NO GOAL: A DEEP DIVE 25 YEARS LATER

by Tony Fiorello

UNITED STATES - JUNE 19: Hockey: NHL Finals, Dallas Stars Brett Hull (22) in action, scoring game winning goal vs Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek (39), Game 6, Buffalo, NY 6/19/1999 (Photo by Lou Capozzola/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X58158 TK3)

A few weeks ago, it was brought to my attention that this year marked the 25th anniversary of the most infamous moment in the Buffalo Sabres’ history – “No Goal”.

25 years. It’s been a quarter of a century since the Sabres were arguably robbed of a chance to win Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final and go back to Dallas for a potential winner-take-all Game Seven against the Stars. 25 years since Western New York and the Niagara Frontier learned about the infamous skate in the crease rule. 25 years since the Sabres’ players, coaches and front office executives (not to mention their fans) felt like they had been punched in the stomach by both the Stars and the National Hockey League.

Admittedly it felt odd to write that last paragraph. Back then, I was 10 years old during that run to the Final and it was my first lengthy exposure to hockey. Today, while many things have changed for both the NHL and the Sabres, to me it still kind of feels like it happened yesterday.

While most pundits have looked back and reminisced on the goal itself – and it’s been debated upon countless times – I’ve decided to do something a little different. Instead of dredging up an old, rehashed argument of whether the goal should have counted or not (in my opinion it shouldn’t have, but I digress), I wanted to focus on the rest of that tightly contested game to see what could have happened if a few bounces had fallen into place for both the Sabres and Stars.

To do so, I watched the entire broadcasts of Game Six from both ESPN and the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada and took notes throughout. I will empty out that notebook in this story and will touch on some major events that took place during that contest. Playing the what-if game is always a dangerous one, but here we will do something similar.

Before we start, here’s a little background on each team heading into that fateful night/morning of June 19th and 20th of 1999:

31 May 1999: Colin Campell shakes hands with Michael Pela #27 of the Buffalo Sabres and excepts the Prince of Wales Trophy after the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The Sabres defeated the Maple Leavs 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Elsa Hasch /Allsport

BUFFALO SABRES

Regular season – The Sabres, coming off their first trip to the Eastern Conference Final in 18 years, started slowly with a 2-3-2 record (including a season-opening loss to, ironically, the Dallas Stars). A home-and-home sweep over their new division and longtime cross-border rival Toronto Maple Leafs started a 17-3-3 run over their next 23 games, and by December 27 Buffalo found themselves in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 19-6-5 record. Second-year bench boss Lindy Ruff coached at the All-Star Game in January, becoming just the third Sabres coach to do so.

A second-half swoon, however, combined with a 12-game absence by goaltender Dominik Hasek due to a groin injury dropped the Sabres from first place to seventh with a 37-28-17 record by the time the playoffs began, including a 5-5-4 stretch to end the regular season. They did finish second in goals allowed behind only Dallas, and were also 17th in goals scored, 21st on the power play and seventh in penalty kill percentage.

Awards and notable achievements – Hasek set career-best marks for goals-against-average and save percentage, won the fifth of his six career Vezina Trophies and was the runner-up for the Hart Trophy to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jaromir Jagr, ending his bid for a third straight MVP award. Rob Ray won the King Clancy Trophy for his dedication to the community. Miroslav Satan finished with a career-high 40 goals and was seventh in the NHL in that category. Captain Michael Peca ended the season with a personal-best 27 goals (and was the runner-up for the Selke Trophy for best defensive forward), and Curtis Brown, Michal Grosek, Vaclav Varada, Wayne Primeau and Jason Woolley all had career-years up to that point.

Transactions – Defenseman James Patrick, goaltender Dwayne Roloson and left winger Randy Cunneyworth were signed as free agents. Goaltender Steve Shields was traded to the San Jose Sharks along with a fourth-round draft pick in 1998 (Miroslav Zalesak) in exchange for a second-round pick in 1998 (Jaroslav Kristek), a fifth-round pick in 2000 (later sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2000 expansion draft along with Roloson, Geoff Sanderson and Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre – Columbus selected Tyler Kolarik) and goaltender Kay Whitmore. Defenseman Bob Boughner was taken by the Nashville Predators in the 1998 expansion draft, defenseman Rumun Ndur was waived and claimed by the New York Rangers and left winger Randy Burridge signed with Las Vegas of the IHL.

