| 1979 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| * indicates periods of overtime | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | Montreal: Forum (1, 2, 5) New York City: Madison Square Garden (3, 4) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Montreal: Scotty Bowman New York: Fred Shero | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Montreal: Yvan Cournoyer[1] New York: Dave Maloney | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | May 13–21, 1979 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Bob Gainey (Canadiens) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Jacques Lemaire (1:02, second, G5) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Canadiens: Yvan Cournoyer (1982; did not play) Ken Dryden (1983) Bob Gainey (1992) Guy Lafleur (1988) Rod Langway (2002) Guy Lapointe (1993; did not play) Jacques Lemaire (1984) Larry Robinson (1995) Serge Savard (1986) Steve Shutt (1993) Rangers: Phil Esposito (1984) Coaches: Scotty Bowman (1991) Fred Shero (2013) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Networks | Canada: (English): CBC (French): SRC United States: (National): NHL Network (New York City area): WOR | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | (CBC) Dan Kelly, Danny Gallivan (2), Gary Dornhoefer (1, 5), Gerry Pinder (2), Bobby Orr (3–4), and Dick Irvin Jr. (SRC) Rene Lecavalier and Gilles Tremblay (NHLN) Simulcast of CBC feed (WOR) Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1979 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1978–79 season, and the culmination of the 1979 Stanley Cup playoffs. The New York Rangers challenged the defending champion Montreal Canadiens, who made their fourth straight appearance. It was New York's first foray into the Finals since 1972. The Canadiens would win the best-of-seven series, four games to one, to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup championship.[2]
This was the first of six consecutive Finals involving a team from the New York metropolitan area. The next five Finals would be contested by the Rangers' crosstown rivals the New York Islanders, who would win the first four of those series to forge a dynasty matching that of the Canadiens. By defeating the Rangers, the Canadiens completed the rare accomplishment of winning four consecutive titles in a North American league competition consisting of at least sixteen teams, and remain the only team based outside the New York metropolitan area to do so. Prior to the Canadiens' dynasty, the feat had been achieved only twice before, both times by the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball. The aforementioned Islanders are the only team to accomplish it since. This was also the last Stanley Cup Finals until 2013 where both teams were from the Original Six. An Original Six club would not reach the Finals again until Montreal won their next championship in 1986.