First international regular season games The
Vancouver Canucks and
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim opened the season with a two-game series at
Yoyogi National Gymnasium in
Tokyo, Japan, on October 3 and 4, 1997, the first time the NHL played regular games outside of North America.
Olympics and new All-Star Game format This was the first time that the NHL took a break during the regular season to allow NHL players join their respective national hockey teams competing at the
Winter Olympics. The league's break lasted 17 days from February 8 to 24 while NHL players participated at the
men's hockey event at the
1998 Winter Olympics in
Nagano, Japan. As a preview for the NHL's first Olympic participation, a new format was introduced at the
1998 All-Star Game at
General Motors Place in
Vancouver, the home to the
Vancouver Canucks, on January 18. The league had the all-star teams consist of a team of North Americans playing against a team of players from the rest of the world.
Highlights The all-time record for most shutouts in a season, set at 127 just a year earlier, was broken again as 160 shutouts were recorded, 13 of which were earned by
Dominik Hasek, who set a League record with 11 teams shut-out. He zeroed the
New York Rangers three times, and
Los Angeles,
Anaheim,
Tampa Bay,
Boston,
Calgary,
Washington,
Montreal,
Ottawa,
Pittsburgh and
Edmonton once each. Only two teams, the
St. Louis Blues and the
Detroit Red Wings, averaged more than three goals scored per game. In addition, only one player,
Jaromir Jagr, reached the 100-point plateau during the regular season.
Jari Kurri reached 600 goals in his career, finishing with 601. For the first time since 1968–69 season, the
Chicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs.
Final standings ;Eastern Conference ;Western Conference ==Playoffs==