This Day in History: Flames finally win a series (April 19, 2004)

On this day in 2004, the Calgary Flames defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game Seven of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals thanks to an overtime goal by Martin Gelinas.

The victory ended a long drought by the Flames, who not only hadn’t won a playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup in 1989 but also had amazingly lost the majority of those first-round series in OT.

In the first round against Vancouver in 1989, the underdog Canucks took the Flames to overtime in the seventh game before Joel Otto saved Calgary with the series-winning goal late in the first OT period. After surviving that tough series, the Flames then went on to win the next two series with relative ease, losing only once against the Kings and Blackhawks and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. Calgary went on to defeat Montreal in six games, winning its first ever Stanley Cup.

In 1990, the Campbell Conference-leading Flames were once again expected to return to the Finals, but alas, suffered first-round humiliation at the hands of Los Angeles. Calgary fell behind 3-1 in the series—including an embarrassing 12-4 loss in Game Four—before being eliminated on Kings forward Mike Krushelnyski’s OT winner in Game Six.

In 1991, Calgary was again favoured in its first-round series, this time against the Edmonton Oilers. Incredibly, for the second straight year, the Flames fell behind 3-1 in the opening round. Yes, Theo Fluery’s Game Six OT winner—which forced a seventh game—was dramatic and memorable, but the Flames lost Game Seven in OT thanks to Esa Tikkanen, who completed the hat trick in the extra period. A stunning series loss, as the Flames had gone 20-1-2 in their final 23 home games during the regular season.

The Flames missed the playoffs in 1992, and were eliminated in the first round in 1993 by the Kings, though no OT was required in that series.

In 1994, the Flames had a 3-1 series lead over the underdog Canucks in the first round, but allowed Vancouver to tie the series. Calgary then lost Game Seven at the Saddledome in double OT thanks to Pavel Bure’s breakaway game-winner. The following season, the Flames lost Game Seven again at the Saddledome, again in double OT in Game Seven, this time to the San Jose Sharks, with Ray Whitney potting the series-winner. In 1996, the Flames were underdogs for the first time for a long time, and were swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round… and once again, Calgary was eliminated in overtime, as Joe Murphy did the honours in triple OT at the Saddledome.

The drought was simply remarkable, as the Flames had very solid offensive teams during those years, with guys such as Fleury, MacInnis, Nieuwendyk, Gilmour, Roberts, Suter, Mullen, Otto, and Reichel (who were there either for some or all of those seasons) all capable of scoring goals. But they were always shut down by a hot goaltender every spring.

The Flames didn’t make it back to the playoffs again until 2004, and when they allowed Vancouver to tie the game in Game Seven with five seconds remaining, it felt like déjà vu, with the contest headed to OT in an elimination game*. They had even lost Game Six in triple overtime at the Saddledome two nights earlier, allowing Vancouver to even the series at three games apiece. But this story had a happier ending, thanks to the former Canuck Gelinas, who potted the series-winner early in the extra period. Interestingly, in the three times the teams had met in the playoffs (1989, 1994, and 2004), the victorious team had won Game Seven in overtime on each occasion, with the winning team going on to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Here’s the video of the final few minutes of regulation, as well as the Gelinas goal, courtesy this YouTube video uploaded by tjackson76:

*It certainly felt like that for me, as I was well aware of the Flames’ mediocre playoff OT history. I was watching the game with a buddy of mine, Ian, at the pub. He was cheering for the Canucks while I was rooting for the Flames. When Vancouver tied it with time winding down, the entire pub erupted with joy, with Ian jumping up and down and with me burying my head in my hands. It was an unbelievable finish to regulation. But, as mentioned, this story had a happy ending.