Islanders Squash Oilers in 1983

[@CountElvis]

Potvin's dad was actually dying of cancer in these playoffs (he would finally pass the next year). That shot of Potvin looking up into the stands hoisting the Cup is of him looking at his dad who was in the stands.

[@jeffreywolfe1]

The Isles almost won 5 cups in a row. Fell one playoff series short. Their 19 consecutive playoff victories is mythic. Still a record. Most likely will never be broken. That's excellence on an unparalleled level.

[@SverigeiSverige]

Bossy scored all 4 GWG in the CF. 6-9-4-13. Sets a record of 3 straight playoff with 17G!

[@Sweeptheleg83]

That islanders team has an almost mythical feel when there talked about. They were so ridiculously good that it seems impossible some of the things they accomplished.

[@adk46er5203]

You know they had a number of guys playing hurt in this series. Morrow had knee surgery in the playoffs. Trottier missed 3 games against Rangers. Langevin missed a lot of the playoffs with a bad knee. Potvin had a great playoff and Bobby Bourne had 28 points in the playoffs.

[@TL2354]

Where?

[@ziggymorris8760]

The Isles dynasty was truly a treat for us kids who were growing up on Long Island at the time. For them to sweep the oilers like they did I remember even Islander fans were silent because no one thought that was possible. As for ranger fans you had to feel bad for them, they took it harder than anyone else.

[@andrewnielsen3016]

Most, character, grit and skill with 19 straight playoff series wins, they never quit until the tank was beyond empty........just ask Gretzky, Messier , Lemieux and Yzerman in the pre-cap years what it takes to win 3 in a row let alone almost 5 in a row.... it's a huge difference....

[@canoilers]

This is also the start of whoever the Oilers play in the final they have to play twice. played the Islanders twice, then Philly twice even though both teams miss the final in 86. Somehow they both end up in the final in 87. They Play Boston in 88 and both teams miss the final in 89 but somehow they both end up in the 90 final. The next time the Oilers make the Cup final they'll have to play Carolina again to complete the deuce.

[@GreenHornet553]

The crazy thing about the 80s is that it was the transition from dynasty to dynasty to dynasty in that era. It started with the passing of the torch from the Canadiens to the Islanders to start the era and the four straight cup run and, as I am sure we will see in the next video, it will mark the beginning of the outright domination (except for two years) of the Gretzky, Kurri, Messier and Fuhr led Edmonton Oilers.

[@PancakesAndHammers2426]

Langway! One of my favorite Capitals of all time. My favorite Capitals defender by far.

[@ather4300]

I agree that if Bossy did not get injured he would have been the greatest goal scorer

[@larryn1929]

Bossy had 9 straight years of 50+ goals - NHL record.

[@martinbernier6083]

That year is when I started to watch hockey. I remember that I got a hockey sticker album that year for the first time. I’d hope I still had it!!! Watching « La Soirée du Hockey » in French on a small black and white tv with rabbit ears antenna. Good times!!!

[@Nathan-yq7zl]

Can you please do a video on the Harold Ballard years for the leafs!! I want to hear you talk about all the ridiculously insane things he did.

[@SuperStrik9]

Ballard's life story would make a great movie imo. Guy's a classic villain.

[@email5023]

He was the devil.

[@sdgakatbk]

@@SuperStrik9 Maybe a film noir movie.

[@SverigeiSverige]

Gretzky sets new assist record with 125, and in the playoff 26A & 38P.

[@sdgakatbk]

Yeah I remember the trade. I knew about Engblom at the time of the trade from someone I knew at college, but I didn't know about Langway. Outside of Ovechkin, Langway is the most important Capital ever. I used to love to watch him battle opposing teams players in the slot. Murray's system and their D really made that team in the 80's. That D was at a championship level, but they didn't have a goalie who could steal a playoff game and they lacked a big dominating center and some consistent playoff scoring.

