The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the
National Hockey League as an expansion franchise in 1967-68. The New
York Islanders were an expansion franchise, starting play in 1972-73.
The two teams met for just the fourth time in a post season series in
the opening round of the 2012-13 Stanley Cup playoffs. The first time
they met was in 1974-75, New York’s third year in the NHL. The last
time was in 1992-93 when the Islanders spoiled Pittsburgh’s 3-peat
attempt. It’s hard to believe but the Penguins had never won a
series against the Islanders until 2012-13.
1974-75
The two evenly matched teams met in the
Quarter-Finals with the Islanders taking the series in seven games.
The final game of the series was a 1-0 shutout by New York. New York
beat the cross-town New
York Rangers and the Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues to set up
the showdown. During the regular season, the Islanders placed third
in the Patrick Division with 88 points while the Penguins finished
third in the Norris with 89 points.
The Islanders were coached by Al Arbour
and led offensively by Hall of Fame defenseman Denis Potvin. During
the regular season, Billy Smith played the bulk of the games between
the pipes with Glenn Resch as the backup. In the playoffs, the roles
reversed with Resch taking on most of the goaltending load.
Pittsburgh was coached by Marc Boileau
and was led by a pack of equally qualified stars in Ron Schock, Syl
Apps, Jean Pronovost, VicHadfield and Pierre
Larouche. Gary Inness saw the bulk of the team’s action in
goal.
1981-82
Despite the matchup being a total
mismatch, the Penguins held their own in the Patrick Division
Semi-Final series with the Islanders. Pittsburgh fell three games to
two. During the regular season, the Islanders finished first in the
Patrick and first overall in the NHL with 118 points. Pittsburgh
placed fourth in the Patrick with 75 points.
Once again, New York was coached by Al
Arbour and led by Mike Bossy and Brian Trottier. Billy Smith was
still the man in net for New York. The Islanders were at their
greatest and advanced to win their third of four straight Stanley Cup
championships with a sweep of the Vancouver Canucks in the finals.
Pittsburgh was coached by long-time NHL
goaltender, Ed Johnston. Leading the way offensively were Rick
Kehoe and defenseman Randy Carlyle. Playing most of Pittsburgh’s
games in net was Michel Dion.
1992-93
This was the last time the Islanders
won a playoff series. New York beat the Penguins four games to three
in the Patrick Division finals. New York wrecked what should have the
Penguins third consecutive Stanley Cup championship. Pittsburgh
finished first overall in the NHL with 119 points. The Islanders
placed fourth in the Patrick with 87 points.
In the opening round, Pittsburgh beat
the New Jersey Devils and the Islanders took out the Washington
Capitals to set up the series. New York met the Montreal Canadiens in
the Eastern Conference finals and lost. The Habs went on to win the
Stanley Cup with a win over the Los Angeles Kings.
In his second last year as head coach
in the NHL, Al Arbour was again behind the bench of the Islanders.
The team was led by Pierre Turgeon and Steve Thomas with Glenn Healy
seeing the majority of action in net. The Penguins were coached by
the great Scotty Bowman. Mario
Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Rick Tocchet and Ron Francis all had 100
points or more during the regular season.
2012-13
For the Islanders, it was their first
visit to the Stanley Cup playoffs since losing to the Buffalo Sabres
in the 2006-07 opening round. 2012-13 did not bring around their
first series win since beating the Penguins back in 1992-93.
After game four, the series was tied at
two games each. However, it could have been a 3-1 Islanders lead if
the Pens had not snuck out a game three victory in overtime.
Pittsburgh then won the final two games to take the series in six.
However, the Islanders fought until the end with game six also going
into extra time.
In that final game, the Penguins never
led. Evgeny Malkin tied the score at three fairly late in the third
to force overtime. It was Malkin and Tyler Kennedy setting up Brooks
Orpik in the first overtime period for the win.
Pittsburgh then beat the Ottawa
Senators in five in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. It was the
Boston Bruins that ended the team's run, sweeping the Penguins in the
Conference finals. Over their 15 playoff games, the team was led
offensively by Malkin, Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby.