Classic Series: Comeback vs. Washington in 1985
By stan fischler and zach weinstock
Comebacks have been a part of the Islanders' DNA from the very earliest days of the franchise.
Exhibit A was the manner in which the Isles rebounded from three-games-to-none deficits in the 1975 playoffs against Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
The 1975 team was believed to be too young and inexperienced to claw back. A decade later, Isles-doubters now claimed they had the opposite problem. After so many years in the trenches and a sixth-place finish in the Wales Conference in 1984-85, many in the pundit class declared the Islanders old, "washed up," "tired," and "spent." But when presented another opportunity to make history, Al Arbour's army simply couldn't resist.
The Washington Capitals captured the first two games of the 1985 playoff series, putting the Isles at cliff's edge. No team had ever won a best-of-five playoff series after dropping the first two contests. It seemed bleak. But this was still the Islanders.
Game Three was one of those do-or-die propositions, and the Isles did what was necessary. They held tight, and won 2-1 in Uniondale, shifting pressure toward the visitors in a crucial Game Four on April 14, 1985.
"Going into the fourth game, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves," said Bob Nystrom. "They had us down two games to none, but we stayed alive. It gave our guys a feeling of confidence."
But that was only a momentary respite. One more Washington win and the Islanders' season would be over; a hideous thought for the Nassau faithful. The Coliseum was filled to capacity for what would evolve into one of the most heart-throbbing games in the club's long and eventful history.
It started off well for New York early when captain Denis Potvin converted on a power play for the game's first goal.
But an Islanders penalty set up the Caps for the tying goal by Mike Gartner, followed by another red light from Dave Christian for a 2-1 lead. One of the most reliable of Arbour's forwards, Nystrom tied the count at 2-2 before the opening frame ended.
Between periods, the press box buzz was filled with conjecture. "This is a tough one to figure," said Bob Stampleman, publisher of Action Sports Hockey magazine. "Smitty is going to have to tighten up in the Isles net."
But Battling Billy Smith was not able to close the floodgates. In the second period, Washington pushed hard and got results when veteran defensive forward Doug Jarvis and Swedish sharpshooter Ben Gustafsson broke through for a 4-2 Capitals lead. The third period would tell the tale.
Elimination was staring Arbour's stickhandlers in the face. Meanwhile Bill Torrey, as superstitious as they come, was trying to figure where his "good luck position" would be in the third period. "What I knew was that we needed to get one early," said Torrey, whose normal sense of humor had taken a temporary sabbatical. "The guys needed some kind of lift."
The puck was dropped, and in less than three-and-a-half minutes, Torrey got his wish.
Patrick Flatley, one of the team's new young aces, scored at 3:26, and the Coliseum erupted with joy. Suddenly, the ice tilted in the Islanders' favor.
The Isles reacted to the enthusiastic crowd, pushing – and pushing hard – while their big hitters stepped to the plate. "By this time we were hoping to get a break or two," Arbour recalled. "Hopefully, Lady Luck would be on our side."
Sure enough, the Capitals were called for a minor penalty. Arbour sent out Bossy, John Tonelli and Brent Sutter for the power play, and it clicked.
Sutter and Tonelli were the architects, and Bossy finished it off to tie the game, 4-4. The time was 7:55, leaving a little more than a dozen minutes remaining in the third period.
This was the kind of drama an award-winning Hollywood director would dream about, with nobody in the audience having a clue how the classic encounter would end.
Pat Calabria, Newsday's Islander beat man, had a historic perspective in his head. "The Islanders have had a history of coming back for some time," he said. "This could be another one."
Finally, as the game clock clicked toward overtime, the Islanders broke the tie. Wily center Bryan Trottier whacked a shot through Al Jensen's five-hole right off a faceoff at 18:52. Now it was 5-4, but the Capitals had 1:08 to work with.
Washington revved up one more counterattack in an attempt to tie the game. They gave it all they had, and with 30 seconds to go, Smith was called for dislodging his net to thwart the drive. A penalty shot was awarded as a result, and Bobby Carpenter, the Caps' American-born 53-goal assassin, got the nod.
The capacity crowd urged Smitty on with cries of "BIL-LY!! BIL-LY!!" But the tension was as thick as molasses when Carpenter circled toward the puck at center ice. Smith banged his goal posts and focused on the task at hand.
"I was trying to figure Carpy's move," Smith said. "I didn't want to commit myself."
He didn't.
Smitty thwarted Bobby's snapper with his blocker, and Torrey exhaled in relief. For the final 30 seconds, the fans exhorted their heroes with the familiar chant: "DEE-FENSE!"
It worked. Bossy grabbed a loose puck and inserted an empty net insurance goal with 16 seconds remaining.
The monumental comeback, which starred a quartet of future Hall of Famers – Potvin, Bossy, Trottier and Smith – kept the Islanders' playoff hopes alive. And Smith was just getting started.
After all, it would have been a shame to waste one of the most memorable saves of his career, and wastefulness was not Battling Bill's style.
Thus, when the Isles took the ice in Landover, Maryland for a winner-take-all Game Five, it was a perfect time for one of the most masterful performances of Smitty's legendary career.
With 39 saves on 40 shots – including a whopping 18 stops in the second period – spunky Smith stole the game - and the series - from the desperate Capitals, in unbelievable fashion. Thanks to Billy, second period goals by Anders Kallur and Sutter were all the Isles needed to secure the 2-1 win and put their names in the NHL record books yet again; this time as the first club to erase a two-game deficit in a five-game series.
"History is our seventh man," bragged Bob Bourne. But Washington captain Rod Langway provided an even more poignant explanation.
"A champion knows how to find a way to win," Langway said. "They don't know how to say 'lose.'"