[@patch8376]

This cup final was one of many off season time killers this summer for me. Game 1 was a fantastic goalie showdown that probably took everyone anticipating it by surprise, and game 4 I still think the Oilers might have come back and won had Smith not done the original Ribiero flop and spazz and bought his team a 5 for it in the third when the Oilers were coming on very strong down only a goal and having scored 2 quick unanswered shortly before that. I doubt it would have mattered much though. Safe money still would have been Isles in 5 or 6 that year if not 4.

[@CountElvis]

This is my favorite of the four dynasty teams. It's wild to think the Oilers went from scoring something like 6 goals a game to scoring 6 goals in an entire series. This is also the series were the Oilers finally found out talent wasn't enough. I've actually heard Gretzky talking about this. The was NVMC was designed the visiting team had to walk past the Islanders' locker room to get to their bus. Gretzky said he was really dreading it because he was expecting to have to walk past a party. When they walked past the Islanders' locker room they found a bunch of guys icing their injuries to sore to move, whereas the Oilers felt like they could still keep playing.

[@SverigeiSverige]

DF BOS-BUF 4-3 was a special one! Boston outscored Buffalo 33-23. Rick Middleton sets record for most assists and points in a playoff series - 7-5-14-19, finished with 17-11-22-33. Barry Pederson also had an impressive playoff, 17-14-18-32. 7-7-9-16 in the series.

[@autumnfall1997]

wow Wayne was on the islanders as well interesting

[@September2004]

It’s amazing when a team that doesn’t sweep anybody on the way to that year’s final ends up sweeping a team that only loss one game (and had 2 sweeps themselves.) I mean, how did the first 3 teams to play the Islanders get 2 victories in best-of-7 and the Oilers don’t even get 1! The next closest I could think of is the Devils in 95.

[@BobLeeeSwaggga]

I thought you said Red Green the first time, shoutout to a Canadian legend

[@SuperStrik9]

Duct tape ftw!

[@cowetascore8476]

Gretzky had zero goals in the SCF. Now that was a feat in itself for that Islanders defense.

[@patch8376]

There's KZbin video of the game Billy Smith slashed Gretzky (think it was game 2) with an Oilers radio station doing play-by-play and color. They have a few choice words about Smith in their reaction to the incident...

[@Lebby-lc9co]

Enjoy it while you can Islanders

[@clebo99]

Greatest series win for the Islanders.

[@theodorebelmont7922]

Islanders sweeping Oilers and shutting down their offence reminds me of 2013 Boston sweeping a high powered Penguins team

[@bluebear1985]

You've obviously realized it by now, but the all-star teams here are wrong. Here are the correct ones: 1st Team: C Wayne Gretzky (Oilers) LW Mark Messier (Oilers) RW Mike Bossy (Islanders) D Mark Howe (Flyers) D Rod Langway (Capitals) G Pete Peeters (Bruins) 2nd Team: C Denis Savard (Black Hawks) LW Michel Goulet (Nordiques) RW Lanny McDonald (Flames) D Paul Coffey (Oilers) D Ray Bourque (Bruins) G Roland Melanson (Islanders)

[@adk46er5203]

Shannon - Not sure where you got your all stars. But when you look at Hockey Reference it is Gretzky 1 - Center and Savard 2 - Center.

[@not2tees]

Huge for the Isles, all right, '83.

[@BrendanP]

Great video. It's nice to listen and learn a bit of history in the NHL. I'm not sure of you'll see this, but what are your thoughts on the extra sponsor locations added on the ice surface this year? Distracting or not? Also, Montreal and Detroit changed their centre ice logos, and I haven't seen much complaints yet.

[@strangeradios]

would a video on Harold Ballard be worth it? i only know a couple things about him, but i do know he was a very divisive and controversial owner.

[@dnasty312]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKXad4Rrr9GaoK8

[@larryn1929]

4 in a row!!! I was a happy camper!

[@richcerasale8909]

great video

[@ShantyIrishman]

1983, the last cup you’ll ever see.

[@JackCallSports]

ShantyIrishman And what’s your favorite team?

[@adk46er5203]

ShantyIrishman - Don't count on it. They have Lou and Barry. I am pretty sure they know what they are doing.

[@adk46er5203]

HG - Rollie Melanson was the second team all star Goalie. Lindburgh was the Rookie all star Goalie. Don't worry I still like you. Nobody is perfect. And you have cats.

