33 years ago tonight...Hrudey with an epic 73 save performance.

[transplant99]

Watched this entire game 7...all 6.5 periods worth. Was with the GF at the time....we agreed to go for a bite (to the Prairie Dog Inn on 17th, now buon giorno) after the game was over. Never happened.

Started at 5:30 Calgary time and ended after midnight.

“It was such a great game to be a part of and great memories,” Hrudey recalls now. “I think all of us recognized the magnitude of the game and how unique it is and we knew it was going to be a game that was going to be talked about for a very long time.”

“It was surreal,” LaFontaine said in a 2017 interview with NHL.com. “I’ll never forget just before the goal, (former Islanders equipment manager) Jim Picker was squeezing a water bottle down the back of my neck and he was like, ‘Hey Pop, you’re gonna get one, I can feel it.’ The organist had played music from ‘The Twilight Zone.’ We were kind of sitting back and there’s 75 shots to 57. It’s almost 2 o’clock in the morning and I looked in the stands and there were people sleeping in the stands. I was wondering, ‘Is this really happening?’ But sure enough, we were able to score that goal and come back from down three games to one.”

After the handshake line and some post-game interviews, Hrudey was finally able to take his skates off around 2:10 a.m. He says his toes curled under his feet from dehydration and he’s “never had two beers go to my head like that.”

“I certainly don’t remember much of a celebration,” Hrudey says. “I don’t remember it being loud in there. I think all of us were just so thoroughly exhausted we didn’t have any energy to hug each other or whoop it up or anything.”

Truly one of the craziest games in the history of the NHL.


https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...s-easter-epic/

[transplant99]

Also....37 years ago today.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1251528411715006465

[looooob]

They won that game but lost the 2
On either side 19-3��

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

It's funny how everyone remembers that Islanders-Capitals game if you were alive at the time. There's been at least five games since then that have been longer but that one really lingers in the memory. I've always wondered why. I, too, watched the whole game. My theory is:

(1) At the time, four OT and even three OT games weren't that common. It was the first game since 1971 to go to a third OT and first game since 1951 to go to a fourth OT so it stuck in the memory there

(2) The fact that it was a Game 7 added that much more drama to it (first Game 7 since 1968 that needed more than one OT period)

(3) It was televised on CBC in Canada (I believe Bob Cole was on the call). We didn't get all the playoff games back then like we do now

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

It's funny how everyone remembers that Islanders-Capitals game if you were alive at the time. There's been at least five games since then that have been longer but that one really lingers in the memory. I've always wondered why. I, too, watched the whole game. My theory is:

(1) At the time, four OT and even three OT games weren't that common. It was the first game since 1971 to go to a third OT and first game since 1951 to go to a fourth OT so it stuck in the memory there

(2) The fact that it was a Game 7 added that much more drama to it (first Game 7 since 1968 that needed more than one OT period)

(3) It was televised on CBC in Canada (I believe Bob Cole was on the call). We didn't get all the playoff games back then like we do now

Bob Cole (at his absolute best in my mind) and Harry Neale (who to this day is among the greatest color guys ever on television) called the game.

Both goaltenders were great obviously, but Hrudey was just out of his mind.

[GirlySports]

It was also the only Game 7 of the first round that year and it was a Saturday night. And as mentioned, we, as kids, had never seen any game close to being that long.


It also began a string of 5 consecutive Game 7 losses for Washington. They finally won their first ever Game 7 in 2009.

[CsInMyBlood]

Yeah I also watched this as a kid at a friends place. Had to go home during the 5th period, fought my mom for 5 minutes trying to stay, rode my bike like a maniac home positive I was going to miss the goal. I remember how tired some guys were on their shifts, was so exciting when someone would have a burst of energy and fly towards the net only to be stopped.

33 years ago hey? Time really does fly.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

It's funny how everyone remembers that Islanders-Capitals game if you were alive at the time. There's been at least five games since then that have been longer but that one really lingers in the memory. I've always wondered why. I, too, watched the whole game. My theory is:

(1) At the time, four OT and even three OT games weren't that common. It was the first game since 1971 to go to a third OT and first game since 1951 to go to a fourth OT so it stuck in the memory there

(2) The fact that it was a Game 7 added that much more drama to it (first Game 7 since 1968 that needed more than one OT period)

(3) It was televised on CBC in Canada (I believe Bob Cole was on the call). We didn't get all the playoff games back then like we do now

Yeah, as mentioned, a Saturday night over the Easter break. Started at 5 Calgary time or so, so wasn’t that super late. And of course no TV double headers so we didn’t miss any other game.

Surprised shots were that low, 7 periods of hockey, averaged to 10 shots a period.

Next playoff game I remember going that late or later was Pens Caps in mid to late April 1996. Second year uni, and was trying to study for one last final exam. Nedved scored I think.