Holdout right winger Donald Audette was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round draft pick in 1999 (Milan Bartovic). Right winger Matthew Barnaby was dealt to Pittsburgh for center Stu Barnes. Defenseman Mike Wilson was shipped to the Florida Panthers for fellow rearguard Rhett Warrener and a fifth-round pick in 1999 (Ryan Miller). Left winger Joe Juneau was acquired from the Washington Capitals for prospect Alexei Tezikov, and center Derek Plante was dealt to Dallas for a second-round pick in 1999 (Michael Zigomanis).

Playoffs – Two notable events happened during the Sabres’ opening round sweep of the Ottawa Senators – Sens captain Alexei Yashin was held pointless throughout the series by Peca and company, and Satan suffered a bruised foot in Game Three – forcing him to miss the next nine games.

The Boston Bruins had eliminated the Sabres five of the last six times they had faced each other in the postseason going into 1999 (the only time the Sabres had emerged victorious was in 1993, on a sweep capped off by Brad May’s “May Day” overtime goal). Buffalo ended up beating Boston in six games in the conference semifinal.

Buffalo was without Hasek for the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final against the Maple Leafs due to a groin injury, but Roloson held down the fort until both Hasek and Satan came back in Game Three. The Sabres eventually eliminated Toronto in five games to advance to their first Final appearance since 1975.

Lines, defense pairings and goaltenders for Game Six

Dixon Ward-Michael Peca-Vaclav Varada

Joe Juneau-Curtis Brown-Miroslav Satan

Geoff Sanderson-Brian Holzinger-Stu Barnes

Randy Cunneyworth-Wayne Primeau-Erik Rasmussen

Alexei Zhitnik-Richard Smehlik

Jay McKee-Darryl Shannon

Jason Woolley-James Patrick

Dominik Hasek

Dwayne Roloson

Scratches: Rhett Warrener (out with a broken ankle suffered in Game Five), Michal Grosek (injured – back), Rob Ray, Paul Kruse, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre

19 Jun 1999: Captain Derian Hatcher of the Dallas Stars carries the Stanley Cup after the Stanley Cup Final game against the Buffalo Sabres at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. The Stars defeated the Sabres 2-1 in the third overtime. Mandatory Credit: Elsa Hasch /Allsport

DALLAS STARS

Regular season – For the second straight year, the Stars ended the regular season as winners of the President’s Trophy with a league-best mark of 51-19-12. It was the third of five consecutive years in which the Stars would finish among the three best teams in the Western Conference and would also be the first of back-to-back trips to the Final (it was also the third time in the history of the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise the team had advanced that far).

Dallas – the oldest team in the NHL in terms of average age – ended the regular season eighth in goals scored and sixth in power play percentage and on the penalty kill.

Awards and notable achievements – Goaltenders Ed Belfour and Roman Turek would share the William M. Jennings Trophy for least goals allowed during the regular season, Jere Lehtinen won the second of his three career Frank J. Selke Trophies for best defensive forward and Joe Nieuwendyk was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Transactions – In addition to acquiring Plante during the season, right winger Brett Hull was signed over the summer to a three-year deal worth $17 million. Bob Bassen was sent to the Calgary Flames for Aaron Gavey, center Tony Hrkac was acquired from the Nashville Predators for future considerations and defenseman Doug Lidster was signed as a free agent during the season.

Playoffs – After sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, Dallas knocked out the St. Louis Blues in six games in the second and got past the Colorado Avalanche in seven games during the Western Conference Final.

Lines, defense pairings and goaltenders for Game Six

Stars coach Ken Hitchcock tinkered with his wing spots a bit throughout Game Six, resulting in the line combinations looking like this:

Jere Lehtinen-Mike Modano-Brett Hull/Pat Verbeek

Jamie Langenbrunner-Joe Nieuwendyk-Verbeek/Dave Reid

Reid/Blake Sloan-Guy Carbonneau-Mike Keane

Benoit Hogue-Brian Skrudland-Sloan/Hull

Derian Hatcher-Richard Matvichuk

Darryl Sydor-Sergei Zubov

Shawn Chambers-Craig Ludwig

Ed Belfour

Roman Turek

Scratches: Marty Turco, Manny Fernandez, Derek Plante, Jason Botterill, Brent Severyn, Aaron Gavey, Grant Marshall, Doug Lidster, Tony Hrkac, Brad Lukowich, Jon Sim, Alan Latang

FINALS FACTS

·         After Buffalo took Game One in overtime, the Stars won the next two games followed up by a Sabres win in Game Four. Dallas emerged victorious in Game Five at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, setting up Game Six at the then-named Marine Midland Arena.

·         This was the first Stanley Cup Final since 1994 to not end in a sweep.

