Islanders dynasty 81-82

Hello all, I have always had great respect for the Islanders dynasty in the early 80s. I Think the 81-82 season was the Islanders best season ever. I was wondering if anyone who watched hockey that season could give me some insight on the Islanders from the 81-82 season. How does their lineup look like, how was the team, their play, everything you can come up with.

And you cant mention the Islanders without talking about Bossy, Potvin and Trottier. Could someone tell me which players in todays hockey compare to those 3?

Here is what I think can compare to those 3 greats.

Bossy-Kovalchuk... fast sniper with a amazing shot!
Trottier-Forsberg... gritty playmaker with excellent defensive play.
Potvin-Jovanoski... hmmm this was a hard one, but Jovo is the closest thing I can think of that can be comparable to Potvin.

 

I can't think about the New York Islanders of '82 except with respectful resentment, because I'm a Canucks fan.

Uh,... no. Bossy didn't have Ilya's moves. Bossy was like Brett Hull: in the right place with the right shot to finish a play.

Uh,... your words do denote a parallel, but Trottier was dirtier, like a younger Messier.

No, no, no... no. More like a Lidstrom with attitude.

 

Trots with the shut-down post. Well done.

'82 was their best *championship* team, but for my money, the '79 version was just as strong, at least during the regular season. The Isles and Habs were the two strongest teams in the league by about fifteen points, and each game was a war. The Isles won the season series three games to one. I was looking forward to the inevitable playoff matchup, which turned out to be not so inevitable. The playoff series against the Rangers was bewildering. The Isles couldn't do anything with the Rags. Took overtime to win their two games.

Thanks to a spat of upsets, the '82 version was never really tested by a strong team in the playoffs. The Rangers (92 points) was the strongest team they faced. I think the rest of their opponents that year were under .500 in the regular season.

 

That was the year I started following the Pens. They were huge underdogs against the Isles in their opening playoff rounds and then lost the first two games of the best of five. But they won the next two and had the Isles down 3-1 with ~ 6 minutes to play in game five. The Isles were very lucky to tie the game and then win it in ot. And of course they went on to the Cup from there.

They were a great team though. Bill Torrey and All Arbour plus a number of great players built a nice dynasty.

 

I didn't mention it to diminish the accomplishment. They had no control of whom their opponents were beyond the first round, and I think they would've won no matter which opponents they had to face that year. It's just a freak occurrence. Probably the worst record of opponents any team has faced on their way to a championship, since the expansion era anyway.

 

I don't know if there's any goalie whose demeanor compares with Billy Smith. Maybe Cloutier, except he actually won in the playoffs.

My dad told me some funny stories about Smith, like chiasing a guy halfway down the ice swinging his stick around while play was still going on.

 

Hextall in his prime in '87 is about as close. Belfour too when he gets riled up and Eddie is closer to Smith's skill than Hextall was. Those are about the two closest.

Cloutier shouldn't ever be mentioned in the same sentence as Billy Smith. Period.

 

Cloutier is like a bizzaro world comparison of Billy Smith.

Smith was a ho-hum regular season goalie but perhaps one of the best ever playoff goalies.

Cloutier is the exact opposite, plays pretty well in the regular season but shouldn't be allowed within ten blocks of an ice rink during the playoffs.

 

No disagreement, whatsoever. And, ironically, as Chili points out, it was that spring ('82) that they got their biggest scare during their four-year run. Minutes away from being eliminated by the world-famous Michel Dion and the Pens. Once they somehow got past that series, and then the annual spring battle against NYR, they swept eight straight games (vs. Quebec in the Conference Finals and Vancouver in the Finals).

***

About Billy Smith: Guy was a renown hardass on and off the ice. But he was an original. Once turned down me and my friends for an autograph while the rest of his teammates were fully obliging. Never shook hands with opponents at the end of a playoff series. Likely the most hated goalie in the league, among both players and fans. And, interestingly, while he had a solid NHL career, his regular season numbers alone surely would not have landed him in the Hall of Fame.

But, a pressure goalie like no other.

His Game One in the 1983 Finals vs. Edmonton remains the single best game of goaltending I've ever witnessed.

 

No disrespect to Potvin and the Isles, but amongst teams I have seen play in my lifetime:

Habs 76-77 > Habs 77-78 > Habs 75-76 > Oilers 84-85 > Isles 81-82

 

You'll get no argument here that the 1976-77 Habs were the single greatest team in my lifetime. Heck, they lost eight - EIGHT! - regular season games! And they waltzed through the playoffs as well.

When you get into greatest dynasties ever, its fun discussion but ultimately fruitless. I consider both NYI's '80s and Montreal's '70s dynasty teams superior to Edmonton's. (While readily acknowledging those Oiler squads as the greatest offensive teams ever.)

But, of course I would - I'm an NYI fan and Edmonton ended my team's reign!

 

The 4 straight Habs teams lost 10-8-11-17 games in the regular season and 1-2-3-4 games in the playoffs!

1-2-3-4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 79 Habs team would have beat the 79 Isles; after the playoffs Trottier was quoted as saying not even the Russians could have beat the Habs.
However, in 76 and 77 their only playoff losses were to the Isles. Bossy always had Drydens number so a series in 79 would have been fun. The Isles never beat them until 84 in the playoffs but by that time it was different Habs team. Arbour the coach was Bowman's defenceman in St Louis similar to Robinson later.

 

I agree but the thing I liked about those Islander teams is they weren't as skilled as some of those other Cup winning teams, they were a blue-collar team and found a way to win...on paper there was a couple of other teams in the League better than those Islander teams when they won 4-straight Cups...I don't think they even finished first overall during the regular season in each of those 4-seasons...it was either Montreal or Boston those years atop the standings but come playoff time these animals in Long Island would turn it up a notch and become an unstoppable force.

 

Hell, the Bruins almost beat those Habs. To hear Dryden tell it, the team had all but given up until the too many men call. They were vulnerable that year.