1982 Stanley Cup Final

Paths to the Finals

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver, despite having a losing record in the regular season, reached their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. In the first round they swept the Calgary Flames. In the next round they defeated the Los Angeles Kings in five games; after the Kings had upset the Edmonton Oilers and 92-goal scorer Wayne Gretzky in five games which was dubbed the Miracle on Manchester. In the conference finals, the Canucks defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in five games.

New York Islanders

The Islanders' route to the Finals was slightly harder than Vancouver's. In the first round, the Islanders edged out the Pittsburgh Penguins 3–2. In the second round, they defeated their cross-town rivals in the New York Rangers in six games. In the conference finals, the Islanders swept the Quebec Nordiques to make it to the Finals for the third year in a row.

With New York having 118 points and Vancouver having 77, the 41-point difference between the two teams in a final round is the largest in Stanley Cup Final history.

Game summaries

The Canucks had their best chance to win a game in the first one, as a Jim Nill short-handed marker gave them a 5–4 lead with only seven minutes to play in regulation time. However, the Islanders tied it when Mike Bossy banged home a loose puck after goaltender Richard Brodeur had collided with his own defenceman, Harold Snepsts, while trying to smother it. In the dying seconds of the first overtime period, Snepsts attempted to clear the puck up the middle, but it was intercepted by Bossy, who completed his hat trick with two seconds left on the clock to win the game for the Islanders. In game two, the Canucks led 4–3 after two periods, but the Isles came back to win again.

The series then shifted to Vancouver, where the Canucks were boosted by a boisterous, towel-waving Vancouver crowd and had a great first period, but failed to score on Billy Smith, who was brilliant. The Islanders went on to win 3–0, and then completed the sweep with a 3–1 victory on May 16 to win their third straight Cup and first on the road.

Mike Bossy scored seven goals in the four games, tying Jean Béliveau's record from , and won the Conn Smythe Trophy.

|1-1-1 =Thomas Gradin (7) - 1:29 Thomas Gradin (8) - pp - 17:40 |1-1-2 =11:35 - pp - Clark Gillies (7) 15:52 - Mike Bossy (11) 19:51 - pp - Denis Potvin (4) |1-2-1 =Stan Smyl (8) - pp - 05:06 Ivan Boldirev (7) - 09:27 |1-2-2 =03:15 - pp - Denis Potvin (5) |1-3-1 =James Nill (4) - 13:06 |1-3-2 =15:14 - Mike Bossy (12) |1-4-1 =No scoring |1-4-2 =19:58 - Mike Bossy (13) |goalie1-1 =Richard Brodeur 30 saves / 36 shots |goalie1-2 =Billy Smith 30 saves / 35 shots

|2-1-1 =No scoring |2-1-2 =15:55 - sh - Billy Carroll (2) |2-2-1 =Thomas Gradin (9) - pp - 08:28 Ivan Boldirev (8) - pp - 13:12 Lars Lindgren (2) - 19:42 |2-2-2 =17:06 - pp - Mike Bossy (14) |2-3-1 =Gerry Minor (1) - 02:27 |2-3-2 =00:32 - pp - Bob Bourne (9) 01:19 - Duane Sutter (5) 07:18 - pp - Bryan Trottier (6) 14:10 - Bobby Nystrom (4) |goalie2-1 =Richard Brodeur 30 saves / 36 shots |goalie2-2 =Billy Smith 26 saves / 30 shots

|3-1-1 =No scoring |3-1-2 =No scoring |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =Clark Gillies (8) - 02:56 Mike Bossy (15) - 12:30 |3-3-1 =No scoring |3-3-2 =Bobby Nystrom (5) - 18:40 |goalie3-1 =Richard Brodeur 29 saves / 31 shots |goalie3-2 =Billy Smith 23 saves / 23 shots

|4-1-1 =18:09 - Stan Smyl (9) |4-1-2 =Butch Goring (6) - 11:38 |4-2-1 =No scoring |4-2-2 =Mike Bossy (16) - pp - 05:00 Mike Bossy (17) - pp - 08:00 |4-3-1 =No scoring |4-3-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Richard Brodeur 25 saves / 28 shots |goalie4-2 =Billy Smith 23 saves / 24 shots

Broadcasting

The series aired on CBC in Canada and on the USA Network in the United States. However, USA's national coverage was blacked out in the New York area due to the local rights to Islanders games in that TV market, with SportsChannel New York airing games one and two, and WOR televising games three and four.

