Maven's Memories: The Lore of Pat LaFontaine

So much has been said about Pat LaFontaine and what he has meant to the Islanders and Long Island that the pouring of more encomiums seems almost redundant.

But quite the opposite is true.

As superb a hockey player he has been, so the St. Louis native also has been a humanitarian, a model parent and a role model for young athletes be they on skates or up at bat.

"He's a 'One and Only,'" says my younger son Simon who simultaneously grew up with the Islanders as a team and Patty as his idol.

The Islanders will acknowledge that when the club formally inducts the peripatetic center into the Islanders Hall of Fame at UBS Arena.

For sure there will be thousands of Patty memories shared by the crowd. For The Maven, two immediately come to mind. In chronological order the first would be LaFontaine's singular performance in Game Five of the 1984 Stanley Cup Final while still an NHL rookie.

The second -- to this day -- the "Easter Epic" is considered arguably one of the greatest games in franchise history. As one who was there, covering for the team's tv network SportsChannel, I would second that "greatest" motion.

The date was April 18, 1987, a day before Easter Sunday.

The place was the Washington Capitals home rink in suburban Landover, Maryland.

The significance was it being Game Seven of the Patrick Division semi-finals; winner take all.

For two and two-thirds periods, it appeared to be a normal -- though terribly exciting -- playoff game with the home team leading 2-1 just past the 14-minute mark of the third period.

"The Capitals seem to have the game well in hand," said John McComb, my longtime SportsChannel stage manager as we watched the game unfold from our studio at one corner of the arena.

Then, the unexpected -- call it "The Unseen Hand" if you will -- happened. As the Islanders penetrated the Capitals zone, New York defenseman Steve Konroyd and forward Alan Kerr managed to control the puck.

"At that point it was an innocent enough play," recalled Isles coach Terry Simpson. "There was nothing threatening about it -- even when (Bryan) Trottier got the puck off to the side of the net."

True enough. But what nobody -- and I do mean nobody -- knew except Washington goalie Bob Mason was that a thousand-to-one odds incident had just taken place.

A heel rivet on one of Mason's goalie skates had broken causing him to lose his footing. And what's more, he couldn't call a "Time Out" to have it repaired.

It was then -- at the 14:37 mark -- that another remarkable episode unfolded.

"I had taken a pass from Kerr," said Trottier, "and skated around their defenseman Kevin Hatcher and had the puck on my backhand."

From where I was watching -- Bryan's right-of-the-net angle and Mason's coverage -- it seemed like a rudimentary save was about to happen. Except that the goalie's broken skate tilted him off-balance enough for Trots' shot to beat Mason with a mere 5:23 remaining in regulation time.

"We had been outplayed until then," said Isles forward Randy Wood, "but after Trots' goal we all felt we were going to win the game. It was just a matter of when."

A reasonable guess would have been one sudden-death period; certainly not more than two.

But a pair of factors combined to extend the game indefinitely.

1. Islanders goalie Kelly Hrudey was playing the game of his life. Even modest Kelly would later admit that.
2. Referee Andy van Hellemond essentially had "swallowed" his whistle and just let the lads play. Tackling or not tackling; Andy saw it all and just let the game decide itself.

"There were so many scoring chances for both teams," said Islanders assistant coach Bob Nystrom. "After a while I was just smiling -- and laughing a lot."

Meanwhile, The Maven -- as between periods host -- had a problem; I needed people -- preferably injured players -- to interview.

The succession of overtime breaks made it difficult to obtain guests for the between period interviews. In the second game of the series Mike Bossy had been injured. That meant that he was available as one guest for the intermission before the first overtime.

We located him watching from the runway in the corner leading to the Islanders dressing room.

As always, Bossy was terrific, but when it was apparent there would be at least one more overtime period, stage manager McComb asked me who we should get for the interview. "Go for Bossy again," I said, "why not go for the best?"

We got Bossy, and in his autobiography, Mike wrote, "It was one of the greatest games I've ever seen! Two indefatigable teams played 68 minutes, 47 seconds of sudden-death Game Seven hockey."

As for the melodramatic "Easter Epic," almost nine minutes had elapsed in the fourth overtime with no end in sight when both Bossy and I mistakenly thought that the Caps would prevail. "I just had that feeling that the Caps would do it," said Bossy.

As the tension reached the near breaking point, a few little things would turn out to mean a lot.

LaFontaine was on the bench awaiting coach Terry Simpson's order to take the next shift. Meanwhile, assistant equipment manager Jim Pickard drenched Patty with a water bottle. As the rivulets of H20 coursed down the center's sweaty face, Pickard said: "Patty, you're gonna score the game-winner!"

Then came the nod from Simpson and LaFontaine went over the boards. Simultaneously, Isles defenseman Gord Dineen took a big gamble, leaving his post at the left point, chasing along the boards into the enemy end. Dineen had wound up -- way out of position -- behind the Capitals' net while his partner Ken Leiter kept his defensive position.

"I saw where Dineen had gone," LaFontaine remembered, "so I stayed high, just in case."

Out of the puck scramble behind the net the six-ounce hunk of vulcanized rubber skimmed in Pat's direction. He instinctively knew that linemate Dale Henry was camped in front of the Caps' crease, hopefully screening goalie Mason.

LaFontaine: "When I got the puck at the point I just turned around and gave it my best shot.

Frankly, I didn't think it had a chance because (Capitals defenseman) Rod Langway dove to block it and I think I saw it deflect off their other defenseman Kevin Hatcher.

"Then I heard a clank and looked to see where the rebound went." Then, a pause: "I didn't know it was all over until everyone started mobbing me."

LaFontaine wasn't the only Islander being mobbed by Islanders. "After we tackled Patty," recalled forward Alan Kerr, "then we remembered to go after Kelly (Hrudey). Without his amazing goaltending, the game probably doesn't even go into overtime."

The red light flashed at 8:47 with assists to Leiter and Dineen. It was the fifth shot of the sudden death period fired by the Islanders. The Caps only recorded one shot on goal.

Overjoyed as I was with the outcome, I still had a journalistic job to do; and a decisive one at that. I had to swing into action and hope to get LaFontaine on camera as quickly as possible for my SportsChannel interview. Here's where The Maven got lucky. Make that very lucky.

The Islanders' dressing room at Capital Centre was about 10 yards beyond our studio, which meant that one key strategic move had to take place. When the celebrating players headed to the clubhouse, they first had to pass our studio; and one of them was LaFontaine.

Studio manager McComb -- a beloved old pro --strategically stationed himself at our open door and as soon as he spotted hero Patty, John literally asked and simultaneously guided Pat into the studio and we did one of the best interviews of my young life.

Scooping the world; the way Pat LaFontaine swooped the hockey world throughout his glorious Hall of Fame career!