scored 14 goals for the series.
As a fan, I just kept thinking, “If we could only get Patty, Dom and Alex on the same page and playing at their absolute best, we could really do damage.” Unfortunately, the Sabres didn’t win a playoff series with this trio. Maybe, if the duo is healthy, this team goes beyond the first round. Put Dom’s 93/94 season with Mogilny and LaFontaine’s record breaking season of 92/93, and you have a Stanley Cup contending team. Again, the trio only played a handful of games together.
Now, if Mogilny and Patty don’t get injured, maybe, Alex doesn’t get dealt to Vancouver. I mean, how could you justify trading someone who scored that many points? Now, if he doesn’t go downhill in Buffalo, we may not ever get Jay McKee or Mike Peca.
The bottom line is that both LaFontaine and Mogilny never played the same after that playoff series against Montreal. They had a decent season or two, but didn’t perform nearly as high as the 92/93 season. If they were healthy and together during Dom’s early years, it could have been Hasek’s best supporting cast for his Sabres career.
John Boutet’s POV: Obviously they had off years in 93/94 with Lala only playing 16 games. You can say that about just about any team that has injuries I guess. Did it hurt? Absolutely. Could they have taken NJ and then gone on to beat the NYR, probably not. I guess we’ll never know, but when they were together, it was dynamite for sure.
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