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)
Penalty 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, 48–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 (20), assists (23, and tied with Jeff Brown), points (43) and shots (198). A trade with the Dallas Stars on April 7, 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 in game two to the Pacific Coliseum for game three, where they triumphed 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 four 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 (who would soon become a Canuck himself) 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
1	2	Calgary Flames	48	24	17	7	163	135	55
2	6	Vancouver Canucks	48	18	18	12	153	148	48
3	7	San Jose Sharks	48	19	25	4	129	161	42
4	9	Los Angeles Kings	48	16	23	9	142	174	41
5	11	Edmonton Oilers	48	17	27	4	136	183	38
6	12	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

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	T	January 20, 1995	1–1 OT	Dallas Stars (1994–95)	0–0–1
2	L	January 21, 1995	1–7	St. Louis Blues (1994–95)	0–1–1
3	L	January 24, 1995	3–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1994–95)	0–2–1
4	L	January 25, 1995	2–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1994–95)	0–3–1
5	W	January 28, 1995	3–1	@ St. Louis Blues (1994–95)	1–3–1
6	T	February 1, 1995	4–4 OT	Toronto Maple Leafs (1994–95)	1–3–2
7	L	February 5, 1995	4–9	Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95)	1–4–2
8	T	February 7, 1995	4–4 OT	Edmonton Oilers (1994–95)	1–4–3
9	W	February 9, 1995	5–1	Winnipeg Jets (1994–95)	2–4–3
10	T	February 11, 1995	1–1 OT	San Jose Sharks (1994–95)	2–4–4
11	L	February 15, 1995	1–3	@ San Jose Sharks (1994–95)	2–5–4
12	T	February 17, 1995	2–2 OT	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95)	2–5–5
13	W	February 18, 1995	6–2	@ Los Angeles Kings (1994–95)	3–5–5
14	W	February 20, 1995	8–2	Los Angeles Kings (1994–95)	4–5–5
15	L	February 22, 1995	1–4	Winnipeg Jets (1994–95)	4–6–5
16	T	February 24, 1995	3–3 OT	@ Dallas Stars (1994–95)	4–6–6
17	W	February 26, 1995	5–1	@ San Jose Sharks (1994–95)	5–6–6
18	L	February 28, 1995	3–4	San Jose Sharks (1994–95)	5–7–6
19	T	March 2, 1995	2–2 OT	@ Calgary Flames (1994–95)	5–7–7
20	W	March 4, 1995	5–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (1994–95)	6–7–7
21	L	March 6, 1995	2–5	Detroit Red Wings (1994–95)	6–8–7
22	W	March 11, 1995	5–3	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95)	7–8–7
23	W	March 12, 1995	5–2	@ Edmonton Oilers (1994–95)	8–8–7
24	T	March 14, 1995	3–3 OT	@ Winnipeg Jets (1994–95)	8–8–8
25	L	March 16, 1995	2–9	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95)	8–9–8
26	L	March 17, 1995	1–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1994–95)	8–10–8
27	W	March 21, 1995	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1994–95)	9–10–8
28	L	March 23, 1995	1–3	Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95)	9–11–8
29	L	March 25, 1995	1–2	Detroit Red Wings (1994–95)	9–12–8
30	L	March 26, 1995	0–2	@ Calgary Flames (1994–95)	9–13–8
31	W	March 29, 1995	5–2	Los Angeles Kings (1994–95)	10–13–8
32	W	March 31, 1995	6–1	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95)	11–13–8
33	W	April 1, 1995	5–1	@ Edmonton Oilers (1994–95)	12–13–8
34	T	April 4, 1995	2–2 OT	Dallas Stars (1994–95)	12–13–9
35	L	April 7, 1995	4–7	@ Winnipeg Jets (1994–95)	12–14–9
36	W	April 8, 1995	4–2	@ Calgary Flames (1994–95)	13–14–9
37	W	April 11, 1995	5–0	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95)	14–14–9
38	L	April 13, 1995	4–6	Edmonton Oilers (1994–95)	14–15–9
39	W	April 15, 1995	3–1	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95)	15–15–9
40	T	April 17, 1995	2–2 OT	@ Dallas Stars (1994–95)	15–15–10
41	L	April 18, 1995	1–4	@ St. Louis Blues (1994–95)	15–16–10
42	T	April 20, 1995	2–2 OT	Calgary Flames (1994–95)	15–16–11
43	W	April 22, 1995	6–1	Edmonton Oilers (1994–95)	16–16–11
44	L	April 25, 1995	3–4 OT	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95)	16–17–11
45	L	April 26, 1995	2–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1994–95)	16–18–11
46	W	April 28, 1995	3–1	St. Louis Blues (1994–95)	17–18–11
47	W	April 30, 1995	6–4	Calgary Flames (1994–95)	18–18–11
48	T	May 3, 1995	3–3 OT	@ San Jose Sharks (1994–95)	18–18–12

