1980 Stanley Cup Finals

New York defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3–1, the Boston Bruins 4–1 and the Buffalo Sabres 4–2 to advance to the Final.

Philadelphia defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3–0, the New York Rangers 4–1 and the Minnesota North Stars 4–1 to make it to the Final.

In game one, Denis Potvin scored the first power-play overtime goal in Stanley Cup Final history. In game six, Bob Nystrom scored the Cup winner in overtime, his fourth career overtime goal, at the time putting him alone behind Maurice Richard's six on the all-time overtime goal-scoring list. Ken Morrow joined the team after winning the Olympic gold medal and added the Stanley Cup to cap a remarkable season.

In the United States, the first five games were syndicated by the Hughes Television Network. Hughes used CBC's Hockey Night in Canada feeds for the American coverage. game six was televised in the United States by the CBS network, as a special edition of its CBS Sports Spectacular anthology series. This would be the last NHL game to air on U.S. network television until 1990, when the All-Star Game was televised on NBC. As of 2015, it is also the last Stanley Cup Finals game to be played in the afternoon (earlier than 5:00 local time).

The deciding game six was marred by one of the most infamous blown official calls in NHL playoff history. With the game tied 1-1, the Islanders Butch Goring picked up a drop pass from New York left wing Clark Gillies which had clearly gone back over the Flyers' defensive zone blue line into center ice. Linesman Leon Stickle waved the play as safe and Goring threaded a pass to right wing Duane Sutter who beat Philadelphia goalie Pete Peeters for a 2-1 New York lead. The Flyers argued vehemently to no avail. The Flyers defense and Peeters appeared to relax as if play had been blown dead once the puck went over the blue line. Flyers captain Mel Bridgman stated the play changed the momentum of the game at a critical time even though the Flyers scored shortly afterwards to tie the score 2-2. Stickle admitted after the game that he had blown the call. Ultimately, it was the Flyers lack of discipline and the resulting Islander Power Play goals that were the difference in the series. [1]

The series-winning overtime goal in game six was scored by Bobby Nystrom and assisted by fellow third liners John Tonelli and Lorne Henning. Nystrom's redirection of Tonelli's cross-ice pass from just above the Flyers left side face-off circle, floated up and over goalie Pete Peeters' blocker before the Philadelphia keeper could slide over to stop the puck. Henning's "thread the needle" pass was a key component, of the goal.

The 1980 Stanley Cup was presented to Islanders captain Denis Potvin by NHL President John Ziegler following the Islanders 5–4 win over the Flyers in game six.

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

1980 New York Islanders

Players

Bob Cole, Dan Kelly and Jim Robson shared play-by-play duties for CBC's coverage. Cole did play-by-play for the first half of Games 1 and 2. Meanwhile, Kelly did play-by-play for the rest of Games 1–4 (Kelly also called the overtime period of Game 1). Finally, Robson did play-by-play for first half of Games 3–4 and Game 6 entirely. In essence, this meant that Cole or Robson did play-by-play for the first period and the first half of the second period. Therefore, at the closest stoppage of play near the 10-minute mark of the second period, Cole or Robson handed off the call to Kelly for the rest of the game. However, in Game 5, Dan Kelly called play-by-play for the 1st half of the game, and Jim Robson called the rest of Game 5.

In the United States, the first five games were syndicated by the Hughes Television Network. Hughes used CBC's Hockey Night in Canada feeds for the American coverage. Game 6 was televised in the United States by the CBS network, as a special edition of its CBS Sports Spectacular anthology series. Dan Kelly did the play-by-play for CBS for the first and third periods as well as overtime. Tim Ryan did play-by-play for the second period while Lou Nanne served as the color commentator throughout. This would be the last NHL game to air on U.S. network television until 1990, when the All-Star Game was televised on NBC. As of 2018, it is also the last Stanley Cup Final game to be played in the afternoon (earlier than 5:00 local time).

• 1980 NBA Finals
• 1980 World Series
• Super Bowl XV

• Total Stanley Cup. NHL. 2000.
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.