NHL ’94 “Game of the Night” Rangers @ Montreal “1979 Stanley Cup Finals” game 2 “MVP Bob Gainey”

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.

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.

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.

The Canadiens won the Cup in five games, winning it on home ice for the first time since 1968. 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.

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.

May 13 New York Rangers 4–1 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum Recap
May 15 New York Rangers 2–6 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum Recap
May 17 Montreal Canadiens 4–1 New York Rangers Madison Square Garden Recap
May 19 Montreal Canadiens 4–3 OT New York Rangers Madison Square Garden Recap
May 21 New York Rangers 1–4 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum Recap
Montreal won series 4–1

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
Centres
6 Pierre Mondou
8 Doug Risebrough
21 Doug Jarvis
25 Jacques Lemaire
28 Pierre Larouche
Wingers
10 Guy Lafleur
11 Yvon Lambert
12 Yvan Cournoyer (Captain)
14 Mario Tremblay
15 Rejean Houle
20 Cam Connor
22 Steve Shutt
23 Bob Gainey
30 Pat Hughes
31 Mark Napier
Defencemen
3 Brian Engblom
5 Guy Lapointe
17 Rod Langway
18 Serge Savard†
19 Larry Robinson
24 Gilles Lupien
27 Rick Chartraw
Goaltenders
29 Ken Dryden
1 Michel Bunny Larocque
33 Richard Sevigny
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. Since the Finals ended in five games, the contract was void.