1979–80 New York Islanders season
| 1979–80 New York Islanders | |
|---|---|
|
Stanley Cup champions
|
|
| Division | 2nd Patrick |
| Conference | 2nd Campbell |
| 1979–80 record | 39–28–13 |
| Goals for | 281 |
| Goals against | 247 |
| Team information | |
| General Manager | Bill Torrey |
| Coach | Al Arbour |
| Captain | Denis Potvin |
| Alternate captains | Bryan Trottier |
| Arena | Nassau Coliseum |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Mike Bossy (51) |
| Assists | Bryan Trottier (62) |
| Points | Bryan Trottier (104) |
| Penalties in minutes | Garry Howatt (219) |
| Wins | Glenn Resch (23) |
| Goals against average | Billy Smith (2.95) |
The 1979-80 New York Islanders season was the eighth in the franchise's history. It involved winning the Stanley Cup. During the season, the Islanders dropped below the 100-point mark for the first time in five years, earning only 91 points.
Before the playoffs, Torrey made the difficult decision to trade longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and defenseman Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings for second line center Butch Goring. Goring's is often called the "final piece of the puzzle": a strong two-way player, his presence on the second line ensured that opponents would no longer be able to focus their defensive efforts on the Isles' first line of Bossy, Trottier and Clark Gillies. Contributions from new teammates, such as wingers Duane Sutter and Anders Kallur and stay-at-home defensemen Gord Lane and Ken Morrow (the latter fresh off a gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics), also figured prominently in the Islanders' playoff success.
Clark Gillies resigns the team captaincy and is replaced by defenceman Denis Potvin.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
In the semi-finals, the Isles faced the Buffalo Sabres, who had finished second overall in the NHL standings. The Isles won the first two games in Buffalo, including a 3–2 victory in Game 2 on Bob Nystrom's goal in double overtime. They went on to win the series in six games and reach the finals for the first time in franchise history, where they would face the NHL's regular season champions, the Philadelphia Flyers, who had gone undefeated for 35 straight games (25–0–10) during the regular season. In Game 1 in Philadelphia, the Isles won 4–3 on Denis Potvin's power-play goal in overtime. Leading the series 3–2, they went home to Long Island for Game 6. In that game, Bob Nystrom continued his overtime heroics, scoring at 7:11 of the extra frame, on assists by John Tonelli and Lorne Henning, to bring Long Island its first Stanley Cup. It was the Isles' sixth overtime victory of the playoffs. Bryan Trottier won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Torrey's strategy of building through the draft turned out very well; nearly all of the major contributors on the 1980 champions were home-grown Islanders or had spent most of their NHL careers in the Islanders organization. The Islanders would become the first NHL team to win a Stanley Cup with Europeans (Stefan Persson, Anders Kallur, Bob Nystrom) on its roster.
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