Maven's Memories: Isles Fly Past Penguins in 1993

Reporters who -- by 1993 -- had seen more than two decades worth of NHL playoffs knew that winning a Stanley Cup was analogous to winning a war of attrition.
Pittsburgh's '93 NHL model knew all about it. The Penguins had studied the Islanders never-to-be-equaled 19 consecutive playoff series wins (1980-1984).

The Nassaumen won the all-time attrition battle in that run.
The '93 Penguins already had survived eight straight playoff series victories through 1991- 1992 while capturing a pair of Stanley Cups.
Make that nine consecutive winning rounds when it came to the spring of '93. Pitt easily knocked off New Jersey in a five-game first round rout.
Now the Pens appeared ready to continue their blitz as they owned a three games to two series lead over the Islanders. Game Six was in Uniondale and to the Pennsylvanians, the outcome was not in doubt.
As a matter of fact many journalists on the scene figured that two words summed up the anticipated outcome at Nassau Coliseum -- series over!
MAVEN'S MEMORIES
WRITTEN COVERAGE
Prelude to Penguins Upset in 1993
Isles Beat Caps in 1993
1992-93 A Season to Remember
Making News in 1991-92
The Big Bang of 1991
Maven's Haven
"Granted we were in a desperate position," said Steve Thomas who had rapidly turned into a Uniondale scoring machine. "But we still had confidence because we had taken this series a lot farther than anyone had expected."
Motivation was high on both sides on that fateful night of May 12, 1993. The Nassaumen were determined to take the series to Game Seven while Pitt coach Scotty Bowman had his hopes on a third consecutive Cup for Pitt.
The Islanders were in the way but the arithmetic was on Pittsburgh's side.
"We had a good record when it came to closing out a series," Bowman asserted, "and tough as the Islanders had been, we felt we could close out this round."
While the Penguins oozed confidence, the Islanders were weaponized with an extra added asset -- boldness. They were brash, thanks to a couple of players who knew how to get the Penguins goat.
This take-no-prisoners attitude was best reflected by rookie defenseman Darius Kasparaitis who simply refused to be awed by the Champs.
While others might have gently treated Mario Lemieux -- then regarded as the king of hockey -- Darius behaved toward the oversized Penguins leader with a blend of arrogance and assertiveness.
"I tried to get Mario off his game," said the Lithuanian rookie. "I knew how good he was and I knew if I distracted him enough, it would help us. My trick was to hit him and annoy him."
But Kasper, The Unfriendly Ghost, had to pay a price in black-and-blue marks before he neutralized Pittsburgh's regal captain.
Following a Kevin Stevens' power-play goal that tied the game, 4-4, late in the second period, Mario mashed Darius to the ice with a two-handed cross check.
"I shook it off," the Islanders D-man recalled, "and then went after him."
Like a Golden Gloves boxing champ, Kasparaitis rose and slugged Lemieux with a right cross that would have won approval from Muhammad Ali in his prime. Mario now was horizontal not looking very alive; but not dead either.
Stunned and angry, Lemieux rose from the ice and retaliated by grabbing Kasper's stick but that defensive maneuver didn't work. Kasper punched the oversized Penguin one more time.
By now the Old Barn was rocking and rolling with every attack and counterattack. Finally, when Lemieux approached Darius from behind, the impudent Islander tossed a roundhouse elbow that missed, but left a message.
The confrontation ended behind the net after Darius ran his foe with enough vigor to earn a roughing penalty from referee Mark Faucette.
"If nothing else," said Islanders goalie Glenn Healy, who had a clear look at the proceedings, "Darius got our adrenaline going."
The scoring, too.

Manhattan's own Brian Mullen beat Tom Barrasso at 5:42 of the third period. Next up was Stevie Thomas at 10:32 padding the Isles lead to 6-4. But the Visitors had one more shell in their howitzer.
