April 11, 1975: The greatest upset in the history of New York Tri-State Area hockey takes place, and represents a changing of the guard.
In 1972, after years of rebuilding, the New York Rangers reached the Stanley Cup Finals, for the 1st time since 1950. However, they were defeated by the Boston Bruins. They remained contenders over the next 3 seasons.
Calendar year 1972 also saw the Canada-Soviet "Summit Series," the establishment of the World Hockey Association, and 2 new expansion teams in the NHL: The Atlanta Flames, who ended up moving to Calgary in 1980; and the New York Islanders, playing 25 miles east of Midtown Manhattan, at the Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in the Town of Hempstead, but with a mailing address of Uniondale.
In their 1st 2 seasons, as could be expected, the Islanders were terrible. But head coach Al Arbour and general manager Bill Torrey were building a team that would steadily get better. In their 3rd season, 1974-75, they acquired left wing Jean-Paul "J.P." Parisé and center Jude Drouin from the Minnesota North Stars. The new acquisitions excited Isles fans, and they started chanting, "J.P.! J.P.! J.P.!" for Parisé and, "Na na na na, hey, Jude!" (as in The Beatles' song) for Drouin.
That season, the Isles made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 1st time, gaining the East Division's 5th seed, meaning they would play its 4th seed in the 1st round, a best-2-out-of-3 series. As it turned out, that 4th seed was the Rangers. And in Game 1, at the still-new Madison Square Garden atop Penn Station, the Islanders came from 2-0 down after 2 periods to win, 3-2. The Rangers won Game 2 at the Nassau Coliseum, 8-3, to set up a Game 3 at The Garden.
The Islanders jumped out to a 3-0 lead, on a goal by Clark Gillies and 2 by Denis Potvin. But within 10 minutes in the 3rd period, the Rangers got 2 goals from Bill Fairbairn and 1 from Steve Vickers. The game went to overtime, and, just 11 seconds in,
Parisé put the puck past the Rangers' Hall-of-Fame goaltender, Eddie Giacomin. At the time, it was the fastest goal in NHL overtime history. Aside from the goal scored by Bob Nystrom 5 years later, it remains the most famous goal in club history. (Sorry, Pierre Turgeon, but it is.)
Jean-Paul Parisé
The '75 Isles weren't done. The next series was a best-4-out-of-7 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens, then good, but hardly a legitimate Cup contender, won the 1st 3 games. In all of sports history, only 1 team had ever come from 3-games-to-none down and won, but it was in the NHL: The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings. The Isles turned the trick.
They had now reached the Stanley Cup Semifinals, against the defending Champions, the Philadelphia Flyers. As with the other Pennsylvania team, the Isles lost the 1st 3, and then came back to win the next 3. But the Flyers ended the shocks, and won Game 7, and then beat the Buffalo Sabres to win back-to-back Cups. (The Flyers haven't won since. Nor have the Sabres, who've only been to the Finals once since.)
The Isles' upset of the Rangers was a stunning event, and it was part of a transition period in New York sports: The Yankees were playing in Shea Stadium while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated, the Mets began to decline, the Giants played first at the Yale Bowl in Connecticut and then at Shea while waiting for Giants Stadium to be finished, the Jets fell apart along with Joe Namath's knees, and the Knicks got old and fell apart while watching the Nets win 2 ABA titles.
The hockey shift was the most noticeable of all. The Islanders began a dominant stretch that would eventually see them, under Arbour, Torrey, and Potvin as Captain, reach 5 straight Finals, winning 4 straight Cups. Parisé, however, would not be a part of it: He was traded in 1978, never played in a Stanley Cup Finals, and died in 2015. His son, Zach Parisé, would play in a Finals, in 2012, with a team that did not exist until 1982: The New Jersey Devils.
But calendar year 1975 was the Rangers' annus horribilis. Ranger management, having already traded Vic Hadfield, fired Emile Francis as head coach after the Playoff loss to the Isles, ending his tenure in that role after 11 years. He remained general manager a little longer, being relieved of duty the following January.
But before that, he made a few deals, including waiving the still-popular Giacomin, which became a public-relations nightmare for the team; and trading Bard Park and Jean Ratelle to the Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais, which ruined whatever chemistry the team had left.
The team bottomed out in 1977, but a new regime rebuilt them, and, in 1979, they beat the Islanders to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing them to the Montreal Canadiens. The Islanders won the Cup in 1980, and '81, and '82, and '83, and reached the Finals in '84 -- beating the Rangers along the way in '81, '82, '83 and '84.
It would take the Rangers until 1994 to reach another Finals, and also to win another Cup. The Devils won in 1995, 2000 and 2003. Since 2003, between them, the 3 NHL teams in the New York Tri-State Area have been frustrated. The Devils reached the Finals in 2012, the Rangers 2014, but both lost to the Los Angeles Kings. The Islanders reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 1993, 2020 and 2021, but not the Finals.
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April 11, 1975 was a Friday. There were 2 other Stanley Cup Playoff games played. The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Boston Bruins, 6-4 at the Boston Garden. The Hawks thus won the series, 2-1. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. The Leafs thus won the series, also 2-1.
There was also 1 Playoff game in the WHA: The New England Whalers beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 3-2 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena). This was Game 2 of a best-3-out-of-5 series, which went the distance, and the Saints won it.
The NBA was between Playoff rounds. Three games were played in the American Basketball Association's Playoffs:
* The New York Nets lost to the Spirits of St. Louis, 113-108 at the St. Louis Arena. Marvin "Bad News" Barnes scored 35 points for the Spirits.
* The Memphis Sounds beat the Kentucky Colonels, 107-93 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. This would be the only game the Sounds would win in that series.
* And the Utah Stars beat the Denver Nuggets, 132-110 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 5-3 at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees played the 1974 and '75 seasons while Yankee Stadium was being renovated. This was the home opener, and the Yankees saved their big off-season acquisition, pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter, for the game. He got 2 hits each from Thurman Munson and the other major off-season acquisition, Bobby Bonds.
But Willie Horton and Nate Colbert hit home runs off Catfish, in support of Mickey Lolich. Catfish would recover, winning 23 games, while the Tigers, in their 1st season after the retirement of Al Kaline, had one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Jerry Koosman pitched 8 shutout innings, but ran out of gas in the bottom of the 9th, as he, Rick Baldwin and Mac Scarce allowed 4 runs, the last coming home on a single by Richie Hebner.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Lou Brock went 2-for-5, and Bake McBride went 4-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs. The Phillies traded for him in 1977, and he would be the right fielder on their 1980 World Champions. Greg Luzinski hit 2 home runs for the Phillies in this game, but it wasn't enough. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium. Tony Conigliaro, after 4 seasons out of the game, attempted a comeback, and hit a home run in this game, but it wouldn't work out. Carl Yastrzemski won it with a home run in the top of the 12th inning. Rick Burleson also homered for the Sox. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-5.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI for the Brewers. Indians player-manager Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. After 21 seasons with the Senators/Twins franchise, Harmon Killebrew was now in his last season, with the Royals, and went 1-for-4 in this game. George Brett went 2-for-4. For the Twins, Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 7-5 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-2 with a solo homer and 3 walks.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 7-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Don Sutton pitched a 4-hit shutout, and Bill Buckner hit a home run. Those of you old enough to remember the 1986 World Series, admit it: You forgot, or perhaps never knew, that Buckner not only played for the Astros, but hit a home run for them off Catfish Hunter in the 1974 World Series.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Nolan Ryan pitched a 6-hit shutout, striking out 10.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
* And the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
