This Day in Hockey History – May 1, 1992 – LaFontaine’s Eight in Seven

The Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins met each other in the quarterfinals of the 1992 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The start of this season’s playoffs came shortly after a ten-day player strike, that began on April 1, and it affected the attendance at all the games.

When Sabre Pat LaFontaine notched a goal in Game 7 on May 1, 1992, he became the first player in the NHL to score a goal in each of his team’s first seven playoff games in one year.

During Game 1, that took place on April 19, in Boston, the Sabres were leading 1-0 after the first period and LaFontaine notched his first goal of the series at 2:28 of the second period, while on the power play, assisted by linemates Dave Andreychuk and Alexander Mogilny.

“Mogilny and LaFontaine are great skaters who are always in motion. They both have tremendous anticipation,” said Bruins coach Rick Bowness of Buffalo’s top line after the game.

The Sabres lead 3-0 at the end of the second period, but Boston came back within one before running out of regulation time in that first game.

The second game took place in Boston on April 21. This time it was Boston who was leading 2-0 after the first period. Once again LaFontaine found twine in the second period, and again while on the power play. This time he was assisted by Dale Hawerchuk and Petr Svoboda.

“Both teams began the second period in a defensive mode before LaFontaine, standing to the right of the crease, tipped in Hawerchuk’s long shot for his second goal of the series,” reported The Gazette. “

Buffalo managed to tie things up in the third period where the score stood at the end of regulation, forcing them to play overtime. Adam Oates gave the Bruins the win, unassisted, at 11:14 of the overtime period.

Things moved to Buffalo for the next two games, where Boston got both wins—both games with a one-goal differential.

On April 23, the Bruins had the two-goal lead going into the second period and once again the Sabres were able to come back and tie things up in the second period. Randy Wood got Buffalo’s first goal of the game at 3:05 of the second while LaFontaine notched his third of the series, once again on the power play, at 15:00 of the second. With 39 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Oates gave the Bruins the go-ahead goal on the power play and the win.

Two nights later, on April 25, those in attendance got to see a few more goals for both teams, as once again the game couldn’t be decided during regulation.

“Glen Wesley, Adam Oates, Gord Murphy and Joe Juneau … scored for Boston, while the Sabres got goals from Pat LaFontaine, Dave Andreychuk, Dale Hawerchuk and Wayne Presley,” printed The Burlington Free Press.

This time the tie was ended when Ted Donato put the Bruins up 5-4 at 2:08 in the extra inning and gave the Boston the 3-1 lead in the games played.

As the teams returned to Boston on April 27, the Sabres were on the edge of elimination.

“Rookie Tom Draper, rebounding from his worst game of the playoffs, stopped 28 shots for the visiting Sabres. Draper, in goal for the entire series, stopped only 14 shots in a 5-4 overtime loss Saturday night. The Sabres got goals from Dave Hannan and Waterford Township’s Pat LaFontaine. Petr Svoboda assisted on both goals,” reported the Detroit Free Press of Buffalo’s shutout in Game 5.

Back in Buffalo, and still fighting for their lives, the Sabres pummeled the Bruins 9-3 in Game 6 on April 29th.

“Pat LaFontaine scored two second-period goals, his sixth and seventh of the National Hockey League Playoffs and the Buffalo Sabres set a club playoff scoring record with a 9-3 thumping of the Boston Bruins,” reported the Times Colonist. “LaFontaine made it 3-0 at 3:39 of the second on a breakaway… Boston’s Bob Sweeney took a roughing penalty… and LaFontaine scored.”

The Sabres had forced a Game 7, which was played in Boston on May 1. At this point it was up for grabs by either team. And for the fourth time, the score would end up 3-2. Playing from behind, down by a goal, LaFontaine tied things up at 2:07 of the second with a short-handed goal. And despite having five shots on Bruins goalie Andy Moog, he wasn’t able to put another one by him even when he had an empty net looming. And in the end the Sabres fell short by one goal.

“I just looked up at the ceiling and thought we still had a chance because we were carrying the momentum,” LaFontaine said. “But maybe it wasn’t meant to be.”

“Throughout the series, LaFontaine was shadowed by Dave Poulin or Jeff Lazaro. But he finished with a series-high 11 points, five of them coming on the power play. He also had a shorthanded goal, at 2:07 into last night’s second period when, while standing along the right post, he converted a cross-crease pass from Tony Tanti,” wrote Jim Greenidge.

Though the Sabres were eliminated, LaFontaine made history—scoring at least one goal in each of the seven play-off games in a single year.

Additional Sources:

• Kevin Paul Dupont, “Empty feeling pervades the Garden,” The Boston Globe, Monday, April 20, 1992, p. 46.
• “Oates’s overtime goal evens series for Bruins,” The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), Wednesday, April 22, 1992, p. B4.
• “Whalers pull even with Habs,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, Vermont), Sunday, April 26, 1992, p. 2C.
• “Penguins alive; Habs, Sabres, Rangers win,” Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan), Tuesday, April 28, 1992, p. 7C.
• “Sabres set club mark I scoring,” Times-Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia), Thursday, April 30, 1992, p. B2.
• Jim Greenidge, “Something was amiss,” The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), Saturday, May 2, 1992, p. 70.