Henrik Lundqvist’s controversial stop of a Daniel Briere shot in the closing seconds of the third period of the fourth game of this year’s Eastern Conference semifinals, giving his New York Rangers a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres and deadlocking the series at two games apiece, brought back memories of another controversial moment in Stanley Cup play involving the Sabres. The Sabres contended that Briere’s shot crossed the goal line, but in video replays Lundqvist’s right leg pad obscured part of the puck and the goal line, making it impossible to say with certainty that a goal had been scored. The on-ice officials’ call stood.

Like Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, to this day Brett Hull says his famous shot in Game Six of the 1999 Cup Finals in Buffalo was a goal. To this day, Dominik Hasek, the goalie who gave up Hull’s controversial goal, says The Golden Brett’s shot was not a goal.

What happened was this: At the 14:51 mark of the third overtime period, the Dallas Stars’ Hull got control of a rebound off a shot by Jere Lehtinen and slapped the puck underneath a sprawling Hasek and into the net for a 2-1 victory and Dallas’s first Stanley Cup championship.

But was it really a goal ? “Replays showed his (Hull’s) skate was in the crease when he slid the puck under Hasek, but the NHL’s review of the play determined that Hull had never lost possession of the puck and was therefore allowed a foot in the crease when scoring,” according to the 2000 NHL Yearbook.

The Buffalo Sabres management and players, and thousands of irate Buffalo fans, voiced their outrage over the NHL’s controversial ruling.

The series earned some of the NHL’s highest U.S. TV ratings during the 1990s. The Stars were coached by the innovative Ken Hitchcock, who has never met a reporter he didn’t like.

Dallas had eight players who had previously been members of Stanley Cup-winning teams. The mental and physical strain of the Cup Finals is a phenomenon unique to the NHL. NHL coaches make sure they have players with Finals experience who can help their younger teammates deal with the pressure. The Stars were a well-balanced club, with Hull, Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk leading the offense; Sergie Zubov and Guy Carbonneau strong defensively, and Eddie (The Eagle) Belfour in goal.

The 1999 Sabres also were coached by Ruff who was, and continues to be, one of the most successful bench bosses in the NHL.

Compared with the Stars, the Sabres were a collection of still-wet-behind-the-ears players, including Miroslav Satan, Curtis Brown, Jason Woolley, Rhett Werrener and Dixon.

Between the pipes was the pride of Pardubice, Czechoslovokia, Dominik Hasek. “The Dominator” had played in four consecutive NHL All-Star Games. In 1997 and 1998 he earned both the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player and the Lester B. Pearson Award as the most outstanding player as judged by all NHL players. The previous year he was named Best Goaltender at the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, where he led the Czech team to the gold medal in a performance for the ages.

In the Eastern Conference championship series, Buffalo buzz-sawed through the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning four games to one. The Stars had a more difficult time in the Western Conference Final, taking seven games to stop the Colorado Avalanche.

Hull scored the first goal in Game 1 of the Finals, but the Sabres prevailed 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Woolley.
“We like to do things the hard way. We’ve dropped Game 1 before. We’re confident that we can come back,” the Stars rough, tough captain, defenseman Derien Hatcher, was quoted as saying in the NHL Yearbook.

Game 2 was won by the Stars but they lost Modano on a bone-crunching hit by the Sabres’ Jay McKee.
Modano played in Game 3, a 2-1 Dallas win. But the Sabres countered with a 2-1 victory of their own in Game 4 to tie the series at two games apiece.
That set the stage for the pivotal fifth game. Skating hard and fast on both offense and defense, Modano led Dallas to a 2-0 win.

In Game 6, Modano set up Lehtinen for a 1-0 Dallas lead. Stu Barnes scored near the end of the second period to draw Buffalo even before the home crown in Marine Midland Arena.

Belfour and Hasek were outstanding in the second and third periods, stopping every shot thrown at them to force overtime. Unfortunately, the drama they provided was terminated by Hull’s controversial, skate-in-the-crease marker.