Best-of-5 game series poses unique challenge for Penguins - TribLIVE

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Bryan Trottier has no shortage of memories from his outstanding NHL existence.

Between six Stanley Cup titles — four with the New York Islanders and two with the Pittsburgh Penguins — as well as a handful of individual accolades such as the Hart Memorial Trophy and induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Trottier has plenty of stories to tell from one of the most distinguished careers in the 100-plus years of the NHL.

One recollection stands out, even if it seems to be a little out of place among all those championships and awards.

The 1982 preliminary-round series between the Islanders and Penguins was nearly one of the biggest upsets in NHL history.

It was also the last time the Penguins participated in a best-of-five series. They will engage the Montreal Canadiens in such a series beginning Saturday in the qualifying round of the NHL’s jury-rigged postseason tournament.

Much like today’s Canadiens, the 1981-82 Penguins were heavy underdogs. But thanks in part to the brevity of a best-of-five series, the Penguins nearly knocked off the then two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Islanders and derailed one of the NHL’s greatest dynasties.

“The (1982) series, we spanked them pretty good in New York the first two games,” said Trottier, one of the NHL’s elite playmaking centers during his time with the Islanders. “They came back (to Pittsburgh), they beat us in the overtime game then spanked us in Game 4 and really turned the tide.”

The Islanders blasted the Penguins in Games 1 and 2, 8-1 and 7-2, respectively, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

With the series shifting to Pittsburgh, the Penguins were able to scrape out a 2-1 overtime in Game 3 and then won Game 4, 5-2.

Trottier credited Penguins goaltender Michel Dion for altering the course of the series. After struggling in Games 1 and 2, Dion stopped 62 of the 65 shots he faced in Games 3 and 4.

“Michel Dion, he was acrobatic,” said Trottier, who works as a liaison for corporate sales with the Penguins today. “He was playing well. He kind of had our best goal scorer’s number a little bit, (forward) Mike Bossy. … Pittsburgh’s goalie played really well, and he held them in there and he gave them a chance to win. We should have beat them by 11 goals in (Game 3). It was one of those games where you just shoot, shoot, shoot and he just saved, saved, saved.

“A hot goalie can really change a series and win you a game or win you the series. Can get in your head. That affects the team.”

The deciding Game 5 at New York saw the Penguins take a 3-1 lead into the third period. The Islanders got goals at 14 minutes, 33 seconds and 17:39 of the third to force a tie. The tying goal by Islanders forward John Tonelli was generated off a bad bounce from the stick of Penguins defenseman Randy Carlyle.

In overtime, a frantic goalmouth scramble allowed Tonelli to score at 6:19 of overtime and give New York a wild 4-3 victory.

“Good fortune kind of shined on us,” Trottier said with a chuckle. “A lucky bounce over Randy Carlyle’s stick. (Penguins forward) Mike Bullard hits a post in overtime. Just some magic happening with Tonelli. It’s just so magnificently ingrained in my head because we won. When you lose, you tend to forget about those things.”

The Islanders didn’t lose much after struggling with the Penguins. They beat the rival New York Rangers in the Patrick Division Final, 4-2, then swept the Quebec Nordiques in the Wales Conference Final as well as the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final for the third of the four consecutive championships they won in the early 1980s.

But that near-scare in five games with the Penguins is what stands out for Trottier.

“The urgency in every game, you can’t have an off night,” Trottier said. “You have to be on. In a seven-game series, you can have a few off nights and try to recover the next game.”

The NHL did away with best-of-five game series for the first round by 1987 but reinstituted them given the unique circumstances of this postseason tournament.

While no active player on the Penguins has dealt with a five-game series at the NHL level, plenty have experienced them while in the American Hockey League where the first round remains a best-of-five affair.

“Regardless, of how many you’re playing, obviously that first game is important,” said defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who played in three best-of-five series during his time with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. “If you can get off to a good start, winning that first game, that puts a lot more pressure on teams regardless if it’s a seven-game series or a five-game series.

“Obviously, being a five-game series, that first game is a lot more important.”

The environment for this postseason will be unique in that all of the Eastern Conference games are being held in an empty Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. While there will be designated home and road teams, any notion of home-ice advantage will be limited to which team gets the last change before faceoffs.

“This scenario is a lot different than any other time with us being at a neutral location, no fans,” Dumoulin said. “Here it’s just kind of going out and playing.”

Regardless, the Penguins realize the limited number of games in the qualifying round presents a unique challenge.

“The shorter the series, the less margin for error,” said general manager Jim Rutherford, who participated in best-of-five series during his playing career in the 1970s. “In a longer series, you can have probably two bad games and you’re still in the series. You can still make up for it. It’s harder to do in a shorter series. You can maybe get away with one off game but not two like you could in a best-of-seven (series). So there’s not as much margin of error.”

While these Penguins aren’t as good as those Islanders, they are the favorite in this series against the Canadiens. A couple of key saves by Montreal goaltender Carey Price or a bad hop off of Penguins defenseman Kris Letang’s stick could be amplified through the lens of a five-game series.

That was the case for Trottier and the Islanders when the Penguins pushed them to the edge.

“All of a sudden, the pressure is on us and we all felt it,” Trottier said. “We were the Stanley Cup champions, and we (could) get knocked off in the first round. That’s what happens.”

Follow the Penguins all season long.

Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports