This Day in Hockey History – May 6, 1995 – Sakic Does the Trick

May 6, 2019

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The season before, the Quebec Nordiques did not even make the playoffs while the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup. At the end of the 1994-95 regular season, the Rangers crept into the playoffs with the last berth (with 47 points) while the Nordiques led the Northeast Division with 65 points (only five points behind NHL-leading Detroit Red Wings). When the two teams met on May 6 for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals, the Nordiques took an early lead thanks to captain Joe Sakic.

Sakic spent his entire 20-year career with the same franchise. Drafted (15th overall) by Quebec in 1987, he played there until 1995, when the franchise moved to Colorado. In his fifth season, the 23-year-old was made captain of the Nordiques. Sakic’s success stemmed from his shooting skills. He once said, “I would shoot pucks for hours, from all kinds of different positions. It became something that I had to do every day, right to the end of my career. If I ever missed a day of that, I would stress out shooting.” Thanks to all that practice, Sakic made 17 hat tricks during playoffs throughout his career.

His sixth playoff hat trick came on May 6, 1995. Rangers left winger Adam Graves started off the first and second periods with power play goals. However, during the last three minutes of the first period, his teammate, defenseman Brian Leetch, made a few costly errors. He dove after missing a bouncing puck at Quebec’s blue line and then turned over in the neutral zone. That allowed Scott Young to catch a pass and score a shortie for Quebec at 17:03. The other New York defenseman, Jeff Beukenboom, was called for tripping at 18:55. Leetch was stuck behind the net while Young assisted Sakic in scoring with about 19 seconds left. Still, the Rangers pulled ahead with two additional goals in the second period so that the score was 4-2.

Almost halfway into the third, Sakic scored after the puck bounced off goalie Mike Richter’s back and bucket. Sakic’s shot put the puck in the bottom corner just inside the net. Although Richter’s glove came in behind the puck and covered it, the video showed that the puck hit the net before his glove reached back. The Nordiques tied thanks to Bob Bassen’s goal at 14:07. With less than 38 seconds remaining in regulation, Sakic came towards Richter in a two-on-one and sent a “blistering 35-foot shot.” Because Beukeboom “slighty screened Sakic’s low shot, the puck skipped past Richter.” Sakic’s hat trick gave the Nordiques Game 1.

Despite the great start to the series, the Nordiques failed to maintain the momentum. They lost the next three games. On May 14, they pulled off a 4-2 victory at home to stay in the series, and it would be their final game at the Quebec Coliseum. Although Sakic added a goal and an assist in Game 6 on May 16, Quebec lost 4-2. The Nordiques had been eliminated, having played their final series as the Quebec Nordiques. They would begin the next season playing in Colorado as the Avalanche. The franchise won its first Stanley Cup championships the very next season, 1995-96, when Sakic received the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs.

The 2000-01 season would be the other big winner for the Avalanche and Sakic. In addition to the Cup, Sakic earned the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP with 118 points (54G, 64A), the Lester B. Pearson Award for most outstanding player, and the Lady Bing Trophy as the most gentlemanly player. Then Sakic, the MVP, led Canada to a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City. Almost as soon as Sakic retired, the Avalanche retired his No. 19. Along with former Nordiques teammate Mats Sundin, Sakic was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012. As teammate Peter Stastny put it, “He was a complete player and one of the greatest in history.”