Road to the Cup - May 13, 1980 -- Isles 4 , Philadelphia 3 OT (Isles lead best-of-7 series 1-0)

40 Years Ago Tonight

By Eric Hornick

Game 1
Isles 4, Philadelphia 3 (OT)

Five years to the date of their first playoff elimination, the Isles returned to Philadelphia for the first Stanley Cup Final game in their history.  Denis Potvin scored a power play goal 4:07 into overtime as the Isles took a 1 game to 0 lead in the series with a 4-3 victory. The teams traded goals in each of the three regulation periods before Potvin potted the game winner with just 1 second remaining on a penalty to Joe Watson.  It was the first power play goal ever scored in a Stanley Cup Final overtime.

"How would it look if we got a power play in overtime and didn't score", asked John Tonelli, who assisted on the goal.  A goal that came in the very last second of a power play that Stefan Persson described as "Terrible...just terrible".
You can watch the entire game as shown on Hockey Night in Canada here:

or just catch the highlights here:

The Scoring:

1st Period

10:31 PHI Mel Bridgman (2)

12:02 NYI PP Mike Bossy (7) Bryan Trottier

2nd Period

02:20 NYI Denis Potvin (2) Clark Gillies, Butch Goring

17:08 PHI PP Bobby Clarke (5) Bill Barber, Reggie Leach

3rd Period

13:10 PHI Rick MacLeish (7) Paul Holmgren

16:18 NYI PP Stefan Persson (3) Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin

Overtime

04:07 NYI PP Denis Potvin (3) John Tonelli, Bob Nystrom

The Series:

Game 1: Isles 4, Philadelphia 3 (OT)

Game 2: May 15 at Philadelphia

Game 3: May 17 at Isles

Game 4: May 20 at Isles
Game 5: May 22 at Philadelphia (if necessary)

Game 6: May 24 at Isles (if necessary)

Game 7: May 27 at Philadelphia (if necessary)
(Isles lead series, 1-0)

Mini-Skinny:
The Isles outshot Philadelphia 36-33....  Billy Smith improved to 12-2 in the playoffs while Pete Peeters fell to 6-3 in his first game since game 1 vs. Minnesota... The Isles improved to 5-1 in overtime in the 1980 playoffs (spoiler alert - they would win one more); it was the first time an NHL team had won five games in a single playoff...The Isles also improved to 8-1 on the road in the 1980 playoffs. The eight road wins extended their NHL record (since broken) and remains the club record to this day...This was the first of two games the Isles have played that were decided at 4:07 of overtime; Martin St. Louis sent the Isles into an 18-month summer in April 2004...Denis Potvin's goal, his second of two career OT winners (1979 vs NYR - game 2), was the Isles second power play goal of the game.  The Isles power play would emerge as a dominant force in this series, tallying 15 times to set the NHL record for a series (tied in 1990-91 by Minnesota in the Division Semi-Finals vs. Chicago)...Three of the Isles' four goals were scored by defensemen...John Tonelli not only set-up Potvin for the winning goal, he also drew the power play when he was held by Jim Watson...Potvin had actually scored the game's first goal, but it went into his own net (and was credited to Philadelphia's Mel Bridgeman).

Overtime is Our Time!
1st round vs Los Angeles: Game 3 (W 4-3 Morrow 6:55)
Quarter-Finals vs Boston: Game 1 (W 2-1 Gillies 1:02)
Quarter-Finals vs Boston: Game 2 (W 5-4 Bourne 1:24)
Quarter-Finals vs Boston: Game 4 (L 4-3 O'Reilly 17:13)
Semi-Finals vs Buffalo: Game 2 (W 2-1 Nystrom 21:20)

Final vs Philadelphia: Game 1 (W 4-3 Potvin 4:07)

Isles Scoring Leaders thru 16 Games

Bryan Trottier 8-14-22
Bob Bourne 10-6-16
Bob Nystrom 6-9-15

Isles +/- Leaders thru 16 Games

Bob Lorimer +14
Denis Potvin +11
Garry Howatt +9
Butch Goring/John Tonelli +8

Isles Penalty Minute Leaders thru 16 Games

Garry Howatt 63
Gord Lane 57

Duane Sutter 53

Clark Gillies 50

The Isles had won the opening game of the fourth straight series and would look to grab a stranglehold on the series two night later. We'll pick up the story on Friday, the 40th anniversary of  game 2.