[@adamscott2801]

I can’t wait till 1994

[@sjcherno77]

The Oilers including Sather, had now famous comments about walking past the Islanders locker room after Game 4. They were not celebrating. They were icing themselves down and appared exhausted. The Oilers took that into the next year. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXOWn3ZuZ92bgtk

[@PFB1994]

You've got some bad info on the All Star team for this year. Gretzky and Langway and Bossy were all first team. Barry Pederson and Marion Stastny were never All Star.

[@NotTheHockeyGuy]

Yeah, the book I was using got it wrong, so weird.

[@fightsports66]

@@NotTheHockeyGuy what book are you using?

[@September2004]

@@NotTheHockeyGuy And you replied with a different account! (Hockey Guy vs Entertainment Guy).

[@danielsteigerwald26]

the last of our greatness. Next year we go to the finals and then the trainwreck starts...

[@Hernal03]

Trains can't run forever. They have to go off the rails sooner or later. At least that train stayed on the tracks going at full speed for almost 5 full years before wrecking. The much vaunted Edmonton dynasty could only ever keep the train on the tracks for a couple of years at a time. The Islanders were truly amazing winning 4 Cups in a row and making it to a 5th --- not to mention "19" straight playoff series victories during that stretch --- still a record to this day and it may quite possibly never be broken.

[@dnasty312]

8:28 Wha..? 🤯

[@September2004]

It's amazing how you can have a team lose only 1 game on the way to the finals (which means 2 sweeps) and then face a team that not only placed lower than them in standings but didn't sweep anybody and *they* do the sweeping. It was kinda like that with the Red Wings against the Devils. The Devils didn't sweep anybody, the Red Wings only lost 2 games on the way to the '95 Finals but they didn't win anything in that Finals. It's weird how that happens. How does a team that placed lower in the standings and doesn't sweep anybody in the first 3 rounds end up sweeping a team that either swept or nearly swept all the 3 of their rounds?

[@Hernal03]

You ask how could they do such a thing? Well, sheer will and determination --- the Islanders were one of those teams (during their dynasty years anyway) that when they dug deep, they accomplished miracles --- one of those rare teams that could turn it on when they needed to. Of course, a little bit of luck every now and then did not hurt either. For the most part however, they made their own breaks through a tireless work ethic --- they pushed hard and when it seemed they should be running out of gas, they pushed even harder. True greatness.

[@elguk3260]

interesting fact steve yzerman was draft 4th overall in 83 nhl draft. before him was pat lafontaine in #3, silvain turgeon #2 and brian lawton #1, the first 2 were flops...

[@elguk3260]

*cam nelly a 9th overall!!

[@FBI-uf9jz]

Its hard to think that this team once had Mike bossy on it

[@JoeyJordison97]

😊

[@gymrat2647]

When I was a leafs fan couldn’t stand Ballard since he had a big ego

[@gabem7937]

The real winners were the capitals for getting above .500

[@watcher6935]

Lol. They didn't squash them.......Oilers hater. 😜. It was a good competition for a young team to put up.

[@TheHockeyGuy]

They lost by a combined score of 17-6. They got shutout at home in game one during an era where shutouts were extremely rare.

[@watcher6935]

The Hockey Guy , lol. I'm bugging, but.......Bobby Smith was a great goalie so a shut out on a young young team first time in the finals is almost expected. "Squash" is a perspective/opinion less than a fact. 😉. I would think squash would be like out scoring 40ish to 7. I think the Islanders had in the back of their minds that this "new bunch on the block" would be back next year. Would make a great pod cast discussion. Thinking of starting a Dangle style one that focuses less on just the Leafs. Plus you kinda are an Oilers hater 88 and 90s finals and all.

[@adk46er5203]

@@watcher6935 - You need to stop crying about this. BTW nobody is going to outscore any team 40-7. LOL. BTW a lot of players in the league hated the Oilers because they were so arrogant.

[@andrewostrander5647]

8th

[@pyyyy173]

i

[@oilersfan9214]

2nd

[@autumnfall1997]

first