1981 Stanley Cup Final

Paths to the Finals

Minnesota defeated the Boston Bruins 3–0, the Buffalo Sabres 4–1 and the Calgary Flames 4–2 to advance to the Final.

New York defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3–0, the Edmonton Oilers 4–2, and the New York Rangers 4–0 to reach the Final.

Game summaries

Dino Ciccarelli of the North Stars set a rookie record (since tied by Ville Leino in ), scoring twenty-one points (14 goals and seven assists) during the year's playoffs. The Islanders' much deeper lineup, however, won the day.

|1-1-1 =No scoring |1-1-2 =Anders Kallur (3) – 02:54 Bryan Trottier (10) – sh – 14:38 Anders Kallur (4) – sh – 15:25 |1-2-1 =13:04 – pp – Kent-Erik Andersson (2) |1-2-2 =Billy Carroll (3) – 09:58 |1-3-1 =03:08 – Steve Payne (13) 15:14 – Dino Ciccarelli (12) |1-3-2 =Wayne Merrick (4) – 00:58 Wayne Merrick (5) – 13:15 |goalie1-1 =Gilles Meloche 17 saves / 23 shots |goalie1-2 =Billy Smith 23 saves / 26 shots

|2-1-1 =03:38 – pp – Dino Ciccarelli (13) |2-1-2 =Mike Bossy (14) – pp – 04:33 Bob Nystrom (5) – 14:39 Denis Potvin (7) – 17:48 |2-2-1 =09:15 – Brad Palmer (8) |2-2-2 =No scoring |2-3-1 =00:30 – Steve Payne (14) |2-3-2 =Denis Potvin (8) – pp – 08:00 Ken Morrow (3) – 11:57 Mike Bossy (15) – 16:22 |goalie2-1 =Don Beaupre 32 saves / 38 shots |goalie2-2 =Billy Smith 25 saves / 28 shots

|3-1-1 =Steve Christoff (7) – pp – 03:25 Steve Payne (15) – 14:09 Bobby Smith (7) – pp – 16:30 |3-1-2 =14:47 – Mike Bossy (16) |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =04:10 – Bob Nystrom (6) 07:16 – pp – Butch Goring (6) 11:51 – Butch Goring (7) |3-3-1 =Steve Payne (16) – 01:11 Dino Ciccarelli (14) – 13:35 |3-3-2 =02:05 – Mike Bossy (17) 06:34 – Butch Goring (8) 19:16 – en – Bryan Trottier (11) |goalie3-1 =Gilles Meloche 22 saves / 28 shots |goalie3-2 =Billy Smith 23 saves / 28 shots

|4-1-1 = Craig Hartsburg (3) – pp – 11:34 |4-1-2 =03:47 – Gord Lane (1) |4-2-1 =Al MacAdam (9) – 05:15 |4-2-2 =07:37 – pp – Mike McEwen (5) |4-3-1 =Steve Payne (17) – 12:26 Bobby Smith (8) – pp – 18:12 |4-3-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Don Beaupre 33 saves / 35 shots |goalie4-2 =Billy Smith 30 saves / 34 shots

|5-1-1 =16:06 – Steve Christoff (8) |5-1-2 =Butch Goring (9) – pp – 05:12 Wayne Merrick (6) – 05:37 Butch Goring (10) – 10:03 |5-2-1 =No scoring |5-2-2 =Bob Bourne (4) – 19:21 |5-3-1 =No scoring |5-3-2 =Mike McEwen (6) – 17:06 |goalie5-1 = Don Beaupre 28 saves / 33 shots |goalie5-2 = Billy Smith 24 saves / 25 shots

Broadcasting

The series aired on CBC in Canada. In the United States, this was the first of five seasons that the Cup Finals aired on the USA Network. For the 1981 Finals only, USA simulcast the CBC feed instead of producing their own coverage. However, USA's national coverage was blacked out in the New York metro and Minnesota area due to the local rights to their respective teams in that markets. In the New York area, SportsChannel New York aired three games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and WOR televised two games in Bloomington, Minnesota while KMSP aired every game of the series in the Minnesota area.

Team rosters

Minnesota North Stars

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New York Islanders

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Stanley Cup engraving

The 1981 Stanley Cup was presented to Islanders captain Denis Potvin by NHL President John Ziegler following the Islanders 5–1 win over the North Stars in game five.

The following Islanders players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1980–81 New York Islanders

• 14 Bob Bourne

• 19 Bryan Trottier

• 25 Billy Carroll*

• 91 Butch Goring

• 3 Jean Potvin †

• 4 Bob Lorimer

• 6 Ken Morrow

• 7 Stefan Persson

• 16 Mike McEwen

• 24 Gord Lane

• 26 Dave Langevin

• 31 Billy Smith

• 9 Clark Gillies

• 12 Duane Sutter

• 22 Mike Bossy

• 23 Bob Nystrom

• 27 John Tonelli

• 28 Anders Kallur

• 29 Hector Marini |player-notes=

• • Played both centre and wing.

• † Did not play in Finals. Name engraved on Stanley Cup despite not officially qualifying. |non-players=

• John Pickett (Chairman/Owner)

• Bill Torrey (President/General Manager)

• Al Arbour (Head Coach), 10 Lorne Henning (playing-Ass't Coach)

• Jim Devellano (Chief Scout), Gerry Ehman (Western Scout)

• Harry Boyd (Scout), Mario Saraceno (Scout)

• Ron Waske (Trainer), Jim Pickard (Asst. Trainer) |engraving-notes=

• #3 Jean Potvin (D) – 18 games regular season games and did not dress in the playoffs. He spent the rest of year as a broadcaster. Potvin's name was put on the cup in 1981, even though he did not officially qualify.

• #10 Lorne Henning (C) – played nine regular season and one playoff game. He was the last playing-coach to win the Stanley Cup.

• A new ring was created in 1993 for the winners from 1979 to 1991. New York Islanders was misspelled. NEW YORK ILANDERS missing the first "S". Name was spelled correctly on the Replica Cup also created in 1993.

Aftermath

The Islanders successfully returned to the Finals the following year. This time, they played the Vancouver Canucks and swept them to capture their third consecutive Stanley Cup championship.

The North Stars, however, lost in the first round to the Chicago Blackhawks, 3–1. The North Stars would not return to the Stanley Cup Final again until 1991, when they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins, in six games.

References

before = New York Islanders 1980 | after = New York Islanders 1982 | title = New York Islanders Stanley Cup champions | years = 1981|