5 BOROUGH SPORTS

Now you might be wondering why this moment is ahead of the 1993 magical playoff run. The thing about the ’93 Isles was that the franchise had been strong for twenty years before that playoff run. The team was pretty much consistently fighting for a playoff spot. The Islanders were also considered one of the best hockey franchises during that time. On the contrary, the 2001-2002 Islanders were coming off nine awful years. The franchise changed owners three times, made awful trades and draft moves, and were in the cellar of the Eastern Conference almost every season from 1994-2000. Before the start of the 2001-2002 season, the Isles made three key moves to get them back into the playoffs. Chris Osgood was signed from the Detroit Red Wings to be in goal for the season. Plus, all-stars Michael Peca and Alexei Yashin were brought to the Island to be the ultimate goal scorers. After an abyssmal 2000-2001 season that consisted of only 52 points, the Isles stormed into the 2002 playoffs as the 5th seed after a season of 96 points. In the first round of the playoffs against the Maple Leafs, the Isles were down 2-1 in the series heading into Game 4. With the game tied with under three minutes to go in the third period, Isles forward Shawn Bates was tripped in front of the net and was given the opportunity for a penalty shot. Bates would make the shot in dramatic fashion helping the Islanders tie the series. Even though the Islanders would lose the series in seven games, Bates’ penalty shot brought excitement back to the Coliseum for the first time in years.

This entry was posted on February 21, 2010 at 10:09 pm and is filed under 5BS Greatest Sports Moments (since 1990), Islanders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.