The Top 10 Stanley Cup Playoff Upsets In NHL History

#9: Minnesota North Stars take down blistering Blackhawks offense- 1991 Norris Divison Semi-Finals

The 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars and their Cinderella run is a cautionary tale for top teams to never overlook their early playoff opponents. By all measures, this run should’ve never happened. Minnesota finished the regular season with a losing record. To be exact they had a 27-39-14 mark, which was just one spot ahead of last place in the Norris Division.

This was beginning of Bob Gainey’s long stint with the organization as both a head coach and later as the general manager with the team. In his rookie season as a head coach, his squad wasn’t too impressive in any major statistical category. The North Stars were in the bottom portion of the league when it came to scoring goals as they placed 15th.

Their defense was pretty decent as they ranked 10th in goals against. Minnesota had a small collection of good players on the team as Dave Gagner had the best season of his carrer, putting up 40 goals and 42 assists. Brian Bellows and Brian Propp has over 70 points during the regular year.

Neal Broten was a good passer of the puck and set up teammates for scoring opportunities. Ulf Dahlén and a 20 year old Mike Modano scored 21 and 28 goals respectively. However, even though they had some good players, it wasn’t even close to how loaded the Chicago Blackhawks were.

The team in Chi-town were the best team in the NHL in ’91. They had a loaded squad that featured Jeremy Roenick, Steve Larmer, Chris Chelios, Michel Goulet, Steve Thomas, and the man who posted the best save percentage for starters in the league that year, Ed Belfour.

The Blackhawks were a juggernaut to say the least. The very controversial Mike Keenan led the aforementioned group to a 106 point mark. It was the most successful regular season for the team since the NHL adopted the 80 game schedule in 1974-75.

This amazing year gave them the top spot in the Clarence Campbell Conference. Favoring the Blackhawks even more in this series, was the fact that in the prior season, they eliminated these same North Stars in seven games. So prior history was not on Minnesota’s side.

At the start of game 1, things were appearing in the way that everyone expected. Thirteen seconds end, Jeremy Roenick scored to give Chicago the early advantage. However, things took a turn a bit after as Dave Gagner and Brian Bellows found Mark Tinordi and Neal Broten for two consecutive power play goals. Then, Chicago would seize momentum as Doug Wilson scored a power play goal of his own near the end of the first frame to tie it.

Then Dirk Graham gave the Blackhawks the 3-2 lead nine minutes into the second. In the third period, Neal Broten notched his second goal of the game to tie six and a half minutes in. In overtime, Minnesota was on the man advantage again and Brian Propp had ended the contest at the 4:14 mark.

In games 2 and 3, the Blackhawks returned the blow that received in game 1. Roenick turned up his play as he scored a goal and assisted on three others in game 2. When the series shifted to the Metropolitan Sports Center in Minnesota, the North Stars blistered out of the gate, as they scored 5 goals in the first period. However, they would take their foot off the gas pedal and collapsed at home. Chicago would dominated in the last two periods and would ultimately win 6-5, giving them a 2-1 series lead.

In game 4, the North Stars would shake off the recent collapse and put together a great all around effort. In the second period the team created a three goal advantage as Neal Broten, Mike Craig, and Mark Tinordi all pitched in. Starting goalie Jon Casey would backstop their way to a 2-2 series tie when he stopped 16 of 17 shots against.

Game 5 saw the North Stars put out their best performance yet, shutting out the opponent and blowing them out in the process, winning 6-0, embarrassing Chicago’s stingy defense. In game 6, Minnesota closed out the series as they won 3-1. Brian Bellows had a part in all three goals scored and they shocked the best team that year.

The North Stars continued their Cinderella run, making to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Penguins in six games. Although Chicago was embarrassed here, they would go on to make the Stanley Cup Final the next season. They would sweep two playoff series in the process before getting swept themselves against the Penguins.