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About a decade or so ago, there was an ESPN Classic show called 'Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame.'
It would delve into reasons to not blame some of sports' most famous scapegoats- from Bill Buckner to Don Denkinger and others in between, including teams that got upset as big favorites or that had no business losing improbably/spectacularly.
Taking a page from this, I decided to tackle one of the more famous Stanley Cup playoff upsets- the Penguins losing to the Islanders in 1993.
I still consider it the biggest NHL playoff upset since the '67 Expansion era.
Pittsburgh was loaded- Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Jaromir Jagr, Rick Tocchet, Ron Francis, Larry Murphy, Tom Barrasso. And they were also two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Islanders also had capable scorers in their own right- Pierre Turgeon, Derek King, Benoit Hogue, Steve Thomas, Ray Ferraro- but they lacked Pittsburgh's pedigree as well as standout blueliners or goaltending.
When they met in the second round of the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Isles- who were now minus Turgeon after a horrendous cheapshot- were given even less a chance.
But they surprised the Pens in game 1, then rallied from down 2-1 and 3-2 with clutch home wins at Nassau Coliseum to send the series to a decisive game 7.
Pittsburgh had proven clutch in must-win home games the last 2 years.
1991: Game 7 vs. New Jersey, games 3 and 4 vs. Boston down 0-2 in the series, and game 5 of the Cup Finals to Minnesota when the series was tied 2-2.
1992: Down 0-2 in game 3 and facing game 6 elimination vs. Washington, game 4 vs. the NY Rangers (minus Mario and Mullen).
The Islanders jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Pittsburgh scored 2 late goals to force overtime.
It seemed like they were going to pull off a 1982 role reversal (loaded two-time champion Islanders barely escape heavy underdog Pittsburgh after trailing 3-1 in the third in the series-deciding game).
But it wasn't as David Volek fired the shot heard around the hockey world.
Here, I am going to give my reasons why you cannot completely blame the Penguins for arguably the most stunning playoff upset since 1967 NHL Expansion and other reasons to consider for what happened.
Best of the Rest
Overtime Magic. The Islanders' game 7 triumph was not only the latest in the history of a franchise long known for sudden death magic, but they had already coming out on top of 3 straight sudden death games in round 1 against the Capitals after losing game 1.
Had one of those games gone the other way, the series might have taken a different twist.
The Presidents Trophy- Recently, teams that finish first place overall don't always go all the way.
Since its introduction in 1986, only eight times has the winner of said trophy gone on to win the Stanley Cup.
To put that in perspective, when the team that finished first overall recieved the Prince of Wales Trophy (now the Eastern Conference championship trophy) from 1938-1967, 16 of those teams went on to win the Cup.
Reason #5- Dale Hunter.
His infamous cheap-shot on Pierre Turgeon took out the Isles' star performer (58 goals, 132 points that season).
Combined with how little chance they were given against the mighty Pens, the Islanders not only had a chip on their shoulder, but it united an Isles team that already had nothing to lose given the circumstances.
Also noteworthy is that this incident happened in a game 6 after the Islanders went up 3-1 in the series- had they closed out Washington in game 5, the Hunter/Turgeon incident never takes place.
Reason No. 4: Game 82. The Islanders would have not faced Pittsburgh in the second round had they lost on the final night of the season against the New Jersey Devils.
Both teams were tied for third place in the Patrick Division and playing to avoid the Pens in the first round. Had they lost, the Islanders not only play the Penguins in the first round, but there is no Pierre Turgeon/Dale Hunter situation and who knows how that series plays out with him in the lineup rather than out.
Reason No. 3: The playoff format. This was the final year of the old divisional postseason format, where the top four teams in each division played down to a division champion.
In a sport where postseason upsets have been historically known to happen more often than not, divisional rivalries meant a whole lot more with the stakes this high.
During the years of this format from 1982-1993, only in 1992 did none of the fourth place teams pull a first-round upset over the regular season division champion.
And not only did all four of those series go 7 games, two of those first-place teams- Detroit and Vancouver- had to come back from 3-1 deficits.
Had the conference 1-8 format introduced the following year been used here, the Islanders, who had the sixth-best record in the Wales Conference in 1992-93, would likely have likely faced the Penguins in the next round.
Not only would they have had to beat the team with the third best record- Quebec- but the Boston Bruins would have possible been less likely to be upset in the first round (they would not have played Buffalo, who actually had the worst record of the 8 playoff teams in the Wales that year).
Under that format, it would have been Pittsburgh-Buffalo, Boston-New Jersey, Quebec-NY Islanders, and Washington-Montreal.
Reason No. 2: Stanley Cup = No Guarantee. Even if the Penguins got past the Islanders, the Stanley Cup would have not been a sure thing.
