Maven's Memories: The 1975-76 Blossoming of the Isles and Denis Potvin

"I guess all we can do for an encore is win the Stanley Cup!"

Those words were uttered by the Islanders Gulliverian left wing Clark Gillies -- and he didn't mean maybe either,.

This was all part of the euphoria that enveloped -- and followed --the Islanders first playoff run in the spring of 1975.

The enthusiasm continued right into the following fall when young players such as Gillies believed that the sky was the limit for their team.

And why not?

The club's miracle spring 1975 run included an exhilarating playoff defeat of the Rangers, which lifted the Islanders to the throne as lords of New York hockey. And they finished the crowning right in Madison Square Garden, no less!

Coach Al Arbour's skaters next came all the way back from the depths of an 0-3 deficit in a seven-game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins and won the tourney, 4-3. (The feat had been accomplished only one other time in NHL history, with the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs. This was a first for America.)

The press corps could not believe there was more to the melodrama as the Isles again rebounded from an 0-3 deficit in yet another-- seven-game series.

This time it was in the third playoff round against the defending Cup-champion Philadelphia Flyers. Granted, the Broad Street Bullies eventually won Game Seven but as coach Arbour concluded in a rare understatement: "We did some very special things!"

Now it was time for an encore -- team-wise and player-wise. Writing for The Associated Press, Isles beat man Barry Wilner took stock of the 1975-76 edition of the Blue and Orange with sensible caution:

"They have to grow physically, mentally and emotionally," Wilner noted. "They have to mature and the maturation process may be slow and often painful but, in the end, certainly worth going through."

While he didn't mention any names, the chief protagonist in Wilner's mind -- and other media types for that matter -- was Denis Potvin.

Since joining the team as 1973-74 and becoming rookie of the year, Potvin not only emerged as the Isles best all-round player and MVP but also one of the NHL's finest defenseman.

"I had two personal goals going into my third NHL year," Denis explained. "For starters, I wanted to take aim at the 30-goal plateau and, for finishers, I wanted to win the Norris Trophy as the league's best defenseman."

That, of course, would be not one but two peaks to ascend. Let's face it, 30 goals for a defenseman in any season is the kind of thing you thought only Boston's immortal Bobby Orr could accomplish.

Ditto for the Norris Trophy.

Starring for The Big, Bad Bruins before the 1975-76 season, Orr had won an arresting eight consecutive Norris Trophies. All things considered, Bobby appeared to have a mortgage on the Norris.

"I was very aware of that," Denis allowed. "Heck people were calling me 'The Next Bobby Orr' going back to when I played Junior hockey in Ottawa. And, by the way, the comparison didn't stop when I won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1974."

Under the tutelage of former NHL defenseman Arbour, Potvin's all-round game steadily improved. G.M. Bill Torrey watched the flowering of Denis under Arbour with high glee.

"Al's biggest attribute," Torrey explained, "might be the way he gives young players like Denis confidence in themselves. We drafted him and Al molded him."

By the middle of the 1975-76 season the Islanders had the best penalty-killers in Lorne Henning and Ed Westfall, but the power play scored more goals than league titans such as the Cup champion Flyers and high-flying Montreal Canadiens.

Even hard-nosed rivals had no compunctions about Potvin's role as power play commandant. And that included Potvin's Rangers adversary Rod Gilbert.

"Denis runs the best power play in the league," Gilbert admitted. "You need someone to direct traffic and he's the guy."

Not that the season was a bed of roses for Potvin. Every so often Arbour would single out his best player for criticism and Denis had to grin, bear it and follow the sage coach's advice.

Potvin: "I know that I improved my game defensively and in all-round positional play. I know that I'm not wandering as much as I used to, plus, I know there's no point for me trying to skate like Orr.

I'm thinking so much more now. I try to be in the right place at the right time but I can't put a tag on how much I've improved. I know I'm making things a lot easier for myself and using my teammates more to my advantage."

At All-Star time, the Isles were represented at the jubilee by Potvin, center Bryan Trottier, goalie Glenn Resch and right wing Billy Harris. Interestingly, some observers believed that a second Potvin should have been with the All-Stars.

Jean Potvin, Denis' older brother, also had become a stalwart on Arbour's blue line corps. What bothered the kid brother -- oddly enough -- was that Denis was getting so much attention that Jean's quality play was overlooked.

Denis: "Every time we skated out on the ice together, the feeling was too unreal to be believed."

In one contest the Potvin Brothers combined for five goals. At that time Denis had a season-long total of 20 goals with 35 games remaining on the schedule. All of a sudden, newsmen began speculating on his chances of reaching the 30-goal plateau.

"By that time," Denis recalled, "I was playing the best hockey of my life and I desperately wanted to reach Orr's 30 goal level. He had been the only defenseman who had reached that level."

ISLES LEGENDS: DENIS POTVIN

The young Potvin knew that his chances of hitting number 30 were iffy, to say the least. That said, he kept plugging away and getting closer. On the night of March 29, 1976, his Isles were facing the Flyers and Denis now had reached number 29 red light.

By this time, the Orr comparisons were like knee-jerk reflexes and Potvin handled them with his customary aplomb.

Potvin: "Time and again I felt the urge to be more flamboyant, to play that Bobby Orr role. But I knew deep down that that was not what I really wanted -- or what was good for Denis Potvin. I knew I'd rather draw two guys in and pass instead of trying to rush.

"Or, I'll decide not to rush if my wings aren't back to cover for me. But I'll rush if they only send one man in to cover for me, and I'll have a better than even chance to beat him."

That night the Isles belted the Champions, 5-1. They were leading 3-0 half way through the second period when Philly was hit with a penalty. Radar sent Denis over the boards to orchestrate the power play.

Potvin understood that this was his chance to equal the Orr 30-goal mark. He also knew that he had to let it happen naturally and without any undue fuss or fan fare.

More than a minute elapsed before it was time for a face-off. Arbour changed lines, yanking the ineffective younger players and inserting veterans Ed Westfall Jude Drouin and J.P. Parise.

It worked.

The vets played ping pong with the puck while Denis moved 10 feet in from the blue line. When the puck skimmed back to him Potvin cranked his stick and followed through with a near-invisible laser that cleanly beat goalie Wayne Stephenson. At 12:10 the red light flashed.

"People say that men shouldn't cry in public," Denis chuckled, "but this time I couldn't restrain myself."

Nor could the fans. They rose from their Coliseum seats to give the Islanders premier hero a standing ovation. He was crying out of happiness as the cheering poured down from the last rows to the arena seats.

Potvin: "This time the fans seemed to realize what had gone into my 30 goals and were rewarding me for it. The ovation went on and on and I knew I was crying. What bothered me was the tv cameras trained on me. I desperately wanted to hide my head from them."

If that incessant crowd roar wasn't enough to fully certify the greatness of Denis Potvin, it would happen for sure when the National Hockey League 1976 award-winners were made public.

After eight years of Bobby Orr's ownership, the Norris Trophy passed into fresh hands. Perhaps the point was best underlined by a story in The Toronto Star written by Jim Proudfoot with the following headline:

POTVIN BECOMES NUMBER ONE DEFENSEMAN RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

Or, as Denis, himself, concluded in his autobiography, Power On Ice:

"All of a sudden the years of inner fury at being called 'The Next Bobby Orr' seemed worthwhile!"