This Day in Hockey History – May 12, 1986 – Blues Comeback Then Go

May 12, 2019

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Imagine having 10 minutes remaining in a do-or-die game when the team is down 5-2 and trailing 3-2 in the series. It would require a lot of effort to maintain confidence in that situation. When the St. Louis Blues found themselves in that situation on May 12, 1986, Coach Jacques Demers told his team, “Keep your head up. No matter what happens, we walk out of here with our head up.” The Blues certainly made their coach and themselves proud when they proceeded to tie up the game and then win in overtime. The event became known as the “Monday Night Miracle.”

Game 6 of the Campbell Conference finals was held in St. Louis’s fully packed Arena. The Blues were already underdogs, having finished the regular season in twelfth place. Though they had won the first game of the conference finals, their opponents, the Calgary Flames, led the series and hoped to move into the Stanley Cup finals by winning this game.

The scoreboard remained blank as the first period ended. However, the closing moments produced a big fight that resulted in multiple penalties, especially on the Blues. With the fighting centered around the Blues’ net, referee Kerry Fraser had to actually pull goalie Rick Wamsley out from underneath. In total, the first 20 minutes saw 21 penalties amounting to 70 minutes. The Flames capitalized on their five-on-three advantage by scoring twice within the first two minutes. The Blues responded with their own power play goal at just shy of six minutes. The latter half of the second period saw two more Calgary goals. The St. Louis fans were so unhappy with Fraser that they threw things on the ice throughout the remainder of the game.

“I told the players we could get about 20 shots in the third period,” Coach Demers commented. “We just didn’t want to lose.” So the Blues began battling their way back. On a 35-foot slapshot, center Doug Wickenheiser scored an unassisted power play goal at six minutes into the third. About a minute later, former Blues Joe Mullen responded for Calgary. After a little more than a minute, Blues captain Brian Sutter scored his first goal of the playoffs. His linemate who had assisted, Greg Paslawski, then sent in back-to-back goals during the final five minutes of regulation. For the tying goal, he stole the puck from defenseman Jamie Macoun as he came out from behind net with 1:08 remaining on the clock. Captain Sutter summarized, “We had 14 shots (as a line) in the third. We had two chances, and the puck hit the post. Then we scored on three straight shots.”

The Blues had survived regulation and pushed into overtime. All seemed lost when Mullen took a shot on the Blues’ net, but the puck hit the post. Soon after, at 7:30, Wickenheiser picks up a blocked shot and puts the puck in the net for his second goal of the game. Bernie Federko, on his 30th birthday, was credited with the assist. Miraculously, the Blues had won the game 6-5. “You’ve got to work hard to be lucky,” commented Captain Sutter. “Let’s say I’m not surprised.”

Having forced a Game 7, the Blues only temporarily held off the inevitable. Two days later, on May 14, Calgary won 2-1, eliminating St. Louis. The Flames were the first Calgary team to make the Stanley Cup finals since the Hamilton Tigers did in 1924-25. Having fallen 4-1 to the Montreal Canadiens, the Calgary Flames did not win their first championship until 1988-89. The St. Louis Blues have not returned to the Stanley Cup finals since their first three seasons as a franchise.