1993–94 San Jose Sharks season

The 1993–94 San Jose Sharks season was the team's third season of operation in the National Hockey League (NHL). It saw the Sharks finish in third place in the Pacific Division with a record of 33 wins, 35 losses, and 16 ties for 82 points, clinching the eighth and final playoff spot in the newly rebranded Western Conference. San Jose achieved the largest turnaround in NHL history, recording a 58-point improvement from the previous season. Their 33 wins and 82 points in 1993–94 were more than their win and point totals in their first two seasons combined. In the playoffs, the Sharks upset the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings in the Conference Quarterfinals. However, they fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the Conference Semifinals.

This was the first season in which the Sharks actually played in San Jose. After playing their first two seasons at the Cow Palace in Daly City, the Sharks moved into the brand new San Jose Arena for the 1993–94 season.

Offseason
The Sharks selected Viktor Kozlov with their first-round pick, sixth overall.

Newly acquired forward Bob Errey, was named team captain. He replaced the retired Doug Wilson.

Regular season
The Sharks had the fewest shots on goal (2,101) out of all 26 teams during the regular season.

Conference Quarterfinals
In 1993–94, the Sharks made the playoffs for the first time in their history, qualifying as the eighth seed in the Western Conference despite being the only playoff team to have a losing record during the regular season. In the Conference Quarterfinals, they faced the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings, who featured Hockey Hall of Fame members Dino Ciccarelli, Paul Coffey, Sergei Fedorov, Mark Howe, Nicklas Lidström, and Steve Yzerman (in addition to Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman) and were a favourite to win the Stanley Cup. However, the Sharks silenced the crowd at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena by taking Game 1, 5–4, on a late goal by 18-year-old defenceman Vlastimil Kroupa. After the Red Wings won the next two contests, including a 3–2 victory in Game 3 to spoil the Sharks' first-ever home playoff game, San Jose rallied behind goaltender Artūrs Irbe to win Games 4 and 5. Detroit stormed back in Game 6, scoring the first five goals en route to a 7-1 drubbing of the Sharks to force a decisive Game 7. At 13:25 of the third period, with the score tied 2-2, Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood was caught out of position trying to fire a pass up the right-side boards. The puck went right to San Jose's Jamie Baker, who fired it into the empty net for the go-ahead goal. The Sharks held on for a shocking 3–2 victory and a 4–3 series win, completing one of the biggest upsets in Stanley Cup Playoffs history.

Conference Semifinals
In the Conference Semifinals, the Sharks took on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were the conference's third seed and had defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in six games in the Conference Quarterfinals. The two teams alternated victories in the series' first five games. As in their first-round series against Detroit, San Jose won the first game on the road, this time by a 3–2 score, as Johan Garpenlöv scored the game-winning goal with 2:16 remaining. However, Toronto took Game 2, 5–1, as five different Maple Leaf players scored and three goals came on the power play. The two teams then shifted to the West Coast, where an Ulf Dahlén hat trick and aggressive checking keyed the Sharks to a 5–2 victory in Game 3, but the Leafs came back with a dominant special teams effort in Game 4, scoring two power-play goals and two short-handed goals – one of each coming from Dave Andreychuk – in an 8–3 rout of the Sharks. In Game 5, San Jose's Russian duo of Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov, who had been held off the score sheet in the previous three games, came to life for three goals and five assists combined in a 5–2 win that put the team one win away from the Conference Finals heading into Game 6 in Toronto. This contest, tied at 2-2, went into overtime, where San Jose missed two opportunities to seal another astonishing upset. First, at 1:11 into the extra period, Garpenlöv's shot beat Toronto goaltender Felix Potvin, but rang off the crossbar. Then, 3:20 into overtime, Sandis Ozoliņš chose to pass to Larionov during a 3-on-2 rush despite having room to shoot between two Toronto defencemen. The Leafs finally won the game 3–2 at 8:53 of overtime on a Mike Gartner goal to force a seventh game. In Game 7, also in Toronto, Wendel Clark scored two goals in a 4-2 Leafs victory as Toronto took the series 4-3 and advanced to the Conference Finals against the Vancouver Canucks.

Player statistics
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;