Maven's Memories: Stan Gets Saved During Easter Epic

They called it "The Easter Epic" and it lived up to the billing.
But it nearly killed me, The Maven.
I'm talking about the classic seventh playoff game between the Islanders and Capitals on April 18 - and 19 - 1987 at Capital Center in Landover, Maryland.

Believe it or not it lasted seven periods and has created a niche in National Hockey League annals as one of the most stupendous matches of all-time.
And one of the longest: stretching from Saturday night in the Washington, D.C. suburb to early (Easter) Sunday morning.
Four overtimes were required during which Isles goalie Kelly Hrudey made 73 saves; a personal and team record.
At the other end, the Panthers Bob Mason stopped 54 hunks of rubber flak.
Meanwhile, SportsChannel's John McComb produced one save that entire night.
He saved ME!
Granted that the Easter Epic was melodramatic on the ice, but it was no less heart-throbbing in my SportsChannel studio, about 50 feet away from Hrudey's crease.
In a moment I shall tell you about the McComb "save," but first a flashback to the game itself and its relation to Pal John's incredible "stop."
For starters, bear in mind that after Game Four, the Nassaumen were on the brink of elimination. They had fallen behind three games to one while critics insisted that Al Arbour's boys were as good as finished.
"We then won two big games in a row to tie the series," Hrudey remembered. "It once again proved the Islanders history of coming back from the abyss."
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Remembering Jean Potvin
The Unheralded Lorne Henning
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Don't Forget Tomas Jonsson
The Underrated Stefan Persson
Stan's Favorite Clark Gillies Memories
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Maven's Haven
But the Caps now were home and took a 1-0 lead on Mike Gartner's first period goal. Patrick Flatley briefly tied it during the middle frame only to see Grant Martin lift the home club to a 2-1 advantage late in the period.
While all this was going on, I was watching the action on a tiny monitor in my "studio" adjacent to the action. Along with me was my SportsChannel stage manager, John McComb.
Like myself, McComb -- he'd been my stage manager for years -- wanted Arbour's sextet to win. But we each had our ways of doing it.
"You get too emotional," Jovial John would admonish me from time to time. "Simmer down or you'll give yourself a heart attack."
Well, that was easy for McComb to say but not easy for a half-Hungarian like me to curb my enthusiasm.
Not to mention, my anxiety.
After all, the minutes were ticking away well past the half-way mark of the third period with our Isles still trailing by a goal. My despair was evident as I slowly slumped down in my viewing chair.
Then, it happened.
At 14:37 of the third period, Bryan Trottier somehow eluded the Capitals defense and beat Mason on what seemed an impossible shot.
Alas, the score was tied 2-2 while both teams sought to end the passion play in regulation time.
"We'd hoped to end it before overtime," said Hrudey, "but Mason was terrific and I had to make a few big stops. Dave Christian almost beat me late in the period, but his shot hit the post and caromed safely to the side."
Not surprisingly, the tension mounted with the first extra session. The Isles were confident that their overtime-winning tradition would prevail.
Hrudey: "I felt invincible -- so on: and so aware of what was happening. The anticipation was all there. I had the feeling that the game could go on all night, the way Mason and I were playing."
That's not exactly how I felt in the studio. I felt that the Caps were outshooting us and that the Law of Averages was in their favor. McComb disagreed.
"Calm down!" John kept advising me. "Calm down. The boys will come through for us."
How could I remain calm? The back-and-forth action in the two overtimes was almost as exhausting for me as it was for Hrudey. And by the third sudden death period, I felt that I had to "help" our embattled goalie.
Granted that The Maven's idea of "help" was a trifle unorthodox for a tv analyst but I couldn't help myself.
As each Washington shot was fired at Hrudey, I pretended to make the save for him in the studio. But there was one problem: with each Caps shot, I'd lean farther back in my chair.
At first, it was only a teenie-weenie lean but by the end of the third overtime, I was defying the Law of Gravity; and that's when McComb came up with his big "save."
One of the Caps executed a left-alley thrust and took a shot that had "goal" written all over it. This time I felt that I had to make the "save" for Kelly but I leaned too far back in the chair.
McComb, who had been keeping an Argus eye on my "save" nonsense, perceived what I did not; that I was about to fall over backwards in my chair and bounce my non-helmeted head on the hard concrete floor.

"Save me, John!" I shouted as I realized the danger in which I had placed myself, with head about to hit hard non-carpeted concrete, "SAVE ME!"
McComb, who had sensed that my ardor might result in a fractured skull for Your's Truly, leaped forward and ably grasped my cranium in his hands with my head about a half-inch from the looming concrete.
When it finally dawned on me just how close I'd come to a broken head -- and John had lifted my chair back into place -- I blurted two words of the utmost gratitude:
"Nice goin', buddy! Nice goin'."
Pat LaFontaine went one better. At 8:47 of the fourth overtime, the Isles center took a wild shot that must have had eyes. It zoomed past two Washington defensemen and hit the twine behind Mason!
The Islanders had won the series and I had won continued life thanks to John McComb's one big save of the game.
Me!