Washington Capitals of the 1980s: The Easter Epic

Bob Mason, goalie for the Washington Capitals in the 1987 "Easter Epic" shakes hands with Pat Lafontaine (#16) of the New York Islanders. Lafontaine beat Mason with a shot from the top of the face-off circle to score the winning goal in the fourth overtime period to finish the longest Game 7 in Stanley Cup playoff history.
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It was a game that went down in history, so much so that even last season, 33 years later, it still left its mark.

Not initially called anything, this game was not only a marathon playoff struggle, it was a seventh and deciding game.

Maybe that fuelled the desire and desperation that made Game 7 of the 1987 Patrick Division semi-final “The Easter Epic”.

Prelude to a series
By the 1986-1987 season, the Washington Capitals had become a fixture in the playoffs. After qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in the 1982-1983 season, they were making their fifth consecutive appearance in the playoffs.

In 1986-1987 they finished second in the Patrick Division behind the Philadelphia Flyers with a record of 38-32-10.

They would play the New York Islanders who finished third in the division, four points behind the Capitals. It would be the fifth straight year the teams met in the playoffs. New York won in 1983, 1984 and 1985, but Washington finally beat the Islanders the previous year, 1986, in a three-game sweep in the first round.

The stage was set for another doozy of a series.

The series
The Patrick Division Semi-Final opened on April 8 at the Capital Centre with the the host Capitals winning 4-3. The Islanders rebounded to win Game 2 by a score of 3-1 before the series shifted to the Nassau County Coliseum for Games 3 and 4. Washington seemed to take a stranglehold on the series by winning Game 3 by a score of 2-0 on April 11 then taking a 3-1 lead with a 4-1 win in Game 4 on April 12.

The Islanders would not go that quickly though. They re-grouped again, winning Game 5 at Landover. Maryland by a score of 4-2 on April 14 then used home ice to tie the series 3-3 with a 5-4 victory in Game 6 on April 16 .

The teams would meet at the Capital Centre on April 18 for the seventh and deciding game with the winner advancing to the Patrick Division Final against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Little did either team the know the game would begin on April 18 but not end until the 19th.

“Easter Epic”
There was no scoring for much of the period until Mike Gartner put Washington on the board scoring a goal with just 48 seconds left in the period. It gave the Capitals a 1-0 period after the first period. Greg Adams and Scott Stevens assisted on the goal.

Pat Flatley tied the game for New York assisted by Steve Konroyd and Bryan Trottier with 8:25 gone in the second period. Grant Martin responded with just over a minute left in the second period, giving Washington a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes, with help from Adams and Larry Murphy.

Trottier scored the lone goal of the third period, with help from Alan Kerr and Konroyd, with just over five minutes gone in the period, tying the game 2-2, and sending it into the first overtime of the series.

Overtime
The extra session would end up being longer than the regulation game. The first overtime period came and went with no scoring. Fatigue began to set in during the second overtime period but still no scoring. The teams went on to a third overtime period and still no scoring. Now, the teams had played exactly two full games.

Finally, at the 8:47 mark of the fourth overtime, Pat Lafontaine chased down a puck near the Capital blue line. He turned and fired a shot at the net. Washington goaltender Bob Mason was screened and never saw the puck as it hit the post and went in. The Islanders had won the game and the series.

Aftermath
The game lasted 128 minutes and 47 seconds in game time, and six hours and 18 minutes in real time. It had started on Saturday night, but did not end until the early part of Easter Sunday – hence the name “The Easter Epic”.

It still remains the longest Game 7 in NHL playoff history.

Mason stopped 54 shots while New York Islander goaltender Kelly Hrudey stopped 73 shots, setting an NHL record for most saves in a playoff game. That record was finally eclipsed this past playoff year by Columbus Blue Jacket goaltender Joonas Korpisalo when he made 85 saves. Hrudey was in the booth watching and cheering him on the whole time.

The Islanders would go on to lose to the Flyers, who went all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Edmonton Oilers.

Parting thoughts
By the time the “Easter Epic” took place, the Washington Capitals had become a respectable NHL team, having qualified for the playoffs five straight seasons. Each year, they faced the New York Islanders in their final series of the season, losing four times and winning once.

What emerged for the Capitals was a new pattern. No longer were they striving to win more games than they lost, or trying to make the playoffs.

Instead, they hit a road block in the Patrick Division. They would go on to make the playoffs 14 straight seasons, but for years they could not get out of their division, losing in either the first or second round for seven straight seasons. They would only do it once, in 1990, before the NHL changed its playoff format for the 1993-1994 season. They would only make it to the Stanley Cup Finals once, 1998, before winning it all in 2018.

Still, they had come a long way. They went from perennial cellar dweller to perennial playoff contender.

And the “Easter Epic” was another step in that evolution.