2009 Stanley Cup Finals
Red Wings and Penguins Once Again Battle For The Stanley Cup
To properly appreciate the present, one must first understand the past.
Tuesday, May 17th, 1983: The New York Islanders capture their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup by defeating Edmonton Oilers in four straight games.
The Islanders were led by Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, Butch Goring, Dennis Potvin, Billy Smith, Duane Sutter, John Tonelli and Bryan Trottier. They had a tremendously talented supporting cast in Bob Nystrom, Stefan Persson, Bob Bourne, Anders Kallur, Gord Lane, Dave Langevin, Wayne Merrick and Ken Morrow. With Al Arbour, legendary NHL coach, behind the bench they had no legitimate threat in the 1983 playoffs.
New York Islanders 1983 Playoff Run
Round 1: Patrick Division Semifinals – The Islanders defeat the Washington Capitals in 4 games, taking the series 3 games to 1.
Round 2: Patrick Division Finals – The New York Rangers would be no match for Islanders and would lose the series 4 games to 2.
Round 3: Prince of Wales Conference Finals: The league’s best team in the regular season, the Boston Bruins would watch their 110-point season come to an end as the Islanders would dispose of them in 6 games.
1983 Stanley Cup Finals
The Islanders made their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearance with relative ease and prepared to face what was thought to be their toughest challenge yet – the young, speedy and crafty Edmonton Oilers, who were led by The Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.
Could the youthful and energetic Oilers match up against the older, wiser and defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders?
No, they couldn’t.
The veteran savvy Islanders would put a beating on the young Oilers by sweeping the Stanley Cup Finals and surrendering only 6 goals to the Oilers in 4 games (Gretzky would assist on 4 of those 6 goals).
Flash forward 360 days.
Thursday, May 10th 1984: The rematch is born! The 1984 Stanley Cup Finals would see a return of the same two teams that played for the right to call themselves the best once again; Gretzky’s Oilers, hungry for a shot at redemption vs. Bossy’s Islanders, eager to keep their unbelievable streak alive.
1984 Stanley Cup Finals
With the Oliers one year older and one year wiser, they came into the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals determined not to be beat by the Islanders for a second straight year.
Game one was a hard fought 1-0 victory by the visiting Oilers and game two was a blowout 6-1 win for the defending cup champion Islanders.
That’s when everything changed.
Back when the NHL still employed the 2-3-2 series system, the Oilers would use their 3 straight games at home to outscore the Islanders 19-6 and capture their first Stanley Cup in team history.
A team build around Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Kevin Lowe had now taken over as the league champions.
Edmonton defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3–0, the Calgary Flames 4–3 and the Minnesota North Stars 4–0 to advance to the finals. And it would be the last time the NHL would see two teams compete for the Stanley Cup in consecutive years.
That is until 2009.
2008 Stanley Cup Finals
Saturday, May 24th, 2008: The Detroit Red Wings found themselves in familiar territory against the very young and very inexperienced Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008.
The veteran Red Wings, were led by Herik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Osgood and Pavel Datsyuk. The Penguins had no shortage of star power in the form of Sidney Crosby, Gino Malkin, Marian Hossa, Sergei Gonchar and Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Red Wings would shutout the Penguins in the first two games of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals (4-0 and 3-0) on home soil. From game three on, the teams would trade wins until the Red Wings finally prevailed in game six, beating the Penguins 3-2 in the deciding game to win their 4th cup since 1997.
Flash forward 371 days.
2009 Stanley Cup Finals
Saturday, May 30th 2009: The defending Stanley Cup champions Detroit Red Wings face off against the one year older, one year wiser Pittsburgh Penguins. They are almost identical teams, with one main exception; Marian Hossa turned his back on the Penguins in the 2008 off-season and signed a one year contract with Detroit as he decides that he doesn’t want to earn a Stanley Cup, but rather have a proven winner win one for him.
Can the Red Wings outlast the Penguins again? Or will the Penguins steal a page from the 1984 Oilers book and dethrone the seemingly unstoppable train?
It’s worth noting that the Penguins run to their second straight cup final is almost identical to that of the first 3 rounds played by the 1984 Edmonton Oilers.
There are many story lines to follow during the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, and the parallel to 1984 will be hard to resist for story writers and hockey analysts. Hossa’s turncoat, Crosby and Malkin’s goal total, Osgood’s age and Datsyuk’s injury all will be forgotten once the puck drops as only thing is guaranteed, that this will be a fantastic Stanley Cup Final. A great final is something that the NHL desperately needs to divert some attention away from off-ice distractions dogging the league this spring.
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