Islanders playoff run thrills 1993 players who reached conference final

The New York Islanders are in the conference final for the first time since 1993 following their 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round on Saturday.

Much like the team that went on that surprise run 27 years ago, the current Islanders, who are the No. 6 seed in the East, have exceeded expectations, knocking off the No. 3 seed Washington Capitals in the first round and the No. 1 seed Flyers in the second round after defeating the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
The Islanders play Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the No. 2 seed Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS) at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference finals and the Stanley Cup Final.
"I actually have a feeling they're going to win the Cup," said Rich Pilon, a defenseman on the 1992-93 team. "It's not necessarily the best players that win championships, it's the best team."
The Islanders didn't win the Cup in 1993, but their run was memorable nonetheless following a third-place finish in the Patrick Division. Holding a 3-2 lead in their best-of-7 series against the Capitals in the first round, center Pierre Turgeon, New York's leading scorer with 132 points (58 goals, 74 assists) during the regular season, was blindsided by Washington center Dale Hunter while celebrating a goal in the third period of Game 6 at Nassau Coliseum that gave them a 5-1 lead.

Turgeon sustained a separated shoulder from the hit. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman suspended Hunter for the first 21 games of the 1993-94 season, the longest in League history at the time.
"At the Coliseum, the dressing rooms were about 60 yards apart," said goalie Glenn Healy, who started all 18 playoff games for the Islanders in 1993. "We tried to get down to that locker room to inflict our sense of revenge. We didn't quite get there; New York's finest got in the way of that."
The Islanders advanced in the playoffs, but they would do so without their best player.
With Turgeon out, the Islanders were faced with what seemed to be an impossible task in the second round. They were up against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, who were led by Hockey Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman and four players who were later inducted -- forwards Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis and Joe Mullen, and defenseman Larry Murphy (a fifth, forward Jaromir Jagr, will join them soon enough). They won the Presidents' Trophy with 119 points, highlighted by an NHL-record 17-game winning streak.

"That Pittsburgh team was beyond loaded," center Ray Ferraro said. "That was a team. Like, holy crap. If you looked at the two teams side by side on the whiteboard, you would laugh. You'd be like, 'You mean that team on the left's going to beat that team on the right?' There was zero people that picked our team to beat Pittsburgh, and if anybody did, they were out to lunch."
Al Arbour, the Hall of Fame coach of the Islanders, didn't have a star-studded lineup. But he did have veteran leaders in goal, with Healy, and up front, with forwards Patrick Flatley, Steve Thomas and Ferraro. His defense was mostly young, sparked by rookies Darius Kasparaitis, who was 19 years old, and Vladimir Malakhov, who was 24.
So how could the Islanders possibly defeat the Penguins, who were seeking their third straight Stanley Cup championship? Arbour challenged his players prior to Game 1.
"He asked us individually, starting with Pat Flatley, 'Can you tie one shift against Mario Lemieux? I don't need you to score, just tie the shift,'" Healy said. "And then the next guy. … The exercise went on."
"The hair was standing on the back of my neck. It was amazing," Pilon said. "When he would do his pregame speech, you were almost frothing at the mouth. It was unbelievable how he could get you motivated and focused. It was something to feel and be part of."
The Islanders trailed 3-2 in the best-of-7 series, but Thomas scored two goals and two assists in a 7-5 win in Game 6 at Nassau Coliseum.
"To my recollection, we didn't have flights back to Pittsburgh for Game 7; they booked them the day we had to go," Ferraro said. "We were all flying commercial. We're all jammed in middle seats and stuff. It's a short flight, but still."
David Volek, a forward who scored eight goals in 56 games during the regular season and hadn't scored in the playoffs, gave New York a 2-1 lead at 6:10 of the third period in Game 7. Forward Benoit Hogue made it 3-1 less than three minutes later, and the Islanders appeared to be on their way to the conference final, especially after Lemieux and New York defenseman Uwe Krupp took coincidental slashing penalties with 4:05 remaining.

"I remember being on the bench and going, 'What an unbelievable trade.' Not that we're not going to miss [Krupp], but oh my God, one of the best players in the history of the game is not going to be able to play," Ferraro said.
But the Penguins didn't go away quietly. Francis made it 3-2 with 3:47 left, and forward Rick Tocchet tied it 3-3 with one minute remaining.
"It was like someone taking away your meal when you're really hungry," Pilon said. "You're like, 'Really?' It was devastating, but I remember Al saying, 'If you could've asked us at the beginning of this series that we were going to be going into overtime [in Game 7], would you not have taken it?' He told us not to be devastated."
Healy made three of his 42 saves in overtime, and Volek finished a 2-on-1 with Ferraro at 5:16 to complete what is still the most improbable playoff series win in Islanders history.
"The owners desperately wanted to trade Volek all year," Healy said. "I remember standing by the bus with Al and [we] were celebrating a pretty big win. … The owners came up and they were all ecstatic we had won and Al just looked at them and said, 'What do you think of David [bleeping] Volek now?' That's Al Arbour."
The '93 playoff run ended for the Islanders in the Wales Conference Final, where they lost to the eventual Cup winner, the Montreal Canadiens, in five games. Montreal won Games 2 and 3 in overtime.
"After we lost to Montreal, a bunch of us went on vacation together in Ireland," Healy said. "As if we hadn't had enough time together for the six weeks of our ride, we decided to go for a longer ride. To this day, we're still friends. We talk all the time."
Led by coach Barry Trotz, the current Islanders have learned to share a similar bond, one that center Jean-Gabriel Pageau called "a brotherhood" earlier this postseason. It's a big reason why they've matched that run from 1993.

"They've got so much depth, and Barry does such a good job managing that bench and getting everybody ice time," Pilon said. "Everybody feels part of it, and that's why they play so hard for a guy like him and his coaching staff. Kudos to them."