Tonight, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins face each other in the playoffs for the fourth time. If this series is anything like the first three, hockey fans are in for a treat. The first three times these two teams faced each other, we had the all of the following:
– Every series going to a deciding double elimination game.
– Every double elimination game being decided by one goal.
– Two of the three double elimination games being decided in overtime.
– One best-of-seven series featured a comeback from a 3-0 deficit.
– Two series featured a two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion facing elimination in a huge upset.
Here are synopses of the prior three meetings between these two teams:
1975
The Islanders were the new kids on the block in this one. Only two years earlier, in their inaugural season, they had set a NHL record for futility, winning only twelve games over a full season. This year, they were actually a pretty decent team, although their defeat of the New York Rangers in an earlier round of the playoffs, just eleven seconds into sudden death double elimination, was regarded as luck or a fluke.
The Islanders nearly did it again that year, coming back from 0-3 to tie the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Flyers at 3-3 before losing in game 7.
1982
1993
That was the last series the Islanders ever won. They lost the next round to the Montreal Canadiens, despite the return of a diminished Pierre Turgeon. The Canadiens won games two and three in overtime as part of their amazing 10-0 record in OT games that playoff year.
The Penguins have had their ups and downs, including bankruptcies, the first ever player/owner in NHL history, and a return to glory with their third Stanley Cup a few years ago.
2013
Will the Islanders win their first playoff series in twenty years?
Will Pittsburgh finally defeat the Islanders in the playoffs?
Who knows?