Technical Difficulties

During the first period of the fourth game, WOR's broadcast experienced technical difficulties due to videotaping and editing issues causing an estimated 4 minutes and 30 seconds delay on their broadcast. The station placed a still of its station identification card with a text-insert reading "Please Stand By" on the center of the screen. After a minute of silence, music by Alan Hawkshaw began playing with a station announcer announcing "Please stand by, we're experiencing technical difficulties. As soon as they have been corrected, we shall return to our scheduled programs". This occurred before a commercial break.

Team rosters

New York Islanders

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Vancouver Canucks

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Note: Stan Smyl served as the Canucks acting team captain during the 1982 Stanley Cup playoffs. Kevin McCarthy was injured late in the season and did not play in the playoffs and is listed as the official team captain.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1982 Stanley Cup was presented to Islanders captain Denis Potvin by NHL President John Ziegler following the Islanders 3–1 win over the Canucks in game four

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

1981–82 New York Islanders

• 19 Bryan Trottier
• 21 Brent Sutter
• 25 Billy Carroll*
• 91 Butch Goring
• 2 Mike McEwen
• 3 Tomas Jonsson
• 6 Ken Morrow
• 7 Stefan Persson
• 24 Gord Lane
• 26 Dave Langevin
• 31 Billy Smith
• 11 Wayne Merrick
• 12 Duane Sutter
• 17 Greg Gilbert †
• 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 the Final. Name engraved on Stanley Cup despite not officially qualifying. |non-players=
• John Pickett (Chairman/Owner)
• Bill Torrey (President/General Manager)
• Jim Devellano (Asst. General Manager/Director of Scouting)
• Al Arbour (Head Coach), Lorne Henning (Asst. Coach)
• Gerry Ehman (Head Scout)
• Ron Waske (Trainer), Jim Pickard (Asst. Trainer) |engraving-notes=
• Two players who did not play in the Finals did not officially qualify, but still had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.
• #17 Greg Gilbert (LW) – played 1 regular season and 4 playoff games
• #29 Hector Marini (RW) – played 30 regular season games and 0 playoff games
• Harry Boyd, Mario Saraceno (Scouts) were included on the Stanley Cup in 1980, 1981. They were still part of the 1982, 1983 New York Islanders, but names were not put on the cup those years.

Aftermath

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

The Canucks, however, lost in the first round to the Calgary Flames, 3–1. The Canucks would not return to the Stanley Cup Final until 1994, when they were defeated by the Islanders’ crosstown rivals, the New York Rangers, in seven games. The Canucks would also return to the Cup Finals in 2011, but they lost to the Boston Bruins, also in seven games after blowing a two games to none series lead.

Notes

References

before = New York Islanders 1981 | after = New York Islanders 1983 | title = New York Islanders Stanley Cup champions | years = 1982|

References

1. Due to injury, McCarthy didn't play in any playoff games. [[Stan Smyl]] served as acting captain.
2. "1981-82 Stanley Cup Winner {{!}} NHL Records".
3. "ESPN Classic - Islanders get Bossy, win third straight Cup".
4. Rosa, Francis. (May 8, 1982). "CANUCKS STRANGERS, BUT FEEL THEY BELONG". Boston Globe.
5. Edes, Gordon. (May 9, 1982). "Islanders Win Opener on Late Overtime Goal; STANLEY CUP: Islanders Win". Los Angeles Times.