·         Each game was decided by two goals or less, and each team was within a goal of each other for all but six minutes of the 400-plus minutes played in the series.

·         98 percent of the series was either tied or a one-goal difference. Dallas had a two-goal lead for five minutes throughout, none for Buffalo.

·         The top five scorers for the Sabres had just four combined points in the Final. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was the lowest-scoring six-game Final ever.

·         Buffalo set a Final record for least shots on goal in Game Three with 12.

·         The Sabres entered Game Six having not scored on their last 17 power play opportunities. They would end the series with 19 unconverted chances with the man-advantage.

·         Conversely, Dallas hadn’t given up a power play goal in their past 30 chances on the road heading into Game Six.

·         Game Six was the second-longest game in Final history – only Game One of the 1990 Final between the Oilers and Bruins was longer, and it was only by 22 seconds.

·         Satan, the Sabres’ leading goal scorer with 40 in the regular season, didn’t score in his last eight games of the 1999 playoffs. Modano, the Stars’ leading point getter, also didn’t score a goal all series long and didn’t find the back of the net for 11 straight games.

·         Hasek and Belfour both finished with goals-against averages under two, which was the first time in the expansion era that both opposing goalies in the Final did so and the first time it had happened since 1945.

·         Buffalo ended the season with a record of 8-2 in one-goal games, while Dallas was 8-8. The Sabres were also 7-2 at home throughout the ’99 playoffs.

·         Dallas was perfect in the postseason when they were in position to clinch a series (4-0). Meanwhile the Sabres, entering Game Six, faced the possibility of being eliminated for the first time in the ’99 playoffs.

·         Shannon was the only NHL defenseman to notch a plus/minus rating of plus-20 or better between 1996-97 and 1998-99. Game Six of the Final was the first playoff game Shannon appeared in since Game One of the series against Ottawa.

·         Barnes became the first player in league annals to score seven playoff goals for a team after not scoring for that team in the preceding regular season.

·         In the calendar year of 1998, Dallas and Buffalo had the two best records in the NHL – each having played 75 games. Dallas had a 47-18-10 mark while Buffalo went 41-18-16.

·         The Stars had multiple players push on through injuries. Hull had a Grade III torn MCL and a torn groin (both suffered courtesy of a hit by Zhitnik in Game Three), Modano played through a broken wrist garnered in Game Two from a hit by McKee and assisted on all five Stars goals in Games Four-Six, and Hogue had a torn ACL.

·         15 of the 25 players on the Sabres’ roster were not originally acquired by the tandem of Ruff and general manager Darcy Regier.

·         Hull’s Cup-winning goal was the 14th time an NHL club won the Cup with an overtime goal.

·         The road team won seven of nine overtime games in the Final during the 1990’s.

·         Hatcher became the first American-born captain to hoist the Cup.

·         Game Six is, to this day, the second-longest game in the Sabres’ history – the only one that had more periods of play was the four-overtime thriller against the New Jersey Devils in Game Six of the first round of the 1994 playoffs (Dave Hannan won it 1-0 for Buffalo).

FIRST PERIOD

·         It was a tight, defensive game early on – to no one’s surprise, given each team’s proficiency in that area. Hockey was much more of a dump-and-chase game back then, not much puck possession was involved and as a result, it was much slower.

·         Hatcher and Hogue both had nice chances early on, both were stopped by Hasek.

·         Shannon had a couple of slapshots from the point on Belfour but neither went in.

·         Lehtinen got the Stars on the board first with 11:51 remaining. Lehtinen’s goal, his 10th of the playoffs, was a harmless-looking shot flipped at Hasek’s right side that hit a crease between the inside of his knee and the goalpost, and somehow went in.

·         “Dallas is the best team in hockey at making younger, faster teams look slow.” – Bill Clement on the ESPN broadcast.

·         Hogue tripped Zhitnik right in front of referee Bill McCreary with 7:39 left to go, but no call was curiously made. Similarly, a minute or two before that Hatcher got away with a hook on Brown.

·         Sabres did get traffic in front of Belfour and crashed his crease nicely, but to no avail.

·         “Buffalo has initiated more body checks than Dallas has, but Buffalo’s forwards have had a tough time winning one-on-one battles with the Stars’ defensemen. It’s not only tiring, but discouraging, because the opponent is bigger and stronger than you.” – Harry Neale on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.

·         Peca had a good pass to Juneau in the slot, but his wrist shot was stopped by Belfour blocker-side with just over five minutes to go.

·         Juneau tried to make up for his missed opportunity with a phenomenal pass to Holzinger in front of multiple defenders, and Holzinger almost got a backhanded shot off but fanned on a bouncing puck.

