1979–80 New York Islanders season

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1979–80 New York Islanders
Stanley Cup champions
Division2nd Patrick
Conference2nd Campbell
1979–80 record39–28–13
Goals for281
Goals against247
Team information
General managerBill Torrey
CoachAl Arbour
CaptainDenis Potvin
Alternate captainsNone
ArenaNassau Coliseum
Team leaders
GoalsMike Bossy (51)
AssistsBryan Trottier (62)
PointsBryan Trottier (104)
Penalty minutesGarry Howatt (219)
WinsChico Resch (23)
Goals against averageBilly Smith (2.95)

The 1979-80 New York Islanders season was the eighth season 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.

Offseason[]

Clark Gillies resigns the team captaincy and is replaced by defenceman Denis Potvin.

NHL Draft[]

See also: 1979 NHL Entry Draft
Round Pick Player Nationality College/Junior/Club Team
1 17 Duane Sutter (RW)  Canada Lethbridge Broncos (WHL)
2 25 Tomas Jonsson (D)  Sweden Modo Hockey (Sweden)
2 38 Billy Carroll (C)  Canada London Knights (OMJHL)
3 59 Roland Melanson (G)  Canada Windsor Spitfires (OMJHL)
4 80 Tim Lockridge (D)  Canada Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
5 101 Glen Duncan (LW)  Canada Toronto Marlboros (OMJHL)
6 122 John Gibb (D)  Canada Bowling Green University (CCHA)

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

Patrick Division
  GP W L T GF GA Pts
Philadelphia Flyers 80 48 12 20 327 254 116
New York Islanders 80 39 28 13 281 247 91
New York Rangers 80 38 32 10 308 284 86
Atlanta Flames 80 35 32 13 282 269 83
Washington Capitals 80 27 40 13 261 293 67

[1]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.

Schedule and results[]

Pre-season[]

Regular season[]

