Perhaps Roger Neilson and the Canucks, as the decided underdogs in the Stanley Cup Finals, felt as if their only hope was to try to bridge the talent gap by being physical and knocking the Islanders off our their skill stride. At any rate, they came out of the dressing room with a chip on their black-and-gold shoulders, pushing and shoving as the clubs lined up for the opening face-off.
And, for five minutes, this approach appeared to get under the skin of Al Arbour's charges as the New Yorkers were goaded into a pair of early minor penalties that gave Vancouver a brief two-man advantage early in the game. But the Campbell Conference champions could not take advantage and, just seconds before Darcy Rota left the box to change a four-on-four to another Canucks spell with the man advantage, Clark Gillies whacked home the rebound of a Stefan Persson shot to put the Islanders in front. Two minutes later, NYI found themselves with the extra man after a Neil Belland hook and John Tonelli struck a minute into the power play to double the Isles' lead. The underdogs were not yet ready to abandon their approach, however; there were 26 minutes of penalties in the second half of the period, including two glove-dropping affairs, but neither side could find the net again before the first intermission.
Ninety seconds had not yet elapsed in the second stanza before the referee had whistled three separate minor infractions; the last of these, a tripping foul on Stan Smyl, gave New York a power play that ended when Bob Nystrom slid the rebound from Bob Bourne's shot underneath Richard Brodeur for a third Islander goal and the visitors seemed to crack. Another VAN penalty two minutes later led to the inevitable sight of Mike Bossy ripping a shot home from the high slot and, just ninety seconds later, Wayne Merrick intercepted a Tiger Williams pass at the red line and broke in alone to beat Brodeur for the fifth time. The rout was now on, and the period ended with a flurry of matching roughing and fighting penalties as tempers flared.
The Islanders kept skating in the third, and Gillies got his second goal after five minutes to make it 6-0 before the Canucks finally got on the board midway through the period on Rota's short-handed marker. But, as if simply to emphasize their dominance, Tonelli got his brace barely a minute later and the game fizzled to an end over the final five minutes. Cinderella had sharpened her heels before the big ball, but had gone home in a pumpkin nonetheless. [Broadcast of real-life game]
Stars of the Game
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| Clark Gillies, NYI |
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