"Twenty Years Later" is a segment with a highly unimaginative name which will appear on Empty Netters throughout the 2012-13 season. We will examine the Penguins' 1992-93 season which led to the only President's Trophy in franchise history. The 1992-93 squad is commonly regarded as the most talented in the history of the Penguins. We will look back on games on the date they happened.

Today, we look at the Penguins' 6-5 loss against the New York Islanders in Game 4 of the Patrick Division final series, May 8, 1993.

The Islanders tied the series, 2-2, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. After a scoreless first period, The Penguins took a 1-0 lead 13:12 into the second period with an unassisted goal by right winger Jaromir Jagr against goaltender Glenn Healy.

New York responed at 15:44 when center Ray Ferraro scored on a power play against goaltender Tom Barrasso. Assists went to left winger Derek King and defenseman Vladimir Malakhov.

Late in the period at the 19:43 mark, an unassisted short-handed goal by center Tom Fitzgerald put the Islanders up, 2-1.

Fitzgerald scored again just 25 seconds into the third period with another short-handed goal. Defenseman Darius Kasparaitis collected the only assist.

At 2:32, an unassisted goal by left winger Troy Loney made it a 3-2 game.

Shortly after that, at the 2:53 mark, the Penguins tied the contest again, 3-3, when right winger Rick Tocchet scored off assists from defenseman Mike Ramsey and Loney.

New York reclaimed the lead, 4-3, whe King scored at 3:31. Defenseman Dennis Vaske and right winger Patrick Flatley were credited with assists.

A power-play goal by left winger Kevin Stevens tied the game yet again, 4-4 at the 6:24 mark. Center Mario Lemieux and defenseman Larry Murphy had assists.

A goal by Malakhov regained a 5-4 lead for the Islanders at 9:11. Right winger Brian Mullen netted the lone assist.

The Penguins forced another tie, 5-5, when center Ron Francis scored off an assist from defenseman Paul Stanton.

At 12:11, King scored the eventual game-winning goal off assists from Ferraro and defenseman Jeff Norton.

Notes:

-Barrasso made 29 saves in the loss.

-The three stars were: 1.) King 2.) Fitzgerald 3.) Malakhov.

-Fitzgerald became the seventh player in NHL history to score two short-handed goals in the same game.

Statistics:

Also in the news that day:

-An overtime goal by left winger Kirk Muller gave the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres in Game 4 of the Adams Division final at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. The Canadiens swept the series, 4-0.

-Right fielder Orlando Merced went 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs and helped the Pirates defeat the Montreal Expos, 10-9, at Three Rivers Stadium.

(Photo: Penguins Hockey Cards)

It seems pretty bizarre to think that when people started looking forward to Robert Morris' 2013-14 season, stability was one of the first things that came to mind. After all, the team was losing just two contributing players in Velton Jones and Russell Johnson, and had a strong recruiting class coming in. How things have changed over the last two weeks.

This is one of those moments where sportswriters generally trip over themselves to dub this a 'musical chairs' situation, but I'd probably say it's nothing more than shuffling -- just trying to fit the right pieces in the right places all under the working limits of the NCAA.

Over the last 24 hours, reports have come in that junior college guards DesJuan Newton and Charles Oliver have committed to the Colonials. Since they have yet to sign their National Letters of Intent, Andy Toole cannot comment on the situation. As new players have been added, it was first reported to the Post-Gazette today that forward Keith Armstrong will transfer.

Newton, who was on campus the day of the press conference announcing Toole's contract extension, just finished up his sophomore season at Central Arizona College, where he averaged 17.4 points per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from 3-point range. At 6-2 and 185 pounds, he's been described to me as a tough, defensively-savvy player, both of which were qualities that impressed the coaches and players when he participated in workouts on his visit. Think of him as being in a Velton Jones sort of mold, though I've never seen him play in person, so I don't want to throw that kind of a direct comparison out.

A highlight video of his sophomore season, complete with some Meek Mill in the background, can be found here

Oliver, who spent his freshman season at Rider, averaged 19.3 points per game and made 44.9 percent of his 3-pointers for Lakeland Community College in Ohio en route to being named an NJCAA first team all-American. As his shooting numbers indicate, the 6-3 guard is a pretty natural replacement for Coron Williams.