1979–80 Game Log

Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1 L October 11, 1979 2–5 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1979–80) 0–1–0
2 L October 13, 1979 2–5 Buffalo Sabres (1979–80) 0–2–0
3 W October 16, 1979 5–1 Atlanta Flames (1979–80) 1–2–0
4 L October 18, 1979 2–3 @ Boston Bruins (1979–80) 1–3–0
5 W October 20, 1979 6–1 Hartford Whalers (1979–80) 2–3–0
6 T October 23, 1979 3–3 Edmonton Oilers (1979–80) 2–3–1
7 W October 26, 1979 2–1 @ Hartford Whalers (1979–80) 3–3–1
8 W October 27, 1979 6–4 Chicago Black Hawks (1979–80) 4–3–1
9 T October 31, 1979 2–2 @ Vancouver Canucks (1979–80) 4–3–2
10 L November 2, 1979 5–7 @ Edmonton Oilers (1979–80) 4–4–2
11 T November 4, 1979 4–4 @ Winnipeg Jets (1979–80) 4–4–3
12 W November 6, 1979 4–1 Los Angeles Kings (1979–80) 5–4–3
13 L November 9, 1979 2–5 @ Atlanta Flames (1979–80) 5–5–3
14 L November 10, 1979 2–5 Philadelphia Flyers (1979–80) 5–6–3
15 W November 13, 1979 10–5 New York Rangers (1979–80) 6–6–3
16 L November 17, 1979 4–5 Detroit Red Wings (1979–80) 6–7–3
17 L November 20, 1979 3–6 @ St. Louis Blues (1979–80) 6–8–3
18 L November 21, 1979 1–3 @ Minnesota North Stars (1979–80) 6–9–3
19 T November 24, 1979 4–4 @ Los Angeles Kings (1979–80) 6–9–4
20 L November 28, 1979 4–7 @ Colorado Rockies (1979–80) 6–10–4
21 L November 30, 1979 3–5 @ Edmonton Oilers (1979–80) 6–11–4
22 W December 2, 1979 4–0 @ Winnipeg Jets (1979–80) 7–11–4
23 L December 4, 1979 1–5 Vancouver Canucks (1979–80) 7–12–4
24 W December 6, 1979 4–3 Boston Bruins (1979–80) 8–12–4
25 W December 7, 1979 6–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1979–80) 9–12–4
26 L December 9, 1979 4–5 @ New York Rangers (1979–80) 9–13–4
27 W December 11, 1979 4–1 Montreal Canadiens (1979–80) 10–13–4
28 T December 12, 1979 3–3 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1979–80) 10–13–5
29 T December 15, 1979 3–3 Pittsburgh Penguins (1979–80) 10–13–6
30 W December 18, 1979 3–2 Colorado Rockies (1979–80) 11–13–6
31 W December 22, 1979 2–1 Washington Capitals (1979–80) 12–13–6
32 L December 23, 1979 0–8 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1979–80) 12–14–6
33 W December 27, 1979 7–3 @ Montreal Canadiens (1979–80) 13–14–6
34 L December 30, 1979 2–4 @ Detroit Red Wings (1979–80) 13–15–6
35 W January 2, 1980 3–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1979–80) 14–15–6
36 L January 3, 1980 3–4 Pittsburgh Penguins (1979–80) 14–16–6
37 W January 5, 1980 3–1 St. Louis Blues (1979–80) 15–16–6
38 W January 8, 1980 3–0 Vancouver Canucks (1979–80) 16–16–6
39 L January 9, 1980 2–3 @ Buffalo Sabres (1979–80) 16–17–6
40 W January 12, 1980 5–2 Washington Capitals (1979–80) 17–17–6
41 W January 15, 1980 5–2 Winnipeg Jets (1979–80) 18–17–6
42 W January 17, 1980 9–6 Toronto Maple Leafs (1979–80) 19–17–6
43 W January 19, 1980 3–1 Quebec Nordiques (1979–80) 20–17–6
44 W January 22, 1980 2–1 Montreal Canadiens (1979–80) 21–17–6
45 W January 23, 1980 5–3 @ Detroit Red Wings (1979–80) 22–17–6
46 W January 26, 1980 3–2 Hartford Whalers (1979–80) 23–17–6
47 L January 27, 1980 1–7 @ Washington Capitals (1979–80) 23–18–6
48 T January 29, 1980 2–2 Minnesota North Stars (1979–80) 23–18–7
49 L January 31, 1980 2–4 @ Boston Bruins (1979–80) 23–19–7
50 W February 2, 1980 3–2 Buffalo Sabres (1979–80) 24–19–7
51 L February 3, 1980 3–5 @ Hartford Whalers (1979–80) 24–20–7
52 W February 7, 1980 4–1 Los Angeles Kings (1979–80) 25–20–7
53 W February 9, 1980 5–0 Quebec Nordiques (1979–80) 26–20–7
54 T February 12, 1980 0–0 Winnipeg Jets (1979–80) 26–20–8
55 W February 14, 1980 5–3 @ Colorado Rockies (1979–80) 27–20–8
56 L February 16, 1980 2–3 @ Los Angeles Kings (1979–80) 27–21–8
57 L February 17, 1980 2–4 @ Vancouver Canucks (1979–80) 27–22–8
58 L February 19, 1980 4–6 Toronto Maple Leafs (1979–80) 27–23–8
59 L February 21, 1980 2–5 Minnesota North Stars (1979–80) 27–24–8
60 W February 23, 1980 3–2 @ St. Louis Blues (1979–80) 28–24–8
61 L February 24, 1980 2–8 @ New York Rangers (1979–80) 28–25–8
62 W February 27, 1980 5–3 @ Quebec Nordiques (1979–80) 29–25–8
63 L March 1, 1980 3–4 Detroit Red Wings (1979–80) 29–26–8
64 T March 2, 1980 0–0 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1979–80) 29–26–9
65 W March 4, 1980 6–4 Edmonton Oilers (1979–80) 30–26–9
66 W March 6, 1980 5–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1979–80) 31–26–9
67 L March 8, 1980 3–5 Boston Bruins (1979–80) 31–27–9
68 L March 9, 1980 1–3 @ Washington Capitals (1979–80) 31–28–9
69 W March 11, 1980 4–1 Colorado Rockies (1979–80) 32–28–9
70 W March 15, 1980 6–2 St. Louis Blues (1979–80) 33–28–9
71 W March 16, 1980 6–1 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1979–80) 34–28–9
72 W March 18, 1980 6–3 Atlanta Flames (1979–80) 35–28–9
73 T March 22, 1980 4–4 Chicago Black Hawks (1979–80) 35–28–10
74 T March 23, 1980 1–1 @ Buffalo Sabres (1979–80) 35–28–11
75 W March 25, 1980 5–2 Philadelphia Flyers (1979–80) 36–28–11
76 T March 28, 1980 2–2 @ Montreal Canadiens (1979–80) 36–28–12
77 W March 30, 1980 9–6 @ Quebec Nordiques (1979–80) 37–28–12
78 T April 1, 1980 1–1 @ Minnesota North Stars (1979–80) 37–28–13
79 W April 4, 1980 7–3 @ Atlanta Flames (1979–80) 38–28–13
80 W April 5, 1980 2–1 New York Rangers (1979–80) 39–28–13

Playoffs[]

After easily disposing of the Los Angeles Kings and the Boston Bruins in the first two rounds, the Isles faced the Buffalo Sabres in the semi-finals, 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.[2]

1980 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Legend:   Win   Loss

Stanley Cup[]

New York Islanders vs. Philadelphia Flyers

Date Visitors Score Home Score Notes
May 13 New York 4 Philadelphia 3 OT
May 15 New York 3 Philadelphia 8
May 17 Philadelphia 2 New York 6
May 19 Philadelphia 2 New York 5 OT
May 22 New York 3 Philadelphia 6
May 24 Philadelphia 4 New York 5 OT

New York wins the series 4–2.