·         A backhanded shot by Keane with less than a minute to go missed Hasek wide.

·         Dallas won 15 faceoffs to seven on Buffalo’s part in the first – most of them in their own end.

·         Buffalo had 11 shots in the first period (they had nine or fewer shots in each of the previous 10 periods).

SECOND PERIOD

·         The Sabres turned up their forechecking game in the second and got good pressure on the Stars’ skaters throughout the period. Ditto that of their neutral zone play.

·         In response to the clogged neutral zones, Dallas would chip the puck in and chase after it rather than go through bodies. The result was a lot of icing calls.

·         With 18:32 left in the second, Hull hooked Sanderson in the neutral zone several times, but no penalty call.

·         Neale highlighted how well the Sabres used a forward to drop back to cover the points when one of their defensemen would pinch in the offensive zone. Noted that Brown did that job very well.

·         About 30 seconds later, Barnes drives to the net and loses the puck. Belfour pokechecked it right to Holzinger, who just missed a rebound.

·         With 16:00 left, Patrick faked a shot and got Carbonneau and Keane to go down, but his shot hit Primeau and went wide of the net. It was the first of many scoring chances by Patrick on the night.

·         Zubov had a tremendous scoring chance during a Stars power play – skated by everyone and was stopped blocker-side by Hasek. Then a slap shot from the point hit Hasek in the chest.

·         Up until this point, Dallas had killed time by icing the puck 12 times – five times in the second period, seven in the first. Neale notes the Stars were an excellent faceoff team with the likes of Modano, Nieuwendyk, Carbonneau and Skrudland, and they could afford that approach by consistently winning draws in their own end.

·         Zhitnik hit a crossbar and had a one-timer saved by Belfour.

·         Sanderson attempted a backhand on a two-on-one chance midway through the period, Belfour made the save.

·         With Buffalo on a power play, a shorthanded breakaway by Keane was stopped by Hasek after Woolley tripped and fell at the point.

·         Belfour robbed a one-timer by Barnes from the faceoff circle and made a nice stop on Shannon from the slot too.

·         Midway through the second, shots were 22-13 in favor of Buffalo. It was the first time in the Final that the Sabres had 10 shots in back-to-back periods.

·         Hull and Hogue had a two-on-one but the pass was well-played by Patrick.

·         Buffalo got a power play afterwards when Hogue broke up a two-on-one between Juneau and Zhitnik by tripping the latter, but Dallas utilized good discipline by taking away any shooting lanes. The Sabres’ best chance with the man-advantage came on a one-timer off a faceoff by Woolley, but the shot hit Varada in the head and careened away.

·         The Sabres hit a series-high in shots on goal with 23 late in the period.

·         A little slap shot by Barnes with a bouncing puck hit Ludwig and then beat Belfour on his blocker side to tie the game at one with 1:39 to go. It was the result of a blown coverage by Carbonneau – he tried to double Primeau with Hatcher and got burned. It was Buffalo’s first goal since Ward’s game-winner in Game Four:

·         During the intermission on Hockey Night in Canada, Al Strachan of the Toronto Sun speculated that the crease rule – which would come into play later in this game – would be voted “70-30” by the Players’ Association to keep it as it was. It would eventually be eliminated on the Monday following the Final.

THIRD PERIOD

·         Heading into the third period, Dallas had outscored their competition 30-13 in that stanza of play during the playoffs.

·         Games One, Two, Three and Six were all tied in the third period.

·         A shot from the point by Sydor was snared out of the air by Hasek.

·         Hull broke up a two-on-one on the backcheck by knocking away a pass from Cunneyworth.

·         Matvichuk got away with a penalty when he hauled down Juneau on a semi-breakaway. Should have been an interference call.

·         Buffalo got away with a no-call too when Satan tripped Belfour behind his own net.

·         Again, Matvichuk got away with an infraction when he tripped Varada while barreling in on Belfour. Belfour then threw a punch, but once again there was nothing called by the officials.

·         Matvichuk then stopped on a three-on-two break.

·         Satan had a one-timer at the faceoff circle stopped by Belfour with a little less than six minutes to go.

·         Shortly afterwards Varada attempted to redirect a wrist shot from Peca by the faceoff circle to Belfour’s right into the net, but just missed it.

·         Barnes tripped by Modano with 1:07 left in the third. No penalty.

·         Dallas won 47 faceoffs in regulation, Buffalo 32. Buffalo also had 32 shots on goal, more than any other game in the series.

