1979 Stanley Cup Finals

1979 Stanley Cup Finals
Teams1234*5Games
Montreal Canadiens 164444
New York Rangers  4 2 13 1 1

* indicates periods of overtime

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Location:Montreal, QC (Montreal Forum) (1,2,5)
New York, NY (Madison Square Garden) (3,4)
Format:Best-of-seven
Coaches:Montreal: Scotty Bowman
New York: Fred Shero
Captains:Montreal: Yvan Cournoyer
New York: Dave Maloney
Dates:May 13 to 21, 1979
MVP:Bob Gainey, (Montreal)
Series-winning
goal:		Jacques Lemaire (1:02, second, G5)
 < 1978Stanley Cup Finals1980 > 

The 1979 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the New York Rangers and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens, making their fourth straight appearance. It was New York's first appearance since 1972. The Canadiens would win the best-of-seven series four games to one, to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup.[1] This was the last Stanley Cup Final until 2013 where both teams were from the Original Six.

Paths to the Final

Montreal defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 and the Boston Bruins 4–3 (highlighted by the "too many men on the ice" game 7 overtime win) to advance to the finals.

New York defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2–0, the Philadelphia Flyers 4–1 and the New York Islanders 4–2 to make it to the finals.

The series

The Canadiens won the Cup in five games, winning it on home ice for the first time since 1968.[2] After the game Jacques Lemaire, Yvan Cournoyer and Ken Dryden retired, while head coach Scotty Bowman would leave the Canadiens to join the Buffalo Sabres, which would mark the end of the Canadiens' dynasty.

This Final marked the second time in four years that Bowman and Fred Shero coached against each other. In 1976, they coached against each other, though Shero was with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Date Visitors Score Home Score Notes
Sun, May 13 New York4 Montreal 1
Tue, May 15 New York2 Montreal 6
Thu, May 17 Montreal4New York 1
Sat, May 19 Montreal4 New York 3 OT
Mon, May 21 New York1 Montreal 4

Montreal wins the series 4–1.

Game 1

May 13 New York Rangers 4 – 1
2 – 0, 2 – 1, 0 – 0		 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum
Attendance: 17,005

Montreal Canadiens 1979 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

  Defencemen
  Goaltenders
  • 29 Ken Dryden
  • 1 Michel Bunny Larocque
  • 33 Richard Sevigny(spare dressed in finals)††


  Coaching and administrative staff

Stanley Cup engraving

Members of Montreal Canadiens 1976 to 1979 dynasty

Rick Chartraw, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Bob Gainey, Doug Jarvis, Guy Lafleur, Yvon Lambert, Guy Lapointe, Jacques Lemaire, Michel Laroque, Doug Risebrough, Mario Tremblay, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Steve Shutt (15 Players), Jacques Courtois, Sam Pollock, Jean Beliveau, Scotty Bowman, Claude Ruel, Eddie Palchak, Pierre Meilleur, Ron Caron, Flody Curray (9 Non-Players)

Broadcasting

The Stanley Cup Finals were produced by CBC, who carried the game in Canada, and were shown in the United States on the NHL's syndicated package. Dan Kelly provided play-by-play, while Dick Irvin, Jr. and Gary Dornhoefer served as color commentators, Dave Hodge as host, and Howie Meeker as studio analyst. ABC was contracted to televise Game 7.[3][4] Since the Finals ended in five games, the contract was void.[5] Had there been a seventh game, then Boston Bruins radio play-by-play man Bob Wilson would have called play-by-play, Jim McKay (between-periods host), Bobby Clarke (color commentator), and Frank Gifford (reporter, who would have been in the winning team's dressing room to interview players and coaches as well as hand the phone to the winning team's coach that that would have allowed him to talk to both President Jimmy Carter and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau). The game would have started at 5:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on a Saturday, replacing Wide World of Sports and local news shows that typically followed it on ABC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Canadiens do it again". St Petersburg Times (Page 21). May 22, 1979. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  2. ↑ Jenish, D’Arcy (2009). The Montreal Canadiens:100 Years of Glory. Doubleday. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-385-66325-0.
  3. ↑ Associated Press (May 13, 1979). "NHL, ABC-TV Agree". Reading Eagle. p. 89.
  4. ↑ "May 26 Selected For a 7th Game". New York Times. May 13, 1979. p. S4.
  5. ↑ Ramsay, Donald (May 22, 1979). "Montreal win kills ABC TV deal but Ziegler feels pact is on way". The Globe and Mail. p. P35.
Bibliography
Preceded by
Montreal Canadiens
1978		 Montreal Canadiens
Stanley Cup Champions
1979 		Succeeded by
New York Islanders
1980