It Happened at the Coliseum … on APRIL 14th

30 years ago tonight (1985) – Facing their earliest-ever playoff elimination ever, the Isles rallied for 4 goals in the third period for a come-from-behind 6-4 win over Washington.  The win evened the best-of-5 series at two games each.

The game was tied 2-2 after one period as goals by Denis Potvin and Bob Nystrom sandwiched Caps tallies from Mike Gartner and Dave Christian.

Doug Jarvis and Bengt Gustafsson pushed the Isles toward elimination with second period tallies but Pat Flatley and Mike Bossy scored in the first 8 minutes of the third to even the game.  With just over 3 minutes to play, Bossy (you thought I was going to write ”scored the winning goal” here, didn’t you?) went to the penalty box along with Caps star Mike Gartner.  Bossy received a roughing penalty for one of the few times in his career.  The two were still in the box when Bryan Trottier scored an unassisted goal to give the Isles the lead; Bossy cemented matters with an empty-net goal as the Isles forced game 5 in Landover.

First Period

1 - NYI : Potvin 2 (Tonelli, Jonsson) (PP) 1:51; 2 - WAS : Gartner 4 (Carpenter, Murphy) (PP) 9:28; 3 - WAS : Christian 1 (EV) 13:00; 4 - NYI : Nystrom 1 (Trottier, Persson) (EV) 13:15 

Second Period

5 - WAS : Jarvis 1 (Gould, Duchesne) (EV) 5:10; 6 - WAS : Gustafsson 1 (Gartner, Murphy) (PP) 13:54 

Third Period

7 - NYI : Flatley 1 (Bourne, Persson) (EV) 3:26; 8 - NYI : Bossy 3 (Tonelli, Sutter B) (PP) 7:55; 9 - NYI : Trottier 3 (EV) 18:52; 10 - NYI : Bossy 4 (Trottier) (EV-EN) 19:44 

Bob Carpenter was stopped on a penalty shot by Billy Smith -- the Isles have not faced a penalty shot in the playoffs since then.

Here is an extensive highlight package from the original SportsChannel broadcast:

 


Highlights of this game are also included in this package of highlights from the 85 playoffs- starts at about 12:30 into this feed -- you can even catch a bit of Joe Duerr singing the anthem.

The Caps would dominate large stretches of game 5, but Billy Smith made 39 saves as the Isles emerged with a 2-1 win, becoming the first NHL team to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games.

Also on this date: (1983) – The Isles grabbed a 1-0 lead in the Division Finals against the Rangers, winning game 1 by a 4-1 score.  Trailing 1-0 on a Ron Greschner goal after one period, the Isles got even on a Stefan Perrson goal in the second.. The games stayed that way until early in the third period, when Denis Potvin, Brent Sutter and Duane Sutter all scored for the Isles for the 4-1 Isles win.

 Here are some highlights with Jiggs and Eddie:

All-time, the Isles have played one regular season and four playoff games on April 14th at the Coliseum; they have compiled a 1-0-0 regular season and 2-2 playoff record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.