Fans drove into the parking lots of the Capital Centre in Landover on a warm Saturday evening on April 18, 1987, expecting to see the thrills and excitement of playoff hockey in the first Game 7 in Washington Capitals history.
What they got was a blend of terrific hockey, a surreal six-hour battle and two teams with future Hall of Famers looking to simply survive what is still considered one of the greatest NHL games ever played as the game reaches its 35th anniversary Monday evening (and Tuesday morning).
The Capitals and New York Islanders battled through nearly seven periods of hockey, throwing everything they had at each other with 133 shots on the two goaltenders until fans finally could go home at 1:56 a.m. on Easter morning after Pat LaFontaine ended the game with a turnaround shot from inside the blue line that beat Bob Mason for the game-winning goal.
Pat LaFontaine ended what was the fifth-longest game in NHL history just before 2 a.m. on Easter Sunday. (THW Archives)
It became the fifth-longest NHL game at the time, and while there have been other longer games played since, it still remains one of the most memorable through the years and eventually became known as the “Easter Epic” – even though the game started at 7:35 p.m. the night before. The game even made the corner of the cover of Sports Illustrated the next week, which was a rarity for the Capitals, who previously were only featured when Bryan “Bugsy” Watson was shown chasing Montreal Canadiens’ Guy Lafleur in a 1977 cover.
While the end result wasn’t what Capitals fans wanted, it was a rare sporting event where the two combatants said it would have been a shame for either one to lose. Both were aware of the growing surreal stature of the game as time marched on, with neither team able to score a goal despite several prime opportunities in 68 minutes of extra time. When the dust had settled, both realized they had participated in a contest that would be considered one of the greatest…
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