1979-80 NHL season
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The 1979-80 NHL season was the 63rd season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. This season saw the addition of four teams from the collapse of the World Hockey Association (WHA) the previous season as expansion franchises. The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, New England Whalers (now renamed "Hartford Whalers" at the insistence of the Boston Bruins), and Quebec Nordiques joined the NHL bringing a new total of 21 teams. The other two WHA teams (Birmingham Bulls and Cincinnati Stingers) were paid to disband. The collapse of the WHA also saw the much hyped super-star rookie Wayne Gretzky come to the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers. Gretzky would tie Marcel Dionne for the scoring lead with 137 points and capture the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player while Dionne took home the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer by virtue of having scored two more goals.
The big story of the regular season was the record-breaking undefeated streak compiled by the Philadelphia Flyers. After starting the season with one win and one loss, the Flyers did not lose again for nearly three months, earning at least one point in every game between October 14, 1979 and January 6, 1980, a span of 35 games. This stands as the longest undefeated streak in North American professional sports history.
The story of the playoffs, though, was Mike Bossy and the New York Islanders. After a dismal start for their franchise in the early seventies, the Islanders built a contender for the Stanley Cup and won their first of four in a row by beating the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime of game six of the finals. Defenceman Denis Potvin scored a crucial overtime goal in game one and the Cup was won when Bobby Nystrom scored the Cup-winning goal from John Tonelli and Lorne Henning at 7:11 of the first overtime. Hall of Fame announcer Dan Kelly was calling the play-by-play for CBS Sports on that day, May 24, 1980. It was the last NHL game to air on American network television for nearly ten years.
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[edit] Regular season
For the four previous seasons, the Boston Bruins had owned first place in the Adams Division. This season saw the Buffalo Sabres dethrone the Bruins in the Adams. The New York Islanders finished first overall in the NHL the previous season with 116 points, but had lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs to the upstart New York Rangers. This season saw them fall considerably in the standings as they finished 4th overall with 91 points, a full 25 points below last year's finish. On the other hand, the Philadelphia Flyers improved by 21 points from the previous season. Their 35-game undefeated streak [25-0-10] propelled them to the best record in the NHL with 116 points.
All four expansion teams finished poorly with records below .500. The Hartford Whalers fared the best with 73 points and the Winnipeg Jets tied the Colorado Rockies for last overall with 51 points.
[edit] Final standings
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold
[edit] Prince of Wales Conference
| Adams Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Sabres | 80 | 47 | 17 | 16 | 110 | 318 | 201 | 967 |
| Boston Bruins | 80 | 46 | 21 | 13 | 105 | 310 | 234 | 1460 |
| Minnesota North Stars | 80 | 36 | 28 | 16 | 88 | 311 | 253 | 1064 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 80 | 35 | 40 | 5 | 75 | 304 | 327 | 1158 |
| Quebec Nordiques | 80 | 25 | 44 | 11 | 61 | 248 | 313 | 1062 |
| Norris Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal Canadiens | 80 | 47 | 20 | 13 | 107 | 328 | 240 | 874 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 80 | 30 | 36 | 14 | 74 | 290 | 313 | 1124 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 80 | 30 | 37 | 13 | 73 | 251 | 303 | 1038 |
| Hartford Whalers | 80 | 27 | 34 | 19 | 73 | 303 | 312 | 875 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 80 | 26 | 43 | 11 | 63 | 268 | 306 | 1114 |
[edit] Clarence Campbell Conference
| Patrick Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Flyers | 80 | 48 | 12 | 20 | 116 | 327 | 254 | 1844 |
| New York Islanders | 80 | 39 | 28 | 13 | 91 | 281 | 247 | 1298 |
| New York Rangers | 80 | 38 | 32 | 10 | 86 | 308 | 284 | 1342 |
| Atlanta Flames | 80 | 35 | 32 | 13 | 83 | 282 | 269 | 1048 |
| Washington Capitals | 80 | 27 | 40 | 13 | 67 | 261 | 293 | 1198 |
| Smythe Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Black Hawks | 80 | 34 | 27 | 19 | 87 | 241 | 250 | 1325 |
| St. Louis Blues | 80 | 34 | 34 | 12 | 80 | 266 | 278 | 1037 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 80 | 27 | 37 | 16 | 70 | 256 | 281 | 1808 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 80 | 28 | 39 | 13 | 69 | 301 | 322 | 1528 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 80 | 20 | 49 | 11 | 51 | 214 | 314 | 1251 |
| Colorado Rockies | 80 | 19 | 48 | 13 | 51 | 234 | 308 | 1020 |
[edit] Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcel Dionne | Los Angeles Kings | 80 | 53 | 84 | 137 | 32 |
| Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 79 | 51 | 86 | 137 | 21 |
| Guy Lafleur | Montreal Canadiens | 74 | 50 | 75 | 125 | 12 |
| Gilbert Perreault | Buffalo Sabres | 80 | 40 | 66 | 106 | 57 |
| Mike Rogers | Hartford Whalers | 80 | 44 | 61 | 105 | 10 |
| Bryan Trottier | New York Islanders | 78 | 42 | 62 | 104 | 68 |
| Charlie Simmer | Los Angeles Kings | 64 | 56 | 45 | 101 | 65 |
| Blaine Stoughton | Hartford Whalers | 80 | 56 | 44 | 100 | 16 |
| Darryl Sittler | Toronto Maple Leafs | 73 | 40 | 57 | 97 | 62 |
| Blair MacDonald | Edmonton Oilers | 80 | 46 | 48 | 96 | 24 |
[edit] Leading goaltenders
[edit] Stanley Cup playoffs
With the league expansion from 17 to 21 teams, the Stanley Cup playoffs were also expanded, from a 12 team tournament to a 16 team tournament. Division leaders no longer received first round byes. Since the teams played a completely balanced schedule in the regular season (4 games each against each of the other 20 teams), the top 16 teams in the regular season (by points) qualified for the playoffs, regardless of division. The teams were seeded 1 through 16, with the top team playing the 16th team in the first round, and so on. In subsequent rounds, matchups were similarly arranged, with the top remaining seed against the lowest remaining seed, and so on.
[edit] Playoff bracket
| Preliminary Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Philadelphia Flyers | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 16 | Edmonton Oilers | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Philadelphia Flyers | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | New York Rangers | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | New York Rangers | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Atlanta Flames | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Philadelphia Flyers | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Minnesota North Stars | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Montreal Canadiens | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 14 | Hartford Whalers | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Montreal Canadiens | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Minnesota North Stars | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Minnesota North Stars | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Philadelphia Flyers | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | New York Islanders | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Buffalo Sabres | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 15 | Vancouver Canucks | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Buffalo Sabres | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Chicago Black Hawks | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | St. Louis Blues | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Buffalo Sabres | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | New York Islanders | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Boston Bruins | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Boston Bruins | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | New York Islanders | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | New York Islanders | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Los Angeles Kings | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
[edit] NHL awards
[edit] See also
- List of Stanley Cup champions
- 1979 NHL Entry Draft
- 1979 NHL Expansion Draft
- 32rd National Hockey League All-Star Game
- National Hockey League All-Star Game
- World Hockey Association
- List of WHA seasons
- Ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics
- 1979 in sports
- 1980 in sports
[edit] References
| NHL seasons |
|---|
|
1975-76 | 1976-77 | 1977-78 | 1978-79 | 1979-80 | 1980-81 | 1981-82 | 1982-83 | 1983-84 |
