TAMPA, Fla. — As an assistant coach for the Lightning, Steve Thomas was too busy helping finish the Red Wings series and prepare for the Islanders series to notice how much the hockey world spent last week revisiting the 1993 playoffs. After practice on Thursday, he added, “Ninety-three was a long time ago. It’s hard to remember a lot of that.”
Then he remembered just about all of it.
He recalled how great Ray Ferraro, Benoit Hogue, Glenn Healy, Pierre Turgeon, Vladimir Malakhov and just about everybody else played for the Islanders that spring. After a quick reminder or two, he knew again how it sounded in Nassau Coliseum, how Al Arbour got everything out of that team, how they felt after knocking off the champion Penguins and facing the Canadiens in the semifinals.