In the Wales Conference Finals, they would have had to face a hot Montreal Canadiens team that had won 8 straight playoff games- 5 of them in overtime- and getting transcendent postseason goaltending from Patrick Roy.
And the Maple Leafs (with Doug Gilmour) or LA Kings (with Wayne Gretzky) wouldn't have been any easier in the Cup Finals.
Add on top of that the uncertain health status of Kevin Stevens- who suffered a nasty facial injury in game 7- and Pittsburgh would have been potentially ripe for the plucking had they survived the upset bid.
For every heavy favorite that survives a potentially giant upset early on in the postseason (Flames/Canucks 1989), it sometimes doesn't lead to a Stanley Cup at the end of the rainbow (Canucks/Blackhawks 2011).
Reason No. 1: Cup Crapshoot.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs, more than any postseason in sports, throws logic out the window. The 1993 Penguins were not the first heavy Cup favorite to crash out early (1971 Bruins) nor would they be the last (2006 Red Wings, 2010 Capitals).
Conversely, the Islanders have been on both sides of this slippery slope- crashing out as favorites (1978, 1979) while knocking down the big boys as an underdog (1975, 1980), as have the Penguins.
Their first 3 Cup winning teams (1991, 1992, 2010) finished third, fourth, and fourth in their respective regular seasons in the East- along the way, they knocked out the teams with the best or second best record in a conference four times.
In fact, the Penguins benefitted from playoff upsets in two of their Cup seasons- they did not have to play one of the top 4 teams from the Campbell Conference in 1991- Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Calgary- and instead faced an all-time playoff surprise in the Minnesota North Stars.
And in 2009, they avoided the top-seeded Boston Bruins twice. First in the East Semifinals: had the Carolina Hurricanes not stolen game 7 from the New Jersey Devils improbably late with 2 goals in the final minutes, the 4-seed Pens face the 1-seed from Beantown and round 2. And in the East Finals- they ended up not only facing the lower-seeded Hurricanes, but with home-ice advantage.
By contrast, the 1992 Penguins without home-ice advantage knocked out the league's top two teams standings-wise in the Capitals and Rangers.
One last afternote- 20 years later, the Penguins got a small dose of revenge. In an eerily similar scenario- top-seeded Pens with ridiculous talent against the hungry underdog Islanders- this time the Pens come out on top, with the series ending on an OT goal going Pittsburgh's way this time.
Those are my top 5 reasons. If you would like to contribute with any of your own or agree/disagree with my reasons, feel free to do so.
It would delve into reasons to not blame some of sports' most famous scapegoats- from Bill Buckner to Don Denkinger and others in between, including teams that got upset as big favorites or that had no business losing improbably/spectacularly.
Taking a page from this, I decided to tackle one of the more famous Stanley Cup playoff upsets- the Penguins losing to the Islanders in 1993.
I still consider it the biggest NHL playoff upset since the '67 Expansion era.
Pittsburgh was loaded- Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Jaromir Jagr, Rick Tocchet, Ron Francis, Larry Murphy, Tom Barrasso. And they were also two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Islanders also had capable scorers in their own right- Pierre Turgeon, Derek King, Benoit Hogue, Steve Thomas, Ray Ferraro- but they lacked Pittsburgh's pedigree as well as standout blueliners or goaltending.
When they met in the second round of the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Isles- who were now minus Turgeon after a horrendous cheapshot- were given even less a chance.
But they surprised the Pens in game 1, then rallied from down 2-1 and 3-2 with clutch home wins at Nassau Coliseum to send the series to a decisive game 7.
Pittsburgh had proven clutch in must-win home games the last 2 years.
1991: Game 7 vs. New Jersey, games 3 and 4 vs. Boston down 0-2 in the series, and game 5 of the Cup Finals to Minnesota when the series was tied 2-2.
1992: Down 0-2 in game 3 and facing game 6 elimination vs. Washington, game 4 vs. the NY Rangers (minus Mario and Mullen).
The Islanders jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Pittsburgh scored 2 late goals to force overtime.
It seemed like they were going to pull off a 1982 role reversal (loaded two-time champion Islanders barely escape heavy underdog Pittsburgh after trailing 3-1 in the third in the series-deciding game).
But it wasn't as David Volek fired the shot heard around the hockey world.
Here, I am going to give my reasons why you cannot completely blame the Penguins for arguably the most stunning playoff upset since 1967 NHL Expansion and other reasons to consider for what happened.
Best of the Rest
Overtime Magic. The Islanders' game 7 triumph was not only the latest in the history of a franchise long known for sudden death magic, but they had already coming out on top of 3 straight sudden death games in round 1 against the Capitals after losing game 1.
Had one of those games gone the other way, the series might have taken a different twist.
The Presidents Trophy- Recently, teams that finish first place overall don't always go all the way.