Kevin Stevens un-nerved the sellout crowd at 17:28 with New York a man short. That reduced the Isles lead to just one goal. Now it was Healy's game to win.
Under fire from some of the NHL's best shooters, Heals blanketed the Pens the rest of the way while Uwe Krupp provided that comforting soft end-of-game pillow with an open-netter at 19:42.
"We like Game Sixes," said the mathematically-inclined, not to mention exceptionally exuberant Krupp. The German defenseman knew his math.
Uwe's calculator now indicated that Al Arbour's lads enjoyed a rather top-heavy 13-1 record in sixth games at the Coliseum. A Game Seven at the Penguins Igloo would prove to be another story.
"I'm proud of the way our guys stayed with the Penguins," said Islanders general manager Bill Torrey. "And guess what? I'll be even prouder if we can go into Pittsburgh and win one more."
Turning that bit of fantasy into reality would give the Islanders the distinction of pulling off one of the most arresting upsets in the entire world of professional sports.
The sun shone brightly on the city of Pittsburgh on May 14, 1993 and a large portion of the population began preparing for a celebration -- A massive, city-wide Stanley Cup party.
Pennsylvanians knew how to do it because twice they had gone through the drill twice in Steel City.
Both in the spring of 1991 and 1992 the beloved Penguins had won Stanley Cups. And with relative ease at that; disposing first Minnesota in an 8-0 clincher and then Chicago in four straight.
"Looking backward to 1993," said Penguins owner Howard Baldwin, "we were surprised that the Islanders took us to a Game Seven. But we still were the champs and very motivated to make it a third straight Cup.
"You looked at our lineup and you couldn't help but figure we'd wrap it up. Guys who'd won the other Cups -- Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Tom Barrasso -- were primed."
But the other team was as well. Sizzling scorer Ray Ferraro put it best about his club's survival against all odds:
"Players and teams often play their best when no one gives them a chance to win. That's how we felt going into the final game."
Al Arbour's club was clicking at the right time. Goaltender Glenn Healy was considered a bit of a clown off the ice but once the puck was dropped his intensity level went through the roof.
"Put it this way," said Heals in retrospect, "I was ready."
Glenn may have sounded hopeful but when Arbour considered his wounded list he could not fetch a grin. Hors de combat were such worthies as Patrick Flatley and Travis Green both key two-way forwards; both leaders.
Then, there was Pierre Turgeon not fully recovered from the infamous Dale Hunter cheap shot. He'd play but far from being in mint condition.
But the Nassaumen did have Ferraro, as candid and determined as ever. The spirited little center had no time for cheery homilies about accepting a loss 'cause nobody figure the Isles would get so far.
"If we lose Game Seven," Ray added before the opening face-off, "it will be no different than if we had gone out in four straight games. We're not here to just give it our best shot. We're here to win."
As expected the Penguins home arena -- alias The Igloo -- was packed to capacity. Not surprisingly, precious few in the audience of 16,164 were wearing New York jerseys.
"No," insisted Tom Fitzgerald, whose heroics had helped steer his club to this climactic finish, "the crowd won't intimidate us."
In fact, it was a totally improbable episode early in the first period that unexpectedly -- and illogically -- intimidated the home fans.
Racing for the puck in the left corner of the rink, Pittsburgh's burly forward Kevin Stevens moved like a human torpedo toward Islanders defenseman Rich Pilon who was unaware he was about to be scuttled.
Stevens had Pilon perfectly focused in his crosshairs and followed up his 25 m.p.h. journey with a monstrous check into the boards. Was Pilon still alive?
Good question.

For a split-second, the crowd roared its approval seeing that the hit from behind had left the Islander with no choice but to absorb the blow and pray for the best.
But something went wrong; very wrong for Stevens. Instead of the anticipated -- Pilon crumbling in a heap -- the hard-rock Islander rebounded, totally unhurt
Stevens, on the other hand, was a holy mess.
Short of death, by hockey standards, Kevin was kayoed with an assortment of wounds that left him unconscious. After a lengthy delay, the Penguins ace was taken off the ice and rushed to the hospital.
