The Penguins will face the New York Islanders in the first round of the NHL Playoffs. This will be the fifth time the teams have met in the playoffs, with the Islanders holding a 3-1 edge in playoff series over the Penguins.
1975 Quarter-Finals: The Comeback
The first playoff meeting happened well before the Mario Lemieux era. The Penguins went into the quarterfinals as the No. 4 seed, and they qualified for this round by defeating the St. Louis Blues in a best-of-five series.
The Penguins jumped to a 3-0 lead in the series and never trailed in any of those games. But the Islanders flipped the script and completed a dramatic comeback in seven games.
Ed Westfall scored the only goal of Game 7 to give the Islanders the series win. The Islanders became the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to erase a 3-0 playoff deficit.
1982 Patrick Division Semifinals: Almost, but not quite
The year 1982 marked a change in playoff format in the NHL. The league decided to have the top four teams in each division battle in the first two rounds (sound familiar?).
The Islanders were two-time Stanley Cup Champions and played like it early in the five-game series. The Islanders beat the Penguins 8-1 and 7-2 in the first two games.
The Islanders were so favored that they checked out of their Pittsburgh hotel room before Game 3, thinking there wouldn’t be a Game 4. They were wrong. Rick Kehoe scored in overtime to prolong the series, and the Penguins even went on to win Game 4.
The Penguins were then poised to do the unthinkable and knock off the mighty Islanders. They had a 3-1 lead in the third period. The Islanders rallied on goals from Mike McEwen and John Tonelli, who went on to score the series winner, sending the Penguins home in heart-breaking fashion.
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1993 Patrick Division Final: Lost Opportunity
The two-time Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins went into the 1993 playoffs riding high as President’s Trophy winners. They dispatched the New Jersey Devils, and everyone thought they’d have no problem with the Islanders. They were wrong.
The Penguins had a 3-2 series lead, but the Islanders forced Game 7. The underdog Islanders led 3-1 late in the third period, but the Penguins rallied to force overtime. The Penguins couldn’t hold the Islanders off after a horrifying injury to Kevin Stevens.
David Volek snapped the series-winning goal past Tom Barrasso in overtime, and the Penguins wouldn’t return to the Stanley Cup until 2008.
2013 Conference Quarterfinals: Penguins Finally Beat The Islanders
In a lockout-shortened season, the Penguins entered the playoffs with the most points in the Eastern Conference and found themselves facing the No. 8 New York Islanders. This series wasn’t without drama.
Marc-Andre Fleury shut down the Islanders 5-0 in Game 1. But by the time the Islanders tied the series 2-2 with a 6-4 victory, head coach Dan Bylsma made the decision to replace Fleury in the net.
Tomas Vokoun shut out the Islanders in Game 5.
Game 6 went to overtime, and this time, there would be no Game 7. Brooks Orpik got the series winner in overtime, allowing the Penguins to advance in the playoffs.
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