Maven's Memories: The Odd Couple of Scoring and Their Golden Spring

I was most fortunate to have closely followed Ken Morrow's all-Islanders career from beginning to end.

I remember virtually all his goals including a separate playoff pair that defeated the Edmonton Oilers during the Wayne Gretzky era.

Morrow -- as clutch goal-scorer -- was a story in itself and certainly will be well-chronicled in Ken's autobiography.

But another story that reaches the ironic stratosphere is playmaker.

This only came to mind the other day when I was researching a story about the 51-year-old Rangers-Islanders rivalry; specifically, the 1982 playoffs.

If you were around then, you may recall that the Orange and Blue already captured two straight Stanley Cups and were heading toward a dynastic third in a row.

The Rangers challenge to the Nassaumen would be a strong sextet headed by Kenny's 1980 Olympic mentor, legendary Herb Brooks. Madison Square Garden moguls had signed Brooks on June 1, 1981 in the hopes that Herb could dethrone The Champs.

"We knew it would be tough," Brooks told me later, "because Al Arbour's team was strong at every position -- especially with the guy behind the bench"

Herbie wasn't kidding.

The glorious 1981-82 season was filled with Isles feats of valor, vigor and victories. When the regular season concluded, the Nassaumen stood tall with 54 victories, only 16 losses and 10 ties. (Brooks' Rangers did well enough with a 39-27-14 mark.)

In face-to-face regular season combat the Isles held a 6-2-0 advantage.

But that all faded into the rearview mirror. The playoffs were in front of us; Rangers vs Flyers, Islanders vs. Penguins. Winners then would face off against each other.

Manhattan's goalie Eddie Mio had upset the Flyers while Pittsburgh's Michel Dion almost did likewise against the Good Guys. That inevitably led to what has become known as "The Expressway Series Part IV."

"Pittsburgh gave us a scare all right," said Isles backliner Dave Langevin. "We knew that the Rangers were gonna make it just as tough -- or tougher -- for us."

The teams split the first two games on the Island and now the Rangers were home for two in a row. More than a few of the press box horde believed that Herb Brooks had devised the formula for knocking off the Defending Champions.

It sure looked that way after the Blueshirts Mike Allison put the Rangers ahead 3-2 early in the third period. I remember turning to a SportsChannel techie not very happily: "The Rangers look like the better team tonight." The guy said nothing; just nodded his head.

Fortunately, the Islanders Kid Lightning, Bob Bourne, thrust a backhander past Ed Mio at 8:26 sending the game to overtime which the Rangers dominated.

To The Maven, the Isles reminded me of beleaguered Pauline from the old movie thriller "The Perils Of Pauline." Every face-off seemed about to spell doom.

Of course no one could predict what would come of a face-off in the home team's zone with almost two minutes elapsed in the sudden death period.

(I never asked Al Arbour what he was thinking at this point but when I looked up, there was Ken Morrow backing Bryan Trottier for the face-off. Was this to be the start of something big?)

I leaned forward over the press box desk at the face-off gathering. About ten seconds before the three minute mark, action unfolded as follows:

1. Trots wins the face-off.
2 Skims a pass back to Morrow.
3. Kenny shoots but this time does not score.
4. Ed Mio makes the save.
5. The puck drops in front of Mio
6. Bryan beats Eddie to the rebound and scores the OT winner.

Mind you this was not the biggest assist of Morrow's life but it was BIG at the time.

By this time it had become apparent that outstanding Nassau blue liners such as Denis Potvin, Stefan Persson and Mike McEwen were meeting their equal in the likes of The Magical Morrow.

But Dave Langevin was another story. Nicknamed "Bam Bam" or "The Bammer," Langevin was a lot like an earlier Islander defensive defenseman Bert Marshall. They shared the same theory about playing their position; take care of your own zone; offense will take care of itself.

With only two goals over the past two years, the Minnesotan had no intentions of changing his script -- unless, of course, circumstances changed things.

And they did! Things that normally did not happen -- like Morrow turning into a big-time clutch scorer -- were now happening to Langevin. The D (for Decision) Day was April 23, 1982.

With his team one win away from moving on to the coveted third playoff round, The Bammer skated down the left side early in the game and routinely took a slapshot as he skated over the center red line.

"You don't expect Dave to score from there," recalled Bob Bourne. A puck flight that began as ordinary turned into the perfect puck-as-knuckleball. Before it reached Mio's crease, the puck acted as if it hit a crevasse on the ice. It suddenly took a sharp left turn and whizzed past Mio's left pad.

But that was not the end; only the beginning of the end.

Game Six was tied 3-3 late in the third period when Langevin became the chief protagonist in yet another "Incredible But True" tale. This time, tall, lanky Wayne Merrick was the center who skimmed a pass to Bam Bam at the left point inside the Rangers zone.

And Dave did what came un-naturally; he became Boom Boom, releasing a high slapper that orbited over Mio's shoulder at 13:52.

At the time it didn't look like the series- winner because the Blueshirts counterattacked in droves but goalie Bill Smith saw fit to deny the Garden crowd of any further pleasure and Bob Bourne's empty-netter certified Langevin's drive as the game and series-winner.

As events would prove, the mighty offensive contributions -- call it a one-two punch -- of defensive defensemen Ken Morrow and Dave Langevin paved the way to the Islanders third straight Cup. Or as Bammer certified it:

"We're now a Dynasty!"