(Photo: nj.com)

Since both players are coming from the junior college ranks, they are eligible to suit up next year and will likely be counted on to produce. While it might be a tad unrealistic to expect them to match what Karvel Anderson, another JuCo transfer, did last season, junior college players are generally more apt to contribute right away than their freshmen counterparts.

With all of these additions, the reality of another Robert Morris player transferring out became increasingly likely, with that player turning out to be Armstrong. The news isn't entirely surprising, as things weren't really able to click for Armstrong after he missed much of the early part of the season with an injury. He only played about nine mintues per game, averaging less than one point per game to go along with 1.3 rebounds per game. If one thing ever really stood out to me, it was that his touch around the basket never really seemed to develop coming off that injury, something which is pretty important if you're a big man.

So where does this story move forward from here? For those of you keeping score at home, Robert Morris is slated to have 14 scholarship players next season (seven returning players, four freshmen and three JuCo players), one more than the NCAA limit of 13.

The most solution that has been bandied around the most is for one of the four freshmen to spend a year in prep school, which is what will almost certainly happen. It's not likely that either of the school's three-star recruits (guard Kavon Stewart and forward Jeremiah Worthem) will be the one to do so, largely because of their sheer talent. Based on conversations I've had, it looks like that player will ultimately be forward Emmanuel Omogbo from Princeton Day Academy in Maryland.

The signing deadline is just a few weeks away, so this is still a fluid situation, with just one major decision looming regarding the freshmen. But, rest assured, it's a much more manageable dilemma right now than it was even 24 hours ago.

Penguins

-Tomas Vokoun takes over in net.

-Dave Molinari's recap from last night's game. "I think I got pushed. I turned around and tried to cover the bottom part, and it just went under my stick, hit my pad and bounced in." - Marc-Andre Fleury on the goal he allowed to New York's Kyle Okposo in the second period.

-Newsday's recap. "We know how he played last year." - Okposo on Fleury.

-The Associated Press' recap. ''We knew what we were up against. Once you get into playoffs, seeds and where you finished is out the door.'' - James Neal.

-Highlights:

-Mike Lange's goal calls.

-The scrum at the end of the game:

-Fleury had some help here against Okposo from Brandon Sutter:

-Happy times on Long Island:

-Evgeni Malkin and James Neal had some support on the ice:

-Evgeni Nabokov kept an eye on this puck:

-Happy times for Colin McDonald:

-Malkin and the Penguins had some "helpful" reminders from Islanders fans:

-Pascal Dupuis got down to block this shot by New York's Lubomir Visnovsky:

-Painful times for Sidney Crosby:

-Fleury speaks:

-Dan Bylsma speaks:

-Sidney Crosby speaks:

-Jarome Iginla speaks:

-Matt Niskanen speaks:

-"Certainly Tomas Vokoun is a guy who can step in and play. We're going to regroup and come back for Game 5 with a refocus." - Bylsma.

-Islanders defenseman Andrew MacDonald left the game in the second period due to a broken hand. He is expected to be sidelined for the rest of the postseason.

-Welcome back James Neal and Brooks Orpik.

-"Three years [ago], me and [assistant coach Todd Reirden] came up with a plan [for me] to become one of the best defenseman, but we went through some steps. I tried to get better with off-ice training, video sessions, stuff like that. We worked on my defensive game after practice, little details. Every day, I'm watching videos of either the games, other players or habits I need to get in." - Kris Letang on being nominated for the Norris Trophy.

-After the Jump: The Sharks knock out the Canucks.

OK. Back by popular demand, it's time for a version of that wildly popular...

"I"M JUST SAYIN"

The WPIAL baseball committee meets tomorrow to determine playoff pairings, seedings and scheduling. Here's to hoping the committee finally stops the practice of scheduling the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals so far apart that teams can throw their No. 1 pitcher in every one of those games.

Seriously, what level of baseball - from Little League on up - has a playoff tournament where a team can throw its ace pitcher in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. But the WPIAL has allowed it to happen in recent years because of the time it puts between those three rounds. I know a lot of people, including coaches, who think that's wrong. Shouldn't it be about who has the best team, not who has the best No. 1 pitcher?

