This Day in Hockey History – April 26, 1975 – Down Three? No Problem

Apr 26, 2020

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When it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, no team ever wants to be down by three games in a best-of-seven series. It usually means that the team who has lost those three games is just one game from heading to the golf courses.

The New York Islanders found themselves in just such a situation during their quarterfinal series against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975.

The Penguins had won Game 1 (5-4) and Game 2 (3-1) on home ice before going to the Islanders Nassau County Coliseum for Game 3 where they won 6-4).

“In each of the three Penguin victories so far, the Islanders have fallen behind 3-0, only to resist the final stake through the heart until the final minutes of the game,” wrote Dan Donovan of The Pittsburgh Press after the Islanders lost Game 3.

Of Game 3, Penguin Lowell MacDonald said “I thought we had the game won when the score was 4-2 [which was midway through the third period], and then I thought we had the game won when it was 5-3. But I didn’t know we had it won until the score was 6-4.”

MacDonald had scored the empty net goal to make it 6-4 with just 12 seconds remaining in Game 3.

“Once again [the Islanders] watched Pittsburgh dig a hole, then push the Islanders into it when it flooded. The Penguins did it with a dousing of three first-period goals, withstood three Islander attempts to reach dry land, then watched them gurgle to a 6-4 defeat before 14,865 imploring Nassau Coliseum fans,” described Wes Gaffer of the Daily News.

To say that most of the hockey fans on Long Island were expecting the final blow to come on Sunday, April 20, with Game 4 would not be too hard to understand.

However, despite Donovan’s comments that the Penguins were remaining cautious, apparently they felt that Game 4 was in the net, so to speak.

“Never underestimate the value of overconfidence. The Islanders didn’t yesterday. The Penguins did, and dropped a 3-1 decision in what could have been a total playoff wipeout in New York,” wrote Gaffer about the Islanders first win in Game 4. “Of all times, leading 3-0 in games won, the Penguins became not cautious but cocksure, so cocksure that they found themselves trailing for the first time since the series began eight days ago in Pittsburgh.”

Unlike the first three games, the Islanders managed to be the ones to score first, forcing the Penguins to play from behind. The Islanders would continue to get the first goal in both Game 5 (going up 2-0 before Pittsburgh scored) and Game 6 (getting the first goal). Likewise they limited the Penguins to just one goal in Game 4, two goals in Game 5, and 1 goal in Game 6, while they scored three goals, four goals, and four goals respectively.

The Islanders went from being almost out to forcing a Game 7, which took place on April 26, 1975 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

“The New York Islanders, with momentum on their side, try tonight to become the first National Hockey League team in 33 years to lose the first three games of a playoff series and come back to win,” reported the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. “After the Islanders went through three games knowing that one more loss would mean the end of their season, the Penguins now find themselves in the same boat.”

The last time such a feat had been accomplished was in 1942 when the Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves down three games against the Detroit Red Wings during the Stanley Cup Final. They came back from that deficit and hoisted the chalice on April 18, 1942.

“History was made here in Pittsburgh tonight by the three-year-old Islanders. They blanked the Penguins, 1-0, to win the last four games of the seven-game quarterfinal of the Stanley Cup playoffs to become the first team ever to do it in a preliminary round,” wrote Gaffer after Game 7.

Glenn Resch, who had replaced Billy Smith between the pipes for the Islanders beginning with Game 4, notched his only shutout of the series. Meanwhile Ed Westfall gave the Islanders their only goal of the game at 14:42 of the third period.

“It was Westfall, after 54 minutes and 42 seconds of play, who sent the Islanders into the semi-finals against Philadelphia, beginning Tuesday night. Eddie tallied because Bert Marshall, a pillar of strength, made a brilliant move, faking a slapshot, then passing off smooth as silk to Eddie alone out front of Gary Inness’ goal.”

“Cinderella broke the Penguins’ hearts last night. Hockey’s surprise team, the New York Islanders defeated the Penguins, 1-0, before a crowd of 13, 404 at the Civic Arena to win the Stanley Cup quarterfinal series,” wrote Donovan.

“We got overconfident… definitely. Sunday afternoon, we were terrible. We were a little better Tuesday. All they did was work for seven games,” said Pittsburgh’s coach Marc Boileau.

The Islanders would force the Philadelphia Flyers to play all seven games in the semifinals. Once again, they found themselves down three games, only to come back and compel a Game 7. Unfortunately, this time they just couldn’t force lightning to strike twice. The Flyers would go on to beat the Buffalo Sabres in six games to win the 1975 Stanley Cup Final.

Additional Sources:

Dan Donovan, “Penguins Go 3 Up, Remain Cautious,” The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Friday, April 18, 1975, p. 38.
Wes Gaffer, “Isles Lose Again, 6-4; Pitt Can Clinch Sunday,” Daily News (New York, New York), Friday, April 18, 1975, p. 81.
Wes Gaffer, “Islanders Alive! Rally to Rip Penguins, 3-1,” Daily News (New York, New York), Monday, April 21, 1975, p. 55
“Islanders: can then perform THE feat?” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Fairbanks, Alaska), Saturday, April 26, 1975, p. 8.
Wes Gaffer, “Resch Stars Again; Flyers Next,” Daily News (New York, New York), Sunday, April 27, 1975, p. 119.