Playoffs[]

Conference Quarterfinals[]

(3) St. Louis Blues vs. (6) Vancouver Canucks[]

This was first playoff meeting between these two teams.

May 7	Vancouver Canucks		1–2		St. Louis Blues	Kiel Center	Recap
No scoring		First period			18:18 – pp – Brett Hull (1)
Pavel Bure (1) – 10:32		Second period			01:16 – pp – Adam Creighton (1)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Kirk McLean 34 saves / 36 shots		Goalie stats			Curtis Joseph 25 saves / 26 shots

May 9	Vancouver Canucks		5–3		St. Louis Blues	Kiel Center	Recap
Sergio Momesso (1) – 19:21		First period			07:42 – pp – Todd Elik (1) 16:57 – Todd Elik (2)
Dave Babych (1) – pp – 02:14 Jyrki Lumme (1) – 15:15		Second period			10:27 – Al MacInnis (1)
Russ Courtnall (1) – 08:11 Pavel Bure (2) – sh – 10:18		Third period			No scoring
Kirk McLean 33 saves / 36 shots		Goalie stats			Curtis Joseph 20 saves / 25 shots Jon Casey 1 save / 1 shot

May 11	St. Louis Blues		1–6		Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	Recap
Brett Hull (2) – 00:20		First period			01:18 – pp – Jyrki Lumme (2) 04:30 – pp – Geoff Courtnall (1) 10:53 – sh – Dave Babych (2)
No scoring		Second period			05:16 – Sergio Momesso (2) 18:34 – pp – Sergio Momesso (3)
No scoring		Third period			06:48 – pp – Trevor Linden (1)
Curtis Joseph 30 saves / 36 shots		Goalie stats			Kirk McLean 24 saves / 25 shots

May 13	St. Louis Blues		5–2		Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	Recap
Jeff Norton (1) – 07:37		First period			05:53 – pp – Pavel Bure (3)
Brendan Shanahan (1) – 08:26 Brendan Shanahan (2) – 11:17 Brendan Shanahan (3) – pp – 12:42		Second period			04:41 – sh – Russ Courtnall (2)
Glenn Anderson (1) – 13:01		Third period			No scoring
Curtis Joseph 24 saves / 26 shots		Goalie stats			Kirk McLean 32 saves / 37 shots

May 15	Vancouver Canucks		6–5	OT	St. Louis Blues	Kiel Center	Recap
Pavel Bure (4) – 04:55		First period			12:10 – pp – Brett Hull (3)
Christian Ruuttu (1) – sh – 04:31 Geoff Courtnall (2) – sh – 04:48		Second period			10:13 – Todd Elik (3) 16:56 – Bill Houlder (1)
Josef Beranek (1) – 01:37 Cliff Ronning (1) – pp – 05:56		Third period			02:32 – Brendan Shanahan (4) 08:22 – Murray Baron (1)
Cliff Ronning (2) – 01:48		First overtime period			No scoring
Kirk McLean 33 saves / 38 shots		Goalie stats			Curtis Joseph 15 saves / 19 shots Jon Casey 7 saves / 9 shots

May 17	St. Louis Blues		8–2		Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	Recap
Brett Hull (4) – 05:56 Brett Hull (5) – 19:51		First period			No scoring
Esa Tikkanen (1) – 08:59 Adam Creighton (2) – 11:54 Basil McRae (1) – 12:35 Todd Elik (4) – sh – 16:53		Second period			11:14 – pp – Geoff Courtnall (3) 17:19 – pp – Pavel Bure (5)
Esa Tikkanen (2) – pp – 08:34 Guy Carbonneau (1) – 11:24		Third period			No scoring
Curtis Joseph 23 saves / 25 shots		Goalie stats			Kirk McLean 11 saves / 17 shots Kay Whitmore 16 saves / 18 shots

