Conn Smythe Tournament (1977-00) Round 1: 1993 Roy vs 1983 Smith

[blundluntman]

MATCHUP #7 (Round 1): Patrick Roy (1993) vs Billy Smith (1983)

Patrick Roy (1992-93):
20 GP 16 W 2.13 GAA .929 Sv%

Billy Smith (1982-83):
17 GP 13 W 2.68 GAA .912 Sv% 3 Shutouts

Round 1 Matchups:
Stevens 00 vs Leetch 94 Thread
Nieuwendyk 99 vs Roy 86 Thread
Yzerman 98 vs Gainey 79 Thread
Vernon 97 vs Gretzky 88 Thread
Sakic 96 vs Bossy 82 Thread
C Lemeiux 95 vs Lemieux 92 Thread
Roy 93 vs Smith 83
Lemieux 91 vs Goring 81
Ranford 90 vs Hextall 87
MacInnis 89 vs Robinson 78
Gretzky 85 vs Messier 84
Trottier 80 vs Lafleur 77

Click to read more...

 

[DitchMarner]

I don't see an argument for Smith here. Roy had better stats playing for a team that wasn't nearly as good. I assume scoring was a little higher in the '83 playoffs, but '93 was hardly a low-scoring or tight-checking time. That was the season 114 points wasn't good enough for a top ten scoring finish.

 

[bobholly39]

If there's one playoff run that can give Lemieux/Gretzky a run for their money - it's Patrick Roy in 1993.

Habs/Roy lost their first game of round 1 vs Quebec in OT, 3-2. Patrick Roy then went on to win the next 10 Overtime playoff games that year. That's an absolutely insane record. I know a lot of those OT games were short, but it's still an amazing clutch performance by Roy, not allowing a single goal in all those "do or die" playoff OT scenarios.

As for Smith - super solid run and good on him for winning the smythe, but I think Gretzky probably should have won that year. Gretzky didn't do too well in the finals, so that probably hurts him.

Roy is the clear winner in this matchup.

 

[tabness]

Never was really interested in Montreal of this timeframe but I did watch a bit of the 1993 run. Feel like the Habs were fortunate to miss a lot of good teams/play teams that had key injuries like Buffalo that could have really changed how things went. Roy did seem to be the clear "runaway" winner in this one, probably the 1993 run which erased some criticism about his playoff performances beforehand and also seemed to help the acclaim of the 1986 run post hoc.

Also for whatever reason, even though I'm more interested in the Islanders dynasty than like the eighties and nineties Canadiens, I haven't seen as much of them as I'd like strangely enough. Smith seems pretty good in the dynasty days from what little I've seen. Billy Smith for this one seemed to be a strong enough win, though not runaway as compared to Roy. Smith had some more marquee names on the Islanders to contend with of course, but the Islanders biggest strength was their depth just like the Canadiens and this was recognized as going by even the Conn Smythe voting of the time with the depth guys on those dynasty Islanders getting love in votes.

As an aside, Billy Smith seems to be an even crazier mofo than Patrick Roy. Literally broke Pat LaFontaine's ankle in a practice during the playoffs by SLASHING him in 1984 on April 23rd which caused LaFontaine to only return at the end of the Wales conference finals against Montreal... like what the f*** lol?

 

[67 others]

I would love to see Roy decide "hey, you can’t hack my player like that!" And skate over to challenge Smith LOL

This ain't Vernon or Osgood Patrick. This is a guy who would put a lot of enforcers in the hospital

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I could dig into it more, or just accept that 1993 Roy is held by many as one of the all-time great Smythe runs… But my simplistic take is, Billy Smith posted a .953 save percentage in a sweep against the decisively best offensive team in the league. Four 100+ point scorers, 96 point Coffey, clearly the top team in their conference… Smith stopped at least 30 shots each game of the series. I know the Oilers were young and didn’t nearly have the same depth and experience of the dynasty Islanders — who were the best defensive team with or without battlin’ Billy — but I have some time for Smith’s case, that’s what I’m saying, even against a legendary Smythe performance such as 1993 Roy’s.