For example, Seneca Valley won the Class AAAA title last year after receiving a bye to the quarterfinals. Ace Matt Smith pitched the quarterfinals, semifinals and final. Teams with byes in the past have really been at an advantage. But this year, only the No. 1 seed in Class AAAA should have a bye this year because there are at least 16 teams in every classification of playoffs except Class AAAA, which has 15.

Wait, my phone is ringing. Oh, it's WPIAL czar Tim O'Malley. Apparently he wants to know how to schedule the playoffs. I'll be happy to give him the plan that should be forwarded to WPIAL baseball committee Bob Bozzuto.

Here goes: Have preliminary-round and first-round games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Use Thursday and Friday if needed because of rain. Play the WPIAL quarterfinals Monday, May 20 and the semifinals May 22. Use May 23, 24 and 25 if it rains. The finals already are scheduled for May 28 and 29. That way, a No. 1 pitcher could work the quarterfinals and be available for the finals.

Now, some with the WPIAL will say they don't want to schedule the quarterfinals and semifinals May 20 and 22, because if it rains they might have to push back games to Friday and Saturday of that week. They might claim they don't want to mess with schools that have proms or graduation. Understandable. But hold on a second. WPIAL volleyball championships are scheduled for May 24. And what about all the track and field athletes that are in Shippensburg May 24 and 25 for the PIAA championships? Why can they deal with proms and graduations, but not baseball teams?

So c'mon, WPIAL, and do the baseball schedule differently this year.

More "I'm Just Sayin" 

**** A little groggy again today after staying up late and watching "Inside the NBA" on TNT. To me, it's better than any sitcom on television. Barkley, Kenny "The Jet", Shaq and Ernie have just the right combo of serious insight and humor. Shaq was "breakdancing" on the set the other night.

**** Phil Shar (pictured) is back coaching girls basketball. Thomas  Jefferson athletic director Bill Cherpak said the school has hired Shar as its new coach.

At West Mifflin, he was in-out-in again-out again Phil Shar. He coached West Mifflin for 19 seasons, had a 379-153 record with five WPIAL championship game appearances until the board opened his position in 2009. It has been a crazy story. Shar got his job back again in 2010, coached one year, won 17 games and the board opened his position again.

Can Shar win at Thomas Jefferson? I say yeah.

*** Speaking of Thomas Jefferson, senior quarterback Joe Carroll was the West MVP in the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association East-West all-star game this past weekend. Carroll completed 18 of 30 passes for 177 yards, but the West got handled by the East, 48-27, at Downingtown West High School. The game is supposed to be for the best players in Pennsylvania who didn't make the Big 33. 

The Daily Local News covered the game. Former Seneca Valley quarterback Jordan Brown was 6 of 13 passing for 108 yards.

*** Speaking of Brown, his brother got some good news recently. C.J. Brown is now a quarterback at the University of Maryland and the NCAA granted him an extra year of eligibility because of an injury. Brown was slated to be the starter last season but suffered a torn ACL in preseason practice. He redshirted as a freshman and then missed all of last season. He was a redshirt junior at the time. With the NCAA's decision, Brown will now have two years left. He has been named the starter for next season.

Brown's father said C.J. will graduate this spring and attend grad school in the fall to start working toward his masters degree. 

*** If you follow high school sports in the WPIAL, you might know of Don Rebel, the director of MSA Sports network and a voice heard round Western Pennsylvania on radio and internet broadcasts of many WPIAL events. Well a shoutout to his youngest son, Carson. He recently picked up his second pitching victory for the Seton-LaSalle baseball team. He's only a sophomore. Carson must get his athletic ability from his mother.

*** It's time for me to "call out" baseball coaches. They might be the worst in terms of cooperating with things that actually "help" their teams. In the past, getting them to vote for all-section teams is like asking for their right arm. despite repeated phone calls and emails. Now we're trying to get season-ending stats from the coaches to compile a list of WPIAL statistical leaders. Let's just say the coaches aren't exactly cooperating a ton.

So here's the call to those coaches. Please read below: