classic game: april 13, 1982
By zach weinstock
Winning four straight Stanley Cups is difficult, one would think. But the Islanders made it look pretty easy.
Coach Al Arbour's Arsenal faced great team after great team to earn their early '80's Cup quartet, from Bobby's Flyers to Wayne's Oilers and all the NHL's best in between. Yet they never came particularly close to defeat.
That is with one notable – and memorable – exception; April 13, 1982.
The winner-take-all Game Five of that year's Patrick Division Semi-Finals was the only time the Isles faced elimination in their four consecutive championship springs. And it was a doozy.
If dropping Game Three and Game Four to the upstart Penguins didn't have the faithful anxious enough, spotting the Pittsburghers three straight goals to close the second period of the rubber match raised the tension in Nassau Coliseum to an almost unbearable pitch.
"By all rights, we should have been up by five goals," said GM Bill Torrey.
To Torrey’s point, the Islanders took a 25-11 shots advantage into second intermission. But Magnificent Michel Dion appeared impregnable in the Penguin net.
And once the Isles finally did break the ice on a Bobby Nystrom put-back, Pittsburgh answered with a Kevin Mclelland tip, a stone-cold beautiful rush by standout center Mike Bullard, and a Randy Carlyle finish off a giveaway from typically sure-handed Kenny Morrow.
The Isles, in a word, were "sloppy," and now faced the reality of a suggestion put forth by Dion before the game. "Who has the edge," he'd softly asked reporters, "the team that won the first two, or the one that won the last two?"
At that point, no doubt the latter. What's worse, Dion, it seemed, had saved his best for last. Wave after wave of Islander shooters knocked on his door in the third period, to no avail.
The near misses were too frustrating to endure. Carlyle barely got the pinky-toe of his stick-blade on Bryan Trottier's point blank empty net chance. Then Bobby Bourne schooled the Pens' Greg Hotham on a rush down left wing, only to see Dion shrug away his shot with a shoulder. Later Trottier hit the crossbar on another wide open forehand from the low slot. The proverbial "hockey gods" were toying with the repeat champions, until finally, a break.
Trottier went against Rowdy Randy Carlyle again, and this time he beat him, racing past the Pittsburgh captain and drawing a hooking penalty at 12:56.
The Islander power play sputtered for over a minute. The best chance was against their own goalie, Billy Smith, who made a diving glove stop on Pens forward George Ferguson to keep the game alive.
Then Arbour yanked him. What this powerless power play needed, the coach surmised, was a new goaltender. Here's why.
According to the rules, a team's first goalie change would be accompanied by a two-minute timeout for the new stopper to warm up. So with 56 seconds remaining on Carlyle's penalty, Arbour sent Roland Melanson to replace Smith and, more importantly, field practice shots for two long minutes. In Al's eyes, the first power play unit needed a rest, and a little advice. He told them to relax, simplify their approach, and "stop rushing things."
Meanwhile, with all momentum on their side, a long pause was the last thing Coach Eddie Johnston and his Penguins wanted.
The clock read 5:50 to go as Trottier, Clark Gillies and Mike Bossy stepped back onto the ice, with Mike McEwen and Denis Potvin on the blue line. The home crowd offered an encouraging - albeit desperate - round of applause.
"Anything can happen," remarked SportsChannel's Jiggs McDonald, "on any given night."
Bossy scooped the puck in the left wing corner off the draw and made a simple feed to Potvin at the near point. The three-time Norris Trophy winner fumbled it over the line and out of the zone. The fans sang out another giant moan, the loudest yet. Faith was leaking from every direction.
It was just not the Isles' night.
But what they weren't going to do was give up.
So alas, with pinball efficiency, the puck travelled the neutral zone from Potvin to Gillies to Bossy to Potvin and across the rink to McEwen, who drove right wing and dropped it for Trottier, who tapped it up the boards to Bossy, who unloaded as only he could, with Gillies causing havoc for Dion and the Penguin defense atop the crease. The rebound squirted right out front where McEwen pounced and zinged it into the wide-open cage at 14:33 – a complete team effort!
Smith came back in for Melanson, and immediately made another game saver, this time on Bullard, to keep the score 3-2 by an inch.
Trottier went against Rowdy Randy Carlyle again, and this time he beat him, racing past the Pittsburgh captain and drawing a hooking penalty at 12:56.
The Islander power play sputtered for over a minute. The best chance was against their own goalie, Billy Smith, who made a diving glove stop on Pens forward George Ferguson to keep the game alive.
Then Arbour yanked him. What this powerless power play needed, the coach surmised, was a new goaltender. Here's why.
According to the rules, a team's first goalie change would be accompanied by a two-minute timeout for the new stopper to warm up. So with 56 seconds remaining on Carlyle's penalty, Arbour sent Roland Melanson to replace Smith and, more importantly, field practice shots for two long minutes. In Al's eyes, the first power play unit needed a rest, and a little advice. He told them to relax, simplify their approach, and "stop rushing things."
Meanwhile, with all momentum on their side, a long pause was the last thing Coach Eddie Johnston and his Penguins wanted.
The clock read 5:50 to go as Trottier, Clark Gillies and Mike Bossy stepped back onto the ice, with Mike McEwen and Denis Potvin on the blue line. The home crowd offered an encouraging - albeit desperate - round of applause.
"Anything can happen," remarked SportsChannel's Jiggs McDonald, "on any given night."