May 19	Vancouver Canucks		5–3		St. Louis Blues	Kiel Center	Recap
Adrian Aucoin (1) – pp – 08:35 Pavel Bure (6) – sh – 12:33 Geoff Courtnall (4) – pp – 18:27		First period			13:36 – Basil McRae (2)
Cliff Ronning (3) – 02:05		Second period			07:55 – Denis Chasse (1)
Pavel Bure (7) – 19:38		Third period			15:25 – Brett Hull (6)
Kirk McLean 41 saves / 44 shots		Goalie stats			Curtis Joseph 17 saves / 21 shots

Vancouver won series 4–3

Conference Semifinals[]

(4) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (6) Vancouver Canucks[]

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams; with Vancouver winning the only previous series. They last met in the 1982 Clarence Campbell Conference Final, which Vancouver won in five games.

Game four was the last game played in the Pacific Coliseum.

May 21	Vancouver Canucks		1–2	OT	Chicago Blackhawks	United Center	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
Trevor Linden (2) – 19:41		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			10:02 – Denis Savard (3)
No scoring		First overtime period			09:04 – pp – Joe Murphy (6)
Kirk McLean 28 saves / 30 shots		Goalie stats			Ed Belfour 26 saves / 27 shots

May 23	Vancouver Canucks		0��2		Chicago Blackhawks	United Center	Recap
No scoring		First period			13:56 – Jim Cummins (1)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			05:48 – Patrick Poulin (3)
Kirk McLean 18 saves / 20 shots		Goalie stats			Ed Belfour 17 saves / 17 shots

May 25	Chicago Blackhawks		3–2	OT	Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	Recap
Patrick Poulin (4) – pp – 18:31		First period			18:16 – sh – Russ Courtnall (3)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
Murray Craven (4) – 19:15		Third period			12:34 – Russ Courtnall (4)
Chris Chelios (2) – 06:22		First overtime period			No scoring
Ed Belfour 32 saves / 34 shots		Goalie stats			Kirk McLean 23 saves / 26 shots

May 27	Chicago Blackhawks		4–3	OT	Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
Murray Craven (5) – 04:13 Gerald Diduck (1) – 19:12		Second period			04:01 – Jeff Brown (1) 09:11 – pp – Roman Oksiuta (1) 17:29 – Roman Oksiuta (2)
Jeremy Roenick (1) – 10:49		Third period			No scoring
Chris Chelios (3) – 05:35		First overtime period			No scoring
Ed Belfour 22 saves / 25 shots		Goalie stats			Kirk McLean 23 saves / 27 shots

Chicago won series 4–0

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
Pavel Bure	RW	44	20	23	43	-8	48	6	2	2
Trevor Linden	C	48	18	22	40	-5	40	9	0	1
Geoff Courtnall	LW	45	16	18	34	2	81	7	0	1
Jeff Brown	D	33	8	23	31	-2	16	3	0	1
Sergio Momesso	LW	48	10	15	25	-2	65	6	0	1
Cliff Ronning	C	41	6	19	25	-4	27	3	0	2

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

Draft picks[]

Vancouver's draft picks at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft held at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	13	Mattias Ohlund	Sweden	Luleå HF (Sweden)
2	39	Robb Gordon	Canada	Powell River Kings (BCHL)
2	42	Dave Scatchard	Canada	Portland Winter Hawks (WHL)
3	65	Chad Allen	Canada	Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
4	92	Mike Dubinsky	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
5	117	Yanick Dube	Canada	Laval Titan (QMJHL)
7	169	Yuri Kuznetsov	Russia	Avangard Omsk (Russia)
8	195	Rob Trumbley	Canada	Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)
9	221	Bill Muckalt	Canada	Kelowna Spartans (BCHL)
10	247	Tyson Nash	Canada	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
11	273	Robert Longpre	Canada	Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)

References[]

External links[]