NHL History: Kirk McLean records first of four shutouts in Vancouver Canucks storied 1994 cup run

1994 was a magical year for the Vancouver Canucks. They cruised through the regular season finishing second in the Pacific Division with a 41-40-3 record.

A meagre regular season, however, was nothing in comparison for what was about to come for the Canucks as they made major noise en route to a Stanley Cup appearance.

Today, in 1994, the playoffs kicked off and the Canucks were ready for their round one matchup against the Calgary Flames.

With Kirk McLean in net, the Canucks shutout the home Flames 5-0. Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning, Dave Baych, Trevor Linden and Jeff Brown all found twine for Vancouver, while McLean stopped all 31 shots that he faced.

McLean went on a tear that postseason and put together three more shutout performances. In game two of their second-round series, Vancouver shutout Dallas 3-0 as back-to-back shutouts came in games three and four of their third round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 27-year-old McLean posted truly incredibly numbers in those playoffs and was a major key in the Canucks run. He posted a 15-9 record to go along with a fantastic .928 save percentage stopping 761 shots.

McLean was acquired by the Canucks ahead of the 1987-88 season from the New Jersey Devils along with Greg Adams and a second round pick in 1988 (Lief Rohlin) in exchange for Patrik Sundstrom and the Canucks second (Jeff Christian) and fourth-round pick (Matt Ruchty) in 1988.

Vancouver traded McLean to the Carolina Hurricanes in 1998 along with Martin Gelinas for goalie Sean Burke and wingers Geoff Sanderson and Enrico Cicccone.

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