(His injuries included a concussion, a broken nose and cuts over the eye; just short of career-ending. Stevens never would be the same dominating player when he eventually returned to the lineup.)
"It's always tough to figure what kind of an effect an incident like that will have on a hockey team," explained Islanders G.M. Bill Torrey. "But in this case, it had to have hurt them -- at least psychologically -- and, of course, help us."
You couldn't tell by the score sheet. The penalty-riddled first period ended with the teams scoreless.
But the arithmetic hardly encouraged the Visitors. The Champs had outshot the Isles by a more than two to one ratio, 19-7. At that rate Pittsburgh figured to eventually find some air behind Healy's pads.
They did.
With just under eight minutes gone in the middle period, defenseman Ulf Samuelsson -- on passes from Kjell Samuelsson and Mario Lemieux -- beat Healy. The time was 7:59 and it caused a modicum of concern.
What hurt New York was that the goal was scored 13 seconds after yet another successful Islanders penalty kill.
"We re-grouped," asserted Benoit Hogue. "There still was a ton of hockey still to play. For sure, we weren't that discouraged."
Despite the losses of Green and Flatley, Arbour managed to patch his offense with the likes of Hogue, Steve Thomas and David Volek.
Volek, who had been in and out of Arbour's doghouse more than Pluto the Pup, was filling in for Flatley. If nothing else, the Czech-born Volek had motivation going for him along with more than a modicum of talent and rest. He was fresh.
Meanwhile, Healy repulsed Lemieux, Inc. for the remainder of the second period and finally broke into a grin with a minute-and-change left on the middle period clock. Thomas beat Tom Barrasso on a pass from Benny Hogue.
As the teams prepared for the third period tied, 1-1, the shots on goal still favored Pitt at a better than two-to-one count, 26-11.
Yet hope remained eternal in the Islanders room. Although Turgeon was limited to spot duty, Thomas, Hogue, Fitzgerald and Ferraro -- among others -- not only had taken up the slack but had become formidable on attack.
Ferraro: "Previously, I had hardly played much with Volek all season but now that he was on my line, we started to click. The more we played, the better we got."
And so they did with a vengeance worthy of an Long Island Expressway road rage. Early in the third period Radar dispatched the Ferraro line to the ice with Fitz as third man.
"David and I came in two-on-two," Ferraro remembered. "I dropped the puck to him and he beat Barrasso."

Now it was 2-1 for Team Cinderella and it wasn't finished with business. Hogue soon fired a slapper that turned Barrasso into a rubber band and by the time Tom untied himself the Islanders were ahead by two.
As one tv commentator noted at that moment, "The Igloo is deathly silent."
At this point in time, Team Cinderella was 10:51 away from pulling off one of the upsets of all upsets. But nobody had to tell Arbour how many red lights could be ignited in that time.
"I didn't want us to go into a defensive shell," Arbour would attest, "but sometimes things just happen."
So they did.
For starters, the Islanders began playing "trench" hockey, allowing the Penguins to repeatedly attack and, hopefully, be resisted.
The strategy worked for about six minutes while Healy fought off a case of shell shock. (Pitt would outshoot N.Y., 16-6 in the third.) But Glenn couldn't get a piece of a Ron Francis deflection at 16:13.
Whoops! The Nassaumen now were down to the dreaded one-goal lead, 3-2.
Meanwhile, the Injured Twins, Flatley and Green, huddled around a small tv monitor in the Igloo's depths, hoping with body-language to preserve a lead that hung by a gossamer string.
What was an orderly retreat became disorderly when Barrasso got pulled Pitt added a sixth skater and put a noose around the Islanders defensive zone.
Frantically, the Isles scrambled as the Penguins ping-ponged the puck around until Rick Tocchet tipped in Larry Murphy's slapper to tie the count at 3-3 with exactly a minute remaining in the third period.
