NHL 2002-03 Leaders and Losers Quiz

Answer: Ottawa Senators

The Senators had their best season ever, recording a franchise-high 52 wins. They beat out the Dallas Stars by two points to earn this honor.

Answer: Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina had the NHL's biggest drop-off in points from 2001-02, from 93 to 61.

Answer: Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa gained 16 of their franchise-record 93 points through ties, en route to their first division title ever. Right behind the Lightning were the Dallas Stars with 15, which was only two fewer ties than regulation losses for the Stars.

Answer: Detroit Red Wings

Detroit's potent offense, led by several future Hall-of-Famers, produced a league-high 269 goals. Finishing second in this category were the Canucks, who were the goal-scoring champs the previous season.

Answer: Philadelphia Flyers

For letting up only 166 goals for each of their teams, Flyers Gs Roman Cechmanek and Robert Esche and Devils G Martin Brodeur all shared the Jennings Trophy. The Colorado Avalanche won it the previous season, with Patrick Roy taking the trophy.

Answer: Atlanta Thrashers

Poor goaltending combined with a defense as weak as wet toilet paper led to the Thrashers allowing 284 goals. The next most was 263 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, another team with a terrible defense.

Answer: Florida Panthers

The Panthers, who at one point were winless in 13 straight home games, posted a pitiful 8-21-7-5 mark at the Office Depot Center. To show how bad this mark is, the Dallas Stars LOST only seven home games in 2002-03.

Answer: Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers set a franchise record with 24 road wins, gaining 54 of thier 107 points at arenas other than the First Union Center.

Answer: St. Louis Blues

The Blues, with highly physical players like Reed Low, Scott Mellanby, rookie Barrett Jackman, and Keith Tkachuk, spent a league-high 1618 minutes in the sin bin. This was surprising, considering each of the other three teams each has at least two major enforcers, while Low is the only one on the Blues.

Answer: Boston Bruins

Big shooters like Glen Murray, Bryan Berard, Brian Rolston, and Joe Thornton contributed to the Bruins' league-leading 2636 shots on goal. Right behind the Bruins were the New Jersey Devils, who rarely were outshot in any game in 2002-03.

Answer: Florida Panthers

Goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Jani Hurme had to be brilliant on almost every night to give Florida a chance to win, as their leaky defense allowed a league-high 2725 shots on goal. The Montreal Canadiens allowed the next most, 2678.

Answer: Minnesota Wild

Goalies Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez kept shots out of the Wild net an amazing 92.4% of the time. The next highest mark (.919) was posted by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, whose starter was the brilliant Jean-Sebastian Giguere.

Answer: New Jersey Devils

Not surprisingly, the Devils also had the league's best penalty kill percentage in 2002-03. The Devils were the only team to allow fewer than 40 power play goals in this season.

Answer: Colorado Avalanche

Colorado's potent offense, led by the league's second-most productive line of Peter Forsberg, Milan Hejduk, and Alex Tanguay, was blanked on only one occasion this past season. The New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers, and Tampa Bay Lightning each were blanked only twice to tie for second in this category.

Answer: Minnesota Wild

Minnesota's offense sputtered throughout 2002-03, but the Wild made the playoffs largely thanks to excellent defense and goaltending, which yielded the fourth-fewest goals in the league. The Flames, Predators, and Penguins also were blanked ten times, but none of those teams came close to making the playoffs, as they all finished last in their respective divisions.

Thank you for playing my quiz on the 2002-03 NHL Regular Season!