1980 New York Islanders Stanley Cup Champions[]

Gord Lane, Jean Potvin, Bob Lorimer, Denis Potvin, Stefan Persson, Ken Morrow, Dave Langevin, Duane Sutter, Garry Howatt, Clark Gillies, Lorne Henning, Wayne Merrick, Bob Bourne, Steve Tambellini, Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Bob Nystrom, John Tonelli, Anders Kallur, Butch Goring, Alex McKendry, Glenn Resch, Billy Smith, Al Arbour(coach), Bill Torrey(general manager), Ron Waske, Jim Pickard(trainers)

Player statistics[]

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Bryan Trottier C 78 42 62 104 68 31 15 0 6
Mike Bossy RW 75 51 41 92 12 28 16 0 8
Clark Gillies LW 73 19 35 54 49 29 7 0 5
Anders Kallur RW 76 22 30 52 16 12 5 4 2
John Tonelli LW 77 14 30 44 49 8 3 0 2
Denis Potvin D 31 8 33 41 44 13 4 0 0
Bob Bourne C 73 15 25 40 52 5 3 0 1
Bob Nystrom RW 67 21 18 39 94 4 2 0 4
Stefan Persson D 73 4 35 39 76 13 2 0 0
Wayne Merrick C 70 13 22 35 16 12 2 0 4
Billy Harris RW 67 15 15 30 37 0 2 1 2
Duane Sutter RW 56 15 9 24 55 5 0 0 1
Dave Lewis D 62 5 16 21 54 10 0 0 0
Garry Howatt LW 77 8 11 19 219 -3 0 0 1
Bob Lorimer D 74 3 16 19 53 32 0 0 1
Dave Langevin D 76 3 13 16 109 11 0 1 0
Gord Lane D 55 2 14 16 152 10 0 0 1
Jean Potvin D 32 2 13 15 26 -12 2 0 0
Steve Tambellini C 45 5 8 13 4 -1 0 0 0
Butch Goring C 12 6 5 11 2 7 0 1 0
Lorne Henning C 39 3 6 9 6 -10 0 0 0
Mike Kaszycki C 16 1 4 5 15 3 0 0 0
Yvon Vautour RW 17 3 1 4 24 -6 0 0 1
Ken Morrow D 18 0 3 3 4 4 0 0 0
Chico Resch G 45 0 3 3 4 0 0 0 0
Billy Smith G 38 1 0 1 39 0 0 0 0
Richard Brodeur G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mike Hordy D 9 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0
Randy Johnston D 4 0 0 0 4 -2 0 0 0
Garth MacGuigan C 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0
Alex McKendry W 2 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Chico Resch 2606 45 23 14 6 132 3.04 3
Billy Smith 2114 38 15 14 7 104 2.95 2
Richard Brodeur 80 2 1 0 0 6 4.50 0
Team: 4800 80 39 28 13 242 3.02 5
Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG
Bryan Trottier C 21 12 17 29 16 4 2 2
Mike Bossy RW 16 10 13 23 8 6 0 1
Bob Bourne C 21 10 10 20 10 5 2 1
Butch Goring C 21 7 12 19 2 1 0 0
Denis Potvin D 21 6 13 19 24 4 0 1
Bob Nystrom RW 20 9 9 18 50 0 0 3
John Tonelli LW 21 7 9 16 18 0 0 0
Clark Gillies LW 21 6 10 16 63 1 0 2
Stefan Persson D 21 5 10 15 16 4 0 0
Duane Sutter RW 21 3 7 10 74 0 0 0
Lorne Henning C 21 3 4 7 2 0 3 1
Wayne Merrick C 21 2 4 6 2 0 0 1
Garry Howatt LW 21 3 1 4 84 0 0 1
Alex McKendry W 6 2 2 4 0 0 0 0
Gord Lane D 21 1 3 4 85 0 0 0
Bob Lorimer D 21 1 3 4 41 0 0 1
Ken Morrow D 20 1 2 3 12 0 0 1
Dave Langevin D 21 0 3 3 32 0 0 0
Chico Resch G 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Billy Smith G 20 0 0 0 11 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO
Billy Smith 1198 20 15 4 56 2.80 1
Chico Resch 120 4 0 2 9 4.50 0
Team: 1318 21 15 6 65 2.96 1

[3]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records[]

Transactions[]

Farm teams[]

References[]

External links[]

  1. ^ Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.
  2. ^ IIHF Top 100 Hockey Stories of All Time, Szymon Szemberg and Andrew Podnieks, p.74, Fenn Publishing, Bolton, Ontario, Canada, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55168-358-4
  3. ^ "1979-80 New York Islanders Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
Preceded by New York Islanders
Stanley Cup Champions
1980 		Succeeded by
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