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.

Paths to the Finals

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

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.

Game summaries

The Canadiens won the Cup in five games, winning it on home ice for the first time since 1968.^[3] After the game Jacques Lemaire, Yvan Cournoyer, and Ken Dryden retired, while head coach Scotty Bowman left the Canadiens to join the Buffalo Sabres, which would mark the end of the Canadiens' dynasty. Montreal Canadiens scored 46 total points during the Stanley Cup Finals, while the New York Rangers scored 26 points in the finals.^[4]

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.

Team rosters

Montreal Canadiens

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
1		Michel Larocque	G	L	27	1972	Hull, Quebec
3		Brian Engblom	D	L	24	1975	Winnipeg, Manitoba
5		Guy Lapointe	D	L	31	1969	Montreal, Quebec
6		Pierre Mondou	C	R	23	1975	Sorel, Quebec
8		Doug Risebrough	C	L	25	1974	Guelph, Ontario
10		Guy Lafleur	RW	R	27	1971	Montreal, Quebec
11		Yvon Lambert	LW	L	28	1971	Drummondville, Quebec
12		Yvan Cournoyer (C)	RW	L	35	1963	Montreal, Quebec
14		Mario Tremblay	RW	R	22	1974	Alma, Quebec
15		Réjean Houle	RW	L	29	1969	Rouyn, Quebec
17		Rod Langway	D	L	22	1977	Formosa, Taiwan
18		Serge Savard	D	L	33	1966	Landrienne, Quebec
19		Larry Robinson	D	L	27	1971	Winchester, Ontario
20		Cam Connor	RW	L	24	1978	Winnipeg, Manitoba
21		Doug Jarvis	C	L	24	1975	Brantford, Ontario
22		Steve Shutt	LW	L	26	1972	North York, Ontario
23		Bob Gainey	LW	L	24	1973	Peterborough, Ontario
24		Gilles Lupien	D	L	25	1974	Lachute, Quebec
25		Jacques Lemaire	C	L	33	1967	LaSalle, Quebec
27		Rick Chartraw	D	R	24	1974	Caracas, Venezuela
28		Pierre Larouche	C	L	23	1977	Taschereau, Quebec
29		Ken Dryden	G	L	31	1964	Hamilton, Ontario
30		Pat Hughes	RW	R	24	1975	Calgary, Alberta
31		Mark Napier	LW	L	24	1975	North York, Ontario
33		Richard Sévigny	G	L	22	1979	Montreal, Quebec

New York Rangers

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
1		Wayne Thomas	G	L	31	1977	Ottawa, Ontario
3		Dave Farrish	D	L	22	1976	Wingham, Ontario
4		Ron Greschner	D	L	24	1974	Goodsoil, Saskatchewan
5		Carol Vadnais	D	L	33	1975	Montreal, Quebec
6		Bobby Sheehan	C	L	30	1979	Weymouth, Massachusetts
8		Steve Vickers	LW	L	28	1971	Toronto, Ontario
10		Ron Duguay	C	R	21	1977	Sudbury, Ontario
11		Ulf Nilsson	C	R	29	1978	Nynäshamn, Sweden
12		Don Maloney	LW	L	20	1978	Lindsay, Ontario
14		Don Murdoch	RW	R	22	1976	Cranbrook, British Columbia
15		Anders Hedberg	RW	L	28	1978	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
16		Pat Hickey	LW	L	25	1973	Brantford, Ontario
17		Ed Johnstone	RW	R	25	1974	Brandon, Manitoba
18		Walt Tkaczuk	C	L	33	1967	Emsdetten, West Germany
19		Nick Fotiu	LW	L	26	1976	Staten Island, New York
23		Lucien DeBlois	RW	R	21	1977	Joliette, Quebec
24		Pierre Plante	RW	L	27	1978	Valleyfield, Quebec
25		Mario Marois	D	R	21	1977	L'Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec
26		Dave Maloney (C)	D	L	22	1974	Kitchener, Ontario
27		Mike McEwen	D	L	22	1976	Hornepayne, Ontario
30		John Davidson	G	L	26	1975	Ottawa, Ontario
77		Phil Esposito	C	L	37	1975	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1979 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens acting captain Serge Savard by NHL President John Ziegler following the Canadiens 4–1 win over the Rangers in game five.

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

1978–79 Montreal Canadiens

Players

Stanley Cup engraving

• †Yvan Cournoyer played only 18 regular season games. He missed the rest of the season due to a back injury. His name was still put on the cup, even though he did not qualify. Serge Savard served as interim captain while Cournoyer was injured.
• ††Richard Sevigny's name was engraved on the Stanley Cup, before he played his first NHL game. He was dressed in the finals when Michel Larocque was injured in pre-game warm-up for game two. Sevigny joined Montreal full-time, the next season after Ken Dryden retired.
• #26 Dan Newman played 16 regular season games, but did not qualify to be on the cup. He was dressed for one game in the quarterfinals, but did not play
• Floyd Curry changed roles from Assistant Manager to Director of Scouting. Name was left off the Stanley Cup.
• American Rod Langway was born in Taiwan. This makes Langway first and only player to win the Stanley Cup born in Taiwan (Republic of China).

Members of Montreal Canadiens 1976 to 1979 dynasty

• Players: Rick Chartraw, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Bob Gainey, Doug Jarvis, Guy Lafleur, Yvon Lambert, Guy Lapointe, Michel Larocque, Jacques Lemaire, Doug Risebrough, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Steve Shutt, Mario Tremblay
• Non players: Jacques Courtois, Sam Pollock, Jean Beliveau, Scotty Bowman, Claude Ruel, Eddie Palchak, Pierre Meilleur, Ron Caron, Floyd Curry

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 called the play-by-play for Games 1, 3, 4, and 5 entirely and split game 2 with Danny Gallivan. Gary Dornhoefer served as color commentator for Games 1 and 5, Gerry Pinder served as color commentator for Game 2 only, Bobby Orr served as color commentator from Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, Dick Irvin Jr. served as color commentator for the entire Finals and hosted the games in Montreal, Dave Hodge and Howie Meeker hosted the games in New York City. ABC was contracted to televise game seven.^[5][6] Since the Finals ended in five games, the contract was void.^[7]