The New Jersey Turnpike Cup

It's the bridesmaid Islanders vs. the born-again Bullies

When the New York Islanders first reached the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup playoffs in 1975, a scant three years after starting from scratch as an expansion team, hockey insiders dubbed the strong young squad "the team of the future." Fans all over Long Island sat back to await the glories sure to come. But for the luckless New Yorkers, the future was always in the future.

Through five frustrating springs, they were unable to improve upon their playoff record, contriving to swoon at Stanley Cup time despite regular-season records that were the envy of the league. The Islanders' woes were at their worst last year. The club finished with the best record in the N.H.L. Center Bryan Trottier won the M.V.P. and scoring trophy, Denis Potvin was voted the top defenseman and Right Wing Mike Bossy led the league in goals, with 69. Despite such muscular credentials, the Islanders were eliminated in the semifinals by their bitter next-island rivals, the New York Rangers.

This year the Islanders tried something new. For much of the season, they played terribly; the Islanders could not manage to climb to the .500 mark to stay until Jan. 15, three months after opening day. Their locker room, once the home of new-boys-on-the-block camaraderie, became a somber scene as players anxiously fretted over last night's mistakes. Injuries decimated the roster, most notably the loss of Potvin for 49 games. As many as 31 players shuttled through the lineup, the largest turnover since the Islanders' maiden season. For the first time in its history, the club was unable to improve on its previous season's record, finally finishing second in the division with 39 wins, 28 losses and 13 ties.

Fortunately, the Islanders did not abandon their experiment in role reversal. After such a disastrous regular season, they put together a miraculous playoff record, sweeping through the early rounds to reach the finals at last. The Islanders hope the trend continues, for their Stanley Cup opponents are those somewhat reformed thugs at the other end of the New Jersey Turnpike, the Philadelphia Flyers, proud possessors of the league's best regular-season mark: 48 wins, 20 ties and 12 losses, including a record-setting 35-game undefeated streak.

The Islanders' turnaround began with the addition of three players. Gord Lane, a defenseman known as one of the most crushing checkers in the N.H.L., was acquired in a trade before Christmas. Lane erased the Islanders' reputation as a team that was soft on the boards. But it was the arrival of Ken Morrow, the tall (6 ft. 4 in.), bearded defenseman from the gold-medal-winning U.S. Hockey Team, that sparked the Islanders' postseason resurgence. Morrow, who could become the first man ever to win Olympic gold and a Stanley Cup in the same year, bypassed the minor leagues and stepped directly into the Islanders' lineup.

Morrow played so well that the team was able to trade away two suddenly surplus players in exchange for Butch Goring, a center for the Los Angeles Kings, whose arrival launched the Islanders on a twelve-game unbeaten streak. Goring's presence meant that teams could no longer focus all their attention on Trottier, who over the years had been hounded on a scale befitting his skill. Goring, 30, blends his skills with those of his wingers, and his versatility enabled Coach Al Arbour to send 28 different line combinations against the Buffalo Sabres in the semifinals. Says Left Wing Bob Bourne: "Butchie came here and allowed us to move 14 forwards around. He didn't just give us a second line, he gave us a third and fourth line."

Despite a 4-3 overtime win on Philadelphia's ice in the opening game of the finals, the Islanders face a formidable challenge in the Flyers. Once known and unloved as the "Broad Street Bullies," the Flyers proved in the second game that the title still applies. They brawled their way to an 8-3 high-sticking, elbowing win. Even the Islanders' combative Goaltender Bill Smith could not contain the roughhousing.

Nonetheless, the Flyers have matured into a well-oiled, superbly balanced machine. Only once during the season did the team lose two games in a row. No Flyer finished the season with more than 80 scoring points, a rarity in an era of 100-point big guns throughout the league. But twelve players scored 30 points or more.

Under Rookie Coach Pat Quinn, the Flyers have emphasized youth and speed. Quinn salted his lineup with savvy veterans to steady his high-powered youngsters. Second-year Center Ken Linseman, a loudmouthed, 5-ft. 10 1/2-in. blur called "the Rat," anchors the Flyers' top-scoring line, known, naturally, as "the Rat Patrol." Bobby Clarke, 30, captain of Philadelphia's championship teams in the mid-'70s, anchors the entire team. Of his once and future centers, Quinn says: "Since the beginning of the year, we've thought this was a real good blend."

The Islanders are determined to scramble Philadelphia's blend and bring the Stanley Cup to Long Island, but just getting this far has helped fulfill the unmet hopes of years past. Says Center Lorne Henning, who is one of two players remaining from the Islanders' inaugural season: "We've frustrated ourselves and our fans for so long. It's nice to feel that for once we didn't disappoint anyone."

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