Playoff history with Islanders evokes heartbreak, humiliation for Penguins fans
May 15—They've combined to win nine of the past 40 Stanley Cups, and they've been division rivals for the majority of their respective histories.
But the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders have met for a playoff series just five times over the 49 years since the latter was born. Postseason meeting No. 6 begins Sunday.
The Penguins are hoping it goes better than most of the previous five.
New York won four of those meetings — in ways that evoked heartbreak and/or humiliation.
A historic comeback, a pair of do-or-die "walk-off" wins and an embarrassing sweep are part of Islanders-Penguins playoff lore, each remembered much more kindly for those on Long Island than those in Western Pennsylvania.
A look back at each of those series:
1975 NHL quarterfinals
On the heels of winning their second playoff series in eight years of existence, the Penguins built a commanding 3-0 series lead. In the five-plus decades of NHL history prior and over the three-plus decades that followed, only one team in such a situation had ever lost.
The Penguins of 1975, though, met that fate.
Though they'd scored 14 goals over the series' first three games, the Penguins managed four goals the rest of the way. After a 3-1 loss at the Nassau Coliseum in Game 4, New York got its first win ever at the Civic Arena in Game 5. The Islanders cruised to a 4-1 home win in Game 6, setting up a winner-take-all Game 7 in Pittsburgh.
Though the Penguins dominated possession and shots, Glenn "Chico" Resch made 30 saves and Ed Westfall scored with 5 minutes, 18 seconds to play. As the final five-plus minutes ticked off, disgusted Penguins fans threw debris onto the ice — but the team itself couldn't even manage a shot on goal against Resch.
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1982 First Round
Facing the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions who'd beaten them in six of eight regular-season meetings and finished 43 points ahead of them in the standings, the Penguins predictably were blown out in Games 1 and 2 by a combined score of 15-3.
But, playing in what their final postseason series of the pre-Mario Lemieux era, the Penguins roared back. They won both games in Pittsburgh: 2-1 in overtime in Game 3 and 5-2 in Game 4. Then, they had a two-goal lead during the second intermission of Game 5, an unthinkable upset well within their grasp.
Less than 6 minutes from that happening, the Islanders' Mike McEwen scored to make it 3-2. Then, John Tonelli tied the score with 2:21 left.
Tonelli scored again 6:19 into overtime, ending the series. The Islanders went on to win the Stanley Cup — again — a month later and take a fourth straight in 1983. It would be the only time during their four-year Cup dynasty that the Islanders faced elimination.
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1993 Patrick Division Finals
The Penguins have claimed the Stanley Cup five times. A 1992-93 team that didn't win one, though, is almost universally remembered as the best the franchise ever produced.
Too bad they fell short in the playoffs, though, thanks to a shocking second-round upset. This time, though, it was the Penguins who were the heavy favorites — and this time, the underdogs finished the job.
The Penguins entered the series on a 21-1-1 run. They'd won the President's Trophy for the league's best record and had four individual 100-point scorers. New York, meanwhile, was without 58-goal scorer Pierre Turgeon because of a vicious late hit by Dale Hunter at the end of that first-round series.
But New York shocked the Penguins in Game 1, and they would stay in the series by winning the final two on home ice in Games 4 and 6. That set up the dramatic Game 7, which remained tied 1-1 heading into the third period.
Goals less than 3 minutes apart by David Volek and Benoit Hogue gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead. But Ron Francis (with 3:47 left) and Rick Tocchet (1 minute to play) matched that feat late in regulation.
As to what happens next (at 5:16 into overtime, to be precise), just ask any Penguins fan who was alive in 1993. Volek's name is as villainous to them as Tom Brady's or Alex Ovechkin's or Francisco Cabrera's.
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2013 First Round
The only time the Penguins triumphed over the Islanders with postseason stakes, the Islanders of that season were the first to make the playoffs in six years. The organization hadn't experienced winning a series since Volek's goal two decades prior.
The Penguins were the No. 1 seed, the Islanders the last Eastern Conference team in. But even after a 5-0 Penguins win in Game 1, the series was anything but a pushover. Four of the next five were one-goal games (or would have been if not for an empty-netter). Two went to overtime, including the clincher on Long Island in Game 6, when the Penguins were saved by goals from two defensemen.
Paul Martin scored with 3:16 left in regulation, and Brooks Orpik ended the series with a goal off a seeing-eye shot from the left point 7:49 into overtime.
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2019 First Round
For all the Penguins' success over the past two decades, they've had their share series clunkers, too.
Allowing 30 goals in a six-game loss to Philadelphia in 2012 comes to mind. Scoring two goals — two! — in a four-game 2013 conference final loss to Boston does, too. Even last year's four-game loss to 24th-overall seeded Montreal was embarrassing.
But the four-game sweep at the hands of Islanders two years ago might be as bad as any of them. The Penguins entered the postseason having won two of the past three Stanley Cups, but they came across as disinterested and barely were competitive in being whitewashed by the Barry Trotz-led Islanders.
The Penguins held a lead for exactly 4 minutes and 51 seconds of the 244-plus minutes played. After a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 1, the Penguins scored three goals over the final three games of the series against a New York team middling enough that it was swept in the next round.
Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .
