No one had given San Jose a chance. It would be a quick series. There’s no way it would get to Game 7. But heading into the 1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs, those refrains were nothing new. The Sharks had heard it all before.
A year earlier, when they squared up against the Red Wings, who finished atop the Western Conference standings, many figured that Detroit would make quick work of the eighth-seeded Sharks, making their post-season debut. But San Jose didn’t seem to get the memo.
Although they might have been outmatched on paper, Ray Whitney, who was drafted 21st overall by the Sharks a few years earlier, felt the team’s advantage was that they learned to develop a short memory.
“Our group was very resilient and very forgetful in the sense that once the game was over, good or bad, we were able to move onto the next one,” Whitney said in a telephone interview.
After stunning Detroit by taking the first game of the series, the Sharks dropped the next two matches before picking up back-to-back victories with the opportunity to eliminate the Red Wings on home ice. But the Sharks got walloped 7-1 and Detroit was able to force a decisive seventh game, once again in the Motor City.
“Getting to game seven, we all just looked around at each other and said we were never supposed to get this far so let’s just enjoy it,” Whitney said. “I think the pressure was more on Detroit than it was on us.”
It certainly looked that way. The Sharks opened the scoring less than a minute into the game and went into intermission holding a 2-1 lead. Although the Wings tied it up in the second, Jamie Baker bulged the twine just over halfway through the final frame to put the game out of reach.
Reflecting on how they were able to pull it off, Whitney pointed to how loose the team was.
“We were quite comfortable in that game just because we had nothing to lose, we weren’t supposed to be there anyway,” he said.
They ended up losing to the Maple Leafs in seven games in the next round, but the experience of blocking out the noise, would come in handy for Whitney and the Sharks the next year.
When the Sharks drew Calgary, who claimed the Pacific Division in a lockout-shortened season, in the opening round, it wasn’t as quite a lopsided matchup, but few gave San Jose much of a shot of snuffing out the Flames.
After winning the first two games, the Sharks then got trounced 9-2 at home. And then they lost 6-4. And then they got shut out 5-0 and were on the verge of elimination.
But Whitney says the team didn’t let it get to them. “We kind of had the same mentality when we won one we weren’t supposed to win, we’d park it and move onto the next one,” he said. “When we lost and when we lost handily, we could leave it alone and let it be,” Whitney said.
While the Sharks were clearly able to compartmentalize the losses, Whitney also credits the leadership group for keeping them locked in.
“We had some very good leadership with guys who had played in some very big games in their lifetime with [Igor] Larionov and [Sergei] Makarov,” he said. “How many Olympic golds and world championships did those guys play in and big game moments did those guys play in?”
Although Whitney, who was a few days away from turning 23, was only in his second full NHL season, he had already seen what it took to win in the big leagues. A decade earlier, Whitney, along with his brother Dean, were stick boys for their hometown Edmonton Oilers. He experienced Wayne Gretzky’s greatness firsthand and saw the intensity burning in Mark Messier’s eyes right after head coach Glen Sather tore a strip off him in the dressing room. “The next period he [Messier] went out there and pounded Ric Nattress and the game changed,” Whitney said.
But more than just seeing the team win four championships during that era, Whitney saw that for as much work as they put into their practices and games, they also knew how to have fun and not take things too seriously. “You can have fun, it’s not just a job, so enjoy it,” he said.
So, when the Sharks coughed up a 4-2 lead to the Flames in Game 7 and went to overtime, they didn’t beat themselves up. Whitney recalls that Larionov and Makarov’s message to the dressing room was simple. If you would’ve asked them at the start of the playoffs if they would have taken one period for the opportunity to win and move on, they would’ve taken it. Hands down. No question.
“Igor was very adamant about being relaxed,” Whitney said. “He was calm and controlled and relaxed. Play with the puck, make plays, don’t just give it away and try to defend.”
Larionov, who was known as “the Professor” for his cerebral play, saw a resemblance in Whitney. “I was young, and he thought my game was similar to his in the respect that we’re small, we’re smart, we kind of know where to go, and I just fit in there,” Whitney said.
Larionov’s judgement proved spot on. Years later, Whitney developed into one of the league’s premier playmakers, earning his own nickname; “the Wizard.”
Under Larionov’s tutelage in San Jose, Whitney learned the importance of puck management and the belief in oneself; two tenets that would serve him well in an NHL career that would span two decades.
The Sharks were poised when they hit the ice for the extra frame, but it solved nothing. They were going to double OT. All Whitney can recall from session is that goaltender Wade Flaherty kept them in it. “Wade was the difference for us in that overtime,” Whitney said. That’s a bit of an understatement, Flaherty, who made 38 saves through regulation, stopped all 17 shots he faced in the first overtime.
Less than two minutes into double OT, Larionov and Makarov went to work, calmly moving the puck through the Flames zone. After Larionov missed on an attempt, Makarov retrieved the biscuit and fired a shot on net. Whitney who was posted up in front of Calgary netminder Trevor Kidd, tipped it in.
“I couldn’t believe it went in,” Whitney said. “It was kind of a shock to all of us. It was also a relief to us. I think we all thought the longer we went the less it was going to be in our favour.”
And as much as Whitney felt as though their time might have been running out in that game, he also knew the team had a belief that would be difficult to extinguish. While they wouldn’t be able to get past a Wings team that was on the cusp of becoming a powerhouse and was dead set on vengeance, they had once again defied the odds. They might have all but been written off before the playoffs began, but, for the second year in a row, they had knocked off a top-seeded team.
Looking back on Whitney’s accomplishment from three decades ago, it’s impossible not to be struck by the fact that, among all the San Jose players listed on the roster from this past season, all but six were born after that goal.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. As this young Sharks team continues to take steps forward, they too will eventually find themselves cast as the unproven playoff underdogs. But drawing from Whitney’s experience, they might be able to find a way to upend the narrative and write a new chapter.
