Ahead of Game 5, New York Islanders legend Bobby Nystrom shares what allowed his team in 1975 to erase a 3-0 deficit.
RALEIGH -- Only four teams have ever come back from trailing 3-0 in a playoff series. The New York Islanders are looking to become the fifth team to do that.
After the Islanders won Game 4 in double overtime, Patrick Roy and his team are back in Carolina, looking to force a Game 6 back on home ice when the puck drops for Game 5 on Tuesday night at PNC Arena.
Forty-eight years ago, the Islanders became the second team in NHL history to ever come back from trailing 3-0 when they accomplished that feat against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975.
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At the young age of 23, Bobby Nystrom learned valuable lessons in the seven-game series against Pittsburgh about what it takes to win. And in Game 6 of the series, he was one of the heroes recording an assist on the eventual game-winning goal, while finishing that night a plus-2.
The Hockey News caught up with Nystrom as the Islanders prepare for a pivotal Game 5 in Carolina on Tuesday:
-What was the single most important characteristic that the 1975 team had to allow for that team to come back?
You have to believe that you can come back, and that comes from the coach.
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-Now that the Islanders got the first win of the series, do you think that they have the goods to comeback?
When we lost the first three games in that series, Al (Arbour) called us all to the corner of the rink and said this: “If any of you don’t think that we are going to win this series, I want you to get off the ice right now!”
He taught us to believe that even if we were down 10 goals, we could still come back, and we felt that we could.
The 2024 team: I’m not sure that they can (come back), but they have to have that attitude. They must believe that they will come back.
Another Al lesson. If you look back at your effort and you did the very best that you possibly could then you can be pleased but you must never ever stop improving.
-What was your single greatest memory about that comeback against the Penguins in 1975 -- besides personally finishing the series with all four wins and no losses?
The best feeling about winning that series was that we were one of the few teams that had ever done that, and that record has stood for quite a long time.