Since its introduction in 1986, only eight times has the winner of said trophy gone on to win the Stanley Cup.
To put that in perspective, when the team that finished first overall recieved the Prince of Wales Trophy (now the Eastern Conference championship trophy) from 1938-1967, 16 of those teams went on to win the Cup.
Reason #5- Dale Hunter.
His infamous cheap-shot on Pierre Turgeon took out the Isles' star performer (58 goals, 132 points that season).
Combined with how little chance they were given against the mighty Pens, the Islanders not only had a chip on their shoulder, but it united an Isles team that already had nothing to lose given the circumstances.
Also noteworthy is that this incident happened in a game 6 after the Islanders went up 3-1 in the series- had they closed out Washington in game 5, the Hunter/Turgeon incident never takes place.
Reason No. 4: Game 82. The Islanders would have not faced Pittsburgh in the second round had they lost on the final night of the season against the New Jersey Devils.
Both teams were tied for third place in the Patrick Division and playing to avoid the Pens in the first round. Had they lost, the Islanders not only play the Penguins in the first round, but there is no Pierre Turgeon/Dale Hunter situation and who knows how that series plays out with him in the lineup rather than out.
Reason No. 3: The playoff format. This was the final year of the old divisional postseason format, where the top four teams in each division played down to a division champion.
In a sport where postseason upsets have been historically known to happen more often than not, divisional rivalries meant a whole lot more with the stakes this high.
During the years of this format from 1982-1993, only in 1992 did none of the fourth place teams pull a first-round upset over the regular season division champion.
And not only did all four of those series go 7 games, two of those first-place teams- Detroit and Vancouver- had to come back from 3-1 deficits.
Had the conference 1-8 format introduced the following year been used here, the Islanders, who had the sixth-best record in the Wales Conference in 1992-93, would likely have likely faced the Penguins in the next round.
Not only would they have had to beat the team with the third best record- Quebec- but the Boston Bruins would have possible been less likely to be upset in the first round (they would not have played Buffalo, who actually had the worst record of the 8 playoff teams in the Wales that year).
Under that format, it would have been Pittsburgh-Buffalo, Boston-New Jersey, Quebec-NY Islanders, and Washington-Montreal.
Reason No. 2: Stanley Cup = No Guarantee. Even if the Penguins got past the Islanders, the Stanley Cup would have not been a sure thing.
In the Wales Conference Finals, they would have had to face a hot Montreal Canadiens team that had won 8 straight playoff games- 5 of them in overtime- and getting transcendent postseason goaltending from Patrick Roy.
And the Maple Leafs (with Doug Gilmour) or LA Kings (with Wayne Gretzky) wouldn't have been any easier in the Cup Finals.
Add on top of that the uncertain health status of Kevin Stevens- who suffered a nasty facial injury in game 7- and Pittsburgh would have been potentially ripe for the plucking had they survived the upset bid.
For every heavy favorite that survives a potentially giant upset early on in the postseason (Flames/Canucks 1989), it sometimes doesn't lead to a Stanley Cup at the end of the rainbow (Canucks/Blackhawks 2011).
Reason No. 1: Cup Crapshoot.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs, more than any postseason in sports, throws logic out the window. The 1993 Penguins were not the first heavy Cup favorite to crash out early (1971 Bruins) nor would they be the last (2006 Red Wings, 2010 Capitals).
Conversely, the Islanders have been on both sides of this slippery slope- crashing out as favorites (1978, 1979) while knocking down the big boys as an underdog (1975, 1980), as have the Penguins.
Their first 3 Cup winning teams (1991, 1992, 2010) finished third, fourth, and fourth in their respective regular seasons in the East- along the way, they knocked out the teams with the best or second best record in a conference four times.
In fact, the Penguins benefitted from playoff upsets in two of their Cup seasons- they did not have to play one of the top 4 teams from the Campbell Conference in 1991- Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Calgary- and instead faced an all-time playoff surprise in the Minnesota North Stars.
And in 2009, they avoided the top-seeded Boston Bruins twice. First in the East Semifinals: had the Carolina Hurricanes not stolen game 7 from the New Jersey Devils improbably late with 2 goals in the final minutes, the 4-seed Pens face the 1-seed from Beantown and round 2. And in the East Finals- they ended up not only facing the lower-seeded Hurricanes, but with home-ice advantage.
By contrast, the 1992 Penguins without home-ice advantage knocked out the league's top two teams standings-wise in the Capitals and Rangers.
One last afternote- 20 years later, the Penguins got a small dose of revenge. In an eerily similar scenario- top-seeded Pens with ridiculous talent against the hungry underdog Islanders- this time the Pens come out on top, with the series ending on an OT goal going Pittsburgh's way this time.
Those are my top 5 reasons. If you would like to contribute with any of your own or agree/disagree with my reasons, feel free to do so.
