FILE
- In this Dec. 13, 1990 file photo, Boston Bruins defenseman Ray
Bourque (77) reaches over the back of Hartford Whaler Dean Evason (12)
trying to get to the puck behind Boston's goal during first period
action in the Boston. The NHL hasn't had best-of-five playoff series
since 1986. That's changing for this year with the league expanding to
24 playoff teams as part of its restart. The qualifying round will
feature 16 teams facing off in best-of-five series to determine who
moves on. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
Fans counted down
the seconds to the final buzzer, “Brass Bonanza” played over the
speakers at Hartford Civic Center and Whalers players Dave Tippett, Joel
Quenneville and Dean Evason celebrated a three-game sweep of the Quebec
Nordiques.
Wait, Hartford Whalers? Quebec Nordiques? Three-game sweep?
It
was 1986 and one of the final NHL playoff series of its kind. The
league this summer holds its first best-of-five playoff series in 34
years, and Tippett, Quenneville and Evason are among those involved in
some capacity who know from personal experience what to expect.
“You
have to be ready for the grind,” said Tippett, now coach of the
Edmonton Oilers. “In a unique situation like this, you’re going from not
playing to playing playoff-style hockey, so you’ve got to embrace the
grind mentally, physically.”
This is a different
kind of grind after four-plus months off the ice because of the
coronavirus pandemic. The champion could need 19 wins — not the 15 from
decades past — to lift the Stanley Cup. Sixteen teams will play eight
best-of-five qualifying round series to determine who moves on to face
the league’s best from a truncated regular season.
Tippett’s
Oilers face the Chicago Blackhawks, whom Quenneville coached to three
Cup titles from 2010-15. Quenneville’s Florida Panthers face the New
York Islanders, whose associate coach, Lane Lambert, played in a
five-gamer with Detroit in 1984. And Evason’s Minnesota Wild face the
Vancouver Canucks, managed by Jim Benning, who went through one with
Toronto in 1983.
These expanded playoffs have plenty of links to that past, which is plenty evident in Quenneville’s trademark white mustache.
“It’s
going back just a couple years ago,” Quenneville quipped. “It’s going
way back. Back in the day when we did have best of five, we played four
in five nights and it was right off the bat. That was a heck of a grind.
Game 4 it was like, ‘Wow.’ Sometimes your legs, you didn’t know if you
had them underneath you.”
There
will be more time off this year, with series spread out over eight or
nine days and no travel because all games are played in one city. But
each qualifying round series features one potential back-to-back, a
rarity in modern playoffs.
“I
think that (players have) got to be a little bit concerned about those
knowing that the next day’s the next day,” Quenneville said. “But you’re
only playing to win that game that you’re in. So I think that’s the
focus in a short series. Momentum is a key. You always talk about doing
the right things shift in, shift out, finding consistency in your game.”