Bossy scooped the puck in the left wing corner off the draw and made a simple feed to Potvin at the near point. The three-time Norris Trophy winner fumbled it over the line and out of the zone. The fans sang out another giant moan, the loudest yet. Faith was leaking from every direction.
It was just not the Isles' night.
But what they weren't going to do was give up.
So alas, with pinball efficiency, the puck travelled the neutral zone from Potvin to Gillies to Bossy to Potvin and across the rink to McEwen, who drove right wing and dropped it for Trottier, who tapped it up the boards to Bossy, who unloaded as only he could, with Gillies causing havoc for Dion and the Penguin defense atop the crease. The rebound squirted right out front where McEwen pounced and zinged it into the wide-open cage at 14:33 – a complete team effort!
Smith came back in for Melanson, and immediately made another game saver, this time on Bullard, to keep the score 3-2 by an inch.
Bullard-bullet dodged, the Islanders pressed on as the noise in the arena became head-splitting. But the crafty Penguins were stubborn in their resistance, while the clock steadfastly ticked against the defending champs.
With less than two-and-a-half minutes remaining, Isles defender Gord Lane fired a knuckleball into the right wing corner of the Penguins zone, tasking Carlyle with a relatively routine retrieval. But it was late in the contest and the ice was snowy. The puck flipped over Carlyle's stick and landed at the faceoff dot – standing on its side - special delivery to John Tonelli, fresh of the New York bench. The quick turnover caught Dion off guard. Tonelli scooped the sideways biscuit - no easy feat – and golfed it right on by him. WHEW! It was 3-3, with only 2:21 to go. The Coliseum was up for grabs.
"Oh my, what a comeback!" belted Jiggs. "The fans are going crazy!" exclaimed his partner, Eddie Westfall.
The drama continued apace. Smith saved his team's tail again, choking off a semi-breakaway from sharp-shooting Rick MacLeish.
Seconds later Isles' center Butch Goring was narrowly foiled on a rebound opportunity, moments before Bossy whistled one just wide from the low slot. The game could not get any more exciting.
Shots in the third were 18-7 Isles, for a regulation total of 43-18. Yet it had taken Arbour's shrewd gimmickry and Carlyle's Bill Buckner-esque blunder just to reach an overtime period which, even with all that momentum, proved anything but a breeze.
"We knew we still had our work cut out for us," said Tonelli.
This was especially true of Smith.
In the opening minutes of sudden death, MacLeish and Bullard galloped free on a two-on-one break. Bullard deftly maneuvered around a sliding Morrow and waltzed in alone with the season on his stick. His shot was clever and on target, back in the direction he'd come from. To the 15,230 fans it looked like the tricky wrister had found a very big opening. At the last moment, Smitty desperately kicked out his left leg, thrusting the rubber out of harm's way.
The next move belonged to the Islanders. The decisive play originated just past the six-minute mark, with the champs' resident "workhorses," Tonelli, Goring and Nystrom, wrestling in the offensive zone with a colony of angry Penguins. Next thing anyone knew, Bullard and the Pens raced off the other way. And that's when the hockey world witnessed what it means to be a champion.
Tonelli and Nystrom sprinted home on the back-check. Dave Langevin donated his shoulder to the cause, dropping to stop Bullard's slap-shot. With Smith scrambling, McEwen went into a butterfly position and gobbled up Carlyle's dangerous follow up. Two crucial blocks in a row!
Then Tonelli and Nystrom turned around and hightailed it the other way, surprising the Pens with their hustle. McEwen saw that Tonelli had a step on the defense, so Magnificent Mike hopped to his feet and threaded the needle like a Master Hand Knitter, an inch clear of Bullard's diving attempt to break up his perfect pass.
The crowd shrieked in unison. An overtime breakaway!
This remarkable game – and season – came down to a footrace between Tonelli and Pittsburgh's Paul Baxter. J.T. put his head down and pressed ahead. Baxter kept up stride for stride. At the top of the circle, he grabbed Tonelli from behind and took out his legs. No call, and the puck caromed off the end boards as the two men slid behind the goal. But unlike Baxter, Tonelli propelled himself back to his feet immediately. He wanted it more.
J.T. retrieved the puck and skimmed it over to Nystrom, just outside Dion's crease. Ny faked forehand to backhand. Carlyle came back and wiped him out. But Tonelli was – literally - "Johnny on the Spot."
With Dion out of position and Tonelli unchecked, all that remained was a two-foot putt for the series. "I had the whole net to shoot at," he'd later gloat.
Bullseye! At 6:19 of overtime.
A night of high stress, maximum intensity, unbridled emotion and persistent screaming reached its climactic roar. The traditional handshake line fell into place. The capacity crowd cheered itself hoarse as the traditional handshake line fell into place. The visitors' valiant goaltender could only choke back tears.
"We thought we had them," Dion concluded. "But those Islanders wouldn't quit. They have the heart of a lion."
"Those last six minutes was just fantastic hockey," said Nystrom. "It was the best our team could play under pressure. It was the most exciting game I ever played in."
Indeed, the final effort had been a microcosm of the entire comeback. Four different Islanders dove on six different occasions in the final 30 seconds of action! The play could be summarized in just two words; pure guts.
Through their perseverance the Islanders proved their home arena truly deserved the moniker "Fort Neverlose," even – and especially - on the unforgettable night it was "Fort Almost-lose."