| 1981 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) | Uniondale: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (1, 2, 5) Bloomington: Met Center (3, 4) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | New York: Al Arbour Minnesota: Glen Sonmor | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | New York: Denis Potvin Minnesota: Paul Shmyr | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | May 12–21, 1981 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Butch Goring (Islanders) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Wayne Merrick (5:37, first, G5) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Islanders: Mike Bossy (1991) Clark Gillies (2002) Denis Potvin (1991) Billy Smith (1993) Bryan Trottier (1997) North Stars: Dino Ciccarelli (2010) Coaches: Al Arbour (1996) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Networks | Canada: (English): CBC (French): SRC United States: (National): USA Network (New York City area): SportsChannel New York (1–2, 5), WOR (3–4) (Minnesota area): KMSP | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | (CBC) Bob Cole, Mickey Redmond, and Gary Dornhoefer (SRC) Rene Lecavalier and Gilles Tremblay (USA) Simulcast of CBC feed (SCNY) Jiggs McDonald and Ed Westfall (WOR) Jiggs McDonald (Game 3), Tim Ryan (Game 4), and Ed Westfall (KMSP) Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1981 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1980–81 season, and the culmination of the 1981 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Minnesota North Stars, making their first Finals appearance, and the defending champion New York Islanders, in their second Finals appearance. The Islanders would win the best-of-seven series, four games to one, to win their second Stanley Cup championship. This would be the last all-American Finals until 1991, when the North Stars faced the Pittsburgh Penguins. Butch Goring won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player in the playoffs.