In the book, "The Game I'll Never Forget," Ferraro told author Chuck O'Donnell that the Islanders locker room was filled with emotion during the break before overtime.
RELATED: THE LEGEND OF DAVID VOLEK
Ferraro: "Players were saying, 'I can't believe we let this one get away -- we were so close.' But there was another more positive message going around.
"Something like if we were told before this series we would be given one shot to beat Pittsburgh, would we take that? Of course we would!"
Thomas: "No one in the room expected to lose."
Hogue: "Somehow we were going to find a way."
At last the two teams galumphed from their dressing rooms to the ice. The puck was dropped and sudden-death overtime began.
The ooohs and ahhhs reverberated off the Igloo's aging walls as the teams traded chances. The ahhhs momentarily were in the majority as agile Ron Francis stickhandled his way into the Isles zone with Healy virtually abandoned.
Ron's slapshot had "GOAL" labelled all over it until Healy's glove got in the way and the score remained 3-3.
"Heals was great all series," recalled his buddy, Flats, "but especially when the chips were down in overtime."
Having held serve, the Islanders mustered their counterattack, seeking a gap in the Pittsburgh defense. Finally, one appeared when Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson got caught out of position on a gambler's-only pinch.
Shazam!
Just like that, the trio of Ferraro, Volek and Derek King moved into bombing formation. "It quickly evolved into a two-on-one break with me and David," said Ferraro. "I had the puck with a pair of options on my stick; shoot or pass?
From the Islanders bench, it appeared that Buffalo Bill-accurate Ferraro would retain the puck and then, fire away! But Ray had the other idea.
"I saw that Kjell Samuelsson was back for them. He was a big guy and in position to block my shot. At that second, I caught unchecked David out of the corner of my eye. Instead of firing, I flipped him a pass and he took it in stride."
A one-timer requires exquisite eye-hand coordination to properly work and this one was the very best one-two combo of Volek's career.
Moving faster than a speeding locomotive, David's shot zoomed in the direction of Barrasso's right glove. It flew past the flailing mitt like an express whizzing beyond a local stop. The puck hit the cords high to the glove side.
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One onlooker in the press box noted: "For a second it was like everything in the Igloo stood still."
He wasn't referring to the Islanders posse on the ice nor the players flooding over the visitors' bench and on to the rink. Ferraro and King piled on Volek and then all the cats joined in.
"The arena was so deadly quiet," said Ferraro, "that I could hear Heals skating down from the other end screaming. And I'll never forget the shocked looks on the Penguins' faces -- not the jubilation on ours."
Every Islander turned on Healy who had been their savior when his team dared to play run-and-gun hockey with the powerhouse firewagon Penguins.
There was a new and totally unlikely Patrick Division champion. Deprived of their third straight Cup, the Penguins retreated to their room, stopped cold by a team called Cinderella from Uniondale.
With pens and recorders, the media horde stormed the victors dressing room, machine gunning questions until Radar gave the word. "Bus leaves in a half-hour."
It was on to Montreal and the third playoff round; one which nobody thought ever would be necessary.
"Except us!" shouted bellowed the jubilant -- not to mention heroic -- Healy.
LISTS:
FOUR ACES WHO CATAPULTED THE ISLES TO THE PATRICK DIVISION TITLE:
1. HEALY:Never -- before or since -- in his long NHL career did the fire pump goalie put out as many blazes to enable Team Cinderella to win. His OT stop on Francis was a playoff-saver
2. FERRARO:With Turgeon too wounded to be effective, Rapid Ray took over the leadership reins and starred both as an offensive king and team leader.
3. HOGUE:Bombastic Benny never stopped skating nor pushing his teammates to higher peaks. His goal in the third period proved to be a necessary cushion in the long run.
4. VOLEK: For the in-again-out-again-in-again reserve forward, it was time to prove his worth to both the coach and teammates. David became Mister Clutch at the most critical -- and opportune -- time in the playoffs.