FIRST OVERTIME

·         This was the eighth instance where the Stars needed overtime to settle a game this postseason, for Buffalo it was the third.

·         Belfour made a nice save with seven-plus minutes to go when a shot by a Buffalo player was deflected by Chambers and nearly went into the Dallas net. Ditto Hasek, who made a good stop on a shot by Nieuwendyk blocker-side.

·         Zhitnik had three chances to win it. Two shots were blocked, another missed the net with a wide-open shot from the faceoff circle.

·         Same with Cunneyworth – he attempted a pair of passes, one to Rasmussen, the other to Peca that could have turned into the game-winner within a few minutes of each other, but each were thwarted by the Dallas defense.

·         Satan and Holzinger had a chance midway through the period when Holzinger took a shot on a rolling puck – Belfour made the save but juggled it, and Satan attempted to collect a rebound but to no avail.

·         Brown attempted a shot when he had to turn around and shoot a bouncing puck but Belfour made a solid save.

SECOND OVERTIME

·         This period had many more scoring opportunities than the first did.

·         Patrick had three more chances to win it for the Sabres in this period. His slapshot from the point early was denied by Belfour and another from the top of the faceoff circle was stopped by the Stars’ goaltender shortly afterwards.

·         Nieuwendyk and Hogue had a two-on-one, but Nieuwendyk’s shot was blocked by Shannon.

·         With 17:46 left, the Sabres had their best chance to send the series to a Game Seven when Patrick unleashed a one-timer off a faceoff that was won by Holzinger. Unfortunately for Buffalo, that shot hit the crossbar and deflected away. Patrick had zero goals in 54 playoff games going into the contest.

·         Barnes and Juneau had a couple of excellent scoring opportunities a few minutes afterwards but again, Belfour stood tall to stop them.

·         Zubov had a pair of shots from the point that were denied by Hasek.

·         Verbeek was stopped by Hasek on an excellent rebound chance and a short while later (with 7:51 left to play), Verbeek was denied again after his slapshot from the half-wall was knocked away by Hasek. Langenbrunner had a similar chance a minute later but couldn’t break through.

·         With 5:11 left, Dallas caught Buffalo on a line change. With a three-on-two break, Modano drop-passed to Lehtinen, who then gave it to Hull. Hull’s backhand, however, is saved by Hasek.

·         Barnes got a one-timer off after a feed by Brown but couldn’t find the back of the net.

·         Woolley had a nice chance near the left faceoff circle on a wrist shot, but Belfour was again there to make a save. 30 seconds later, a wrist shot that was nearly fanned on by Carbonneau was blocked by Woolley.

·         Zubov hauled down Brown with 51 seconds to go, and it should have been called for interference. Especially because McCreary was standing in front of the play and saw it happen, but no penalty.

THIRD OVERTIME

·         A little more than three minutes into the period (17:55), Brown got tripped by Modano near center-ice, but no penalty call.

·         Buffalo’s last good chance to win the game came about two minutes later when Rasmussen’s wrist shot went right into Belfour’s midsection (one of 53 saves he made on that night). Buffalo did have other chances throughout the period – some shots went wide of the net, others were harmless opportunities that Belfour had no trouble stopping – but Rasmussen’s chance was the Sabres’ best of the period.

·         Dallas responded to Buffalo’s strong play in the second overtime with a better performance in the third. Mostly on defense, there were few scoring chances by any team in this period.

Then came the most infamous moment of the night.

It all started from a neutral zone turnover. With a little more than five minutes to go, Holzinger won a faceoff and Smehlik tried to pass to Juneau but was intercepted by Hull. After a bouncing puck was pokechecked away by Hasek, Chambers dumped it around the boards. Hull collected it and dropped it back to Modano to try and start a cycle.

With Zhitnik all over him, Smehlik came up and took the puck away. He then turned around and tried to pass it up the ice, but no one was there and the puck hit Modano’s stick and went to Lehtinen. Lehtinen noticed that Holzinger was too busy watching the puck instead of paying attention to anyone coming into the area near Hasek, including Hull. He passed the puck up to a wide-open Hull, and… well, we all know what happened next:

Dallas would parlay their Cup win into another run to the Final a year later but were upended by the Devils in six games. For practically the next 25 years – except for a few lean seasons here and there – the Stars have mostly been contenders.

Buffalo hasn’t reached the Final since that journey they took a quarter of a century ago. Including two runs to the Eastern Conference Final in 2006 and 2007, the Sabres have participated in postseason play just six times since the turn of the millennium and are currently mired in a 13-year playoff drought.