1979–80 New York Islanders season


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, also figured prominently in the Islanders' playoff success.

Offseason

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

NHL Draft

RoundPickPlayerNationalityCollege/Junior/Club Team
117Duane Sutter Lethbridge Broncos
225Tomas Jonsson Modo Hockey
238Billy Carroll London Knights
359Roland Melanson Windsor Spitfires
480Tim Lockridge Brandon Wheat Kings
5101Glen Duncan Toronto Marlboros
6122John Gibb Bowling Green University

Regular season

Season standings

Schedule and results

Pre-season

Regular season

No.RDateScoreOpponentRecord
1LOctober 11, 19792–5@ Philadelphia Flyers 0–1–0
2LOctober 13, 19792–5Buffalo Sabres 0–2–0
3WOctober 16, 19795–1Atlanta Flames 1–2–0
4LOctober 18, 19792–3@ Boston Bruins 1–3–0
5WOctober 20, 19796–1Hartford Whalers 2–3–0
6TOctober 23, 19793–3Edmonton Oilers 2–3–1
7WOctober 26, 19792–1@ Hartford Whalers 3–3–1
8WOctober 27, 19796–4Chicago Black Hawks 4–3–1
9TOctober 31, 19792–2@ Vancouver Canucks 4–3–2
10LNovember 2, 19795–7@ Edmonton Oilers 4–4–2
11TNovember 4, 19794–4@ Winnipeg Jets 4–4–3
12WNovember 6, 19794–1Los Angeles Kings 5–4–3
13LNovember 9, 19792–5@ Atlanta Flames 5–5–3
14LNovember 10, 19792–5Philadelphia Flyers 5–6–3
15WNovember 13, 197910–5New York Rangers 6–6–3
16LNovember 17, 19794–5Detroit Red Wings 6–7–3
17LNovember 20, 19793–6@ St. Louis Blues 6–8–3
18LNovember 21, 19791–3@ Minnesota North Stars 6–9–3
19TNovember 24, 19794–4@ Los Angeles Kings 6–9–4
20LNovember 28, 19794–7@ Colorado Rockies 6–10–4
21LNovember 30, 19793–5@ Edmonton Oilers 6–11–4
22WDecember 2, 19794–0@ Winnipeg Jets 7–11–4
23LDecember 4, 19791–5Vancouver Canucks 7–12–4
24WDecember 6, 19794–3Boston Bruins 8–12–4
25WDecember 7, 19796–1@ Toronto Maple Leafs 9–12–4
26LDecember 9, 19794–5@ New York Rangers 9–13–4
27WDecember 11, 19794–1Montreal Canadiens 10–13–4
28TDecember 12, 19793–3@ Pittsburgh Penguins 10–13–5
29TDecember 15, 19793–3Pittsburgh Penguins 10–13–6
30WDecember 18, 19793–2Colorado Rockies 11–13–6
31WDecember 22, 19792–1Washington Capitals 12–13–6
32LDecember 23, 19790–8@ Chicago Black Hawks 12–14–6
33WDecember 27, 19797–3@ Montreal Canadiens 13–14–6
34LDecember 30, 19792–4@ Detroit Red Wings 13–15–6
35WJanuary 2, 19803–1@ Toronto Maple Leafs 14–15–6
36LJanuary 3, 19803–4Pittsburgh Penguins 14–16–6
37WJanuary 5, 19803–1St. Louis Blues 15–16–6
38WJanuary 8, 19803–0Vancouver Canucks 16–16–6
39LJanuary 9, 19802–3@ Buffalo Sabres 16–17–6
40WJanuary 12, 19805–2Washington Capitals 17–17–6
41WJanuary 15, 19805–2Winnipeg Jets 18–17–6
42WJanuary 17, 19809–6Toronto Maple Leafs 19–17–6
43WJanuary 19, 19803–1Quebec Nordiques 20–17–6
44WJanuary 22, 19802–1Montreal Canadiens 21–17–6
45WJanuary 23, 19805–3@ Detroit Red Wings 22–17–6
46WJanuary 26, 19803–2Hartford Whalers 23–17–6
47LJanuary 27, 19801–7@ Washington Capitals 23–18–6
48TJanuary 29, 19802–2Minnesota North Stars 23–18–7
49LJanuary 31, 19802–4@ Boston Bruins 23–19–7
50WFebruary 2, 19803–2Buffalo Sabres 24–19–7
51LFebruary 3, 19803–5@ Hartford Whalers 24–20–7
52WFebruary 7, 19804–1Los Angeles Kings 25–20–7
53WFebruary 9, 19805–0Quebec Nordiques 26–20–7
54TFebruary 12, 19800–0Winnipeg Jets 26–20–8
55WFebruary 14, 19805–3@ Colorado Rockies 27–20–8
56LFebruary 16, 19802–3@ Los Angeles Kings 27–21–8
57LFebruary 17, 19802–4@ Vancouver Canucks 27–22–8
58LFebruary 19, 19804–6Toronto Maple Leafs 27–23–8
59LFebruary 21, 19802–5Minnesota North Stars 27–24–8
60WFebruary 23, 19803–2@ St. Louis Blues 28–24–8
61LFebruary 24, 19802–8@ New York Rangers 28–25–8
62WFebruary 27, 19805–3@ Quebec Nordiques 29–25–8
63LMarch 1, 19803–4Detroit Red Wings 29–26–8
64TMarch 2, 19800–0@ Pittsburgh Penguins 29–26–9
65WMarch 4, 19806–4Edmonton Oilers 30–26–9
66WMarch 6, 19805–2@ Philadelphia Flyers 31–26–9
67LMarch 8, 19803–5Boston Bruins 31–27–9
68LMarch 9, 19801–3@ Washington Capitals 31–28–9
69WMarch 11, 19804–1Colorado Rockies 32–28–9
70WMarch 15, 19806–2St. Louis Blues 33–28–9
71WMarch 16, 19806–1@ Chicago Black Hawks 34–28–9
72WMarch 18, 19806–3Atlanta Flames 35–28–9
73TMarch 22, 19804–4Chicago Black Hawks 35–28–10
74TMarch 23, 19801–1@ Buffalo Sabres 35–28–11
75WMarch 25, 19805–2Philadelphia Flyers 36–28–11
76TMarch 28, 19802–2@ Montreal Canadiens 36–28–12
77WMarch 30, 19809–6@ Quebec Nordiques 37–28–12
78TApril 1, 19801–1@ Minnesota North Stars 37–28–13
79WApril 4, 19807–3@ Atlanta Flames 38–28–13
80WApril 5, 19802–1New York Rangers 39–28–13

Playoffs

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 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 on its roster.

Stanley Cup

New York Islanders vs. Philadelphia Flyers
DateVisitorsScoreHomeScoreNotes
May 13New York4Philadelphia3OT
May 15New York3Philadelphia 8
May 17Philadelphia2New York6
May 19Philadelphia2New York5OT
May 22New York3Philadelphia 6
May 24Philadelphia4New York5OT

New York wins the series 4–2.

1980 New York Islanders Stanley Cup Champions

, 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, Bill Torrey, Ron Waske, Jim Pickard

Player statistics

Playoffs---------
Scoring---------

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

  • Bryan Trottier, Conn Smythe Trophy

    Transactions

Farm teams

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