Editing New York Islanders (section)

===The Dynasty (1979–1983)===
After the Islanders' regular season dominance and playoff disappointment in 1979, Arbour decided that he would no longer concern himself too greatly with his team's finish in the regular season. Instead, he focused his team's energy on how they would perform in the playoffs. In [[1979–80 NHL season|1980]], the Islanders dropped below the 100-point mark for the first time in five years, earning only 91 points. However, they finally broke through and won the [[Stanley Cup]].

[[File:ButchGoring.jpg|thumb|upright|Before the [[1980 Stanley Cup playoffs|1980]] playoffs, the Islanders acquired [[Butch Goring]] from the [[Los Angeles Kings]]. Goring's arrival was often called the "final piece of the puzzle."]]
Before the playoffs, Torrey made the difficult decision to trade longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and defenseman [[Dave Lewis (ice hockey)|Dave Lewis]] to the [[Los Angeles Kings]] for second line center [[Butch Goring]]. Goring's arrival is often called the "final piece of the puzzle",<ref>{{cite book|title=Ice Wars: The Complete Story of New York's Greatest Modern Sports RivalryTime|first=Ian|last=Martin|publisher=AuthorHouse, 2016|location=New York, NY|year=2016|isbn=978-1524617516}}</ref> a strong two-way player, his presence on the second line ensured that opponents would no longer be able to focus their defensive efforts on the Islanders' first line of Bossy, Trottier and [[Clark Gillies]]. Contributions from new teammates, such as wingers [[Duane Sutter]] and [[Anders Kallur]] and [[Stay-at-home defenceman|stay-at-home defensemen]] [[Dave Langevin]], [[Gord Lane]], and [[Ken Morrow]] (the latter fresh off a gold medal win at the [[1980 Winter Olympics|1980 Olympics]]), also figured prominently in the Islanders' playoff success.

In the playoffs, the Islanders defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3–1 in the preliminary round, then beat the Boston Bruins 4–1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, the Islanders faced the [[Buffalo Sabres]], who had finished second overall in the NHL standings. The Islanders won the first two games in Buffalo, including a 2–1 victory in game two on [[Bob Nystrom]]'s goal in double overtime. They went on to win the series in six games and reach the finals for the first time in franchise history, where they would face the NHL's regular season champions, the [[Philadelphia Flyers]], who had gone undefeated for 35 straight games (25–0–10) during the regular season. In game one in [[Philadelphia]], the Islanders won 4–3 on [[Denis Potvin]]'s power-play goal in overtime. Leading the series 3–2, they went home to Long Island for game six. In that game the Islanders blew a 4–2 lead in the third period but Nystrom continued his overtime heroics, scoring at 7:11 of the extra frame, on assists by John Tonelli and Lorne Henning, to bring Long Island its first Stanley Cup championship. This was the most recent Stanley Cup-clinching game won in overtime by the home team until the Los Angeles Kings did it in 2014. It was also the Islanders' sixth overtime victory of the playoffs. Bryan Trottier won the [[Conn Smythe Trophy]] as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Torrey's strategy of building through the draft turned out very well; nearly all of the major contributors on the 1980 champions were home-grown Islanders or had spent most of their NHL careers in the Islanders organization. The Islanders were the first NHL team to win the Stanley Cup with Europeans ([[Stefan Persson (ice hockey)|Stefan Persson]] and Kallur) on its roster.<ref>{{cite book|title=IIHF Top 100 Hockey Stories of All Time|first1=Szymon|last1=Szemberg|first2=Andrew|last2=Podnieks|page=74|publisher=Fenn Publishing|location=Bolton, Ontario, Canada|year=2008|isbn=978-1-55168-358-4|author-link2=Andrew Podnieks}}</ref>

The Islanders dominated the next two seasons. Bossy scored [[50 goals in 50 games]] in [[1980–81 NHL season|1981]] and the Islanders lost only three playoff games en route to defeating the [[Minnesota North Stars]] in five games to win the Stanley Cup. Goring won the Conn Smythe Trophy. During their semifinals sweep of the Rangers, Islander fans began taunting the Rangers with a chant of "[[Curse of 1940|1940!]]"&nbsp;– referring to the Rangers' last Stanley Cup win in {{scfy|1940}} (the Rangers would not win the cup again until [[1994 Stanley Cup Finals|1994]]). Fans in other NHL cities soon picked up the chant.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Murphy|first=Austin|date=June 13, 1994|title=Closing In|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|url=http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1005283/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717181652/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1005283/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 17, 2012}}</ref>

[[File:NYI Stanley Cup banners.JPG|thumb|left|These four banners hung in [[Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum]] and represent the four [[Stanley Cup]] championships the Islanders won from 1980 through 1983.]]
In [[1981–82 NHL season|1981–82]], the Islanders won a then-record 15 straight games en route to a franchise-record 118 points, while [[Mike Bossy]] set a scoring record for right-wingers with 147 points in an 80-game schedule. The Islanders finished with the most points in the league (118), yet once in the playoffs against the [[Pittsburgh Penguins]] they found themselves down late in the third period of deciding game 5 before [[John Tonelli]] scored both the tying goal and the overtime winner. After defeating the Rangers in six games they swept both the [[Quebec Nordiques]] and the [[Vancouver Canucks]] in the first-ever coast-to-coast [[1982 Stanley Cup Finals|Stanley Cup Finals]] for their third straight championship. During that series Bossy, upended by a check from [[Tiger Williams]] and falling parallel to the ice, managed to hook the puck with his stick and score. Bossy netted the Stanley Cup-winning goal and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The next year, although the Islanders had won the Stanley Cup three straight times, more attention was being paid to the upstart [[Edmonton Oilers]], whose young superstar [[Wayne Gretzky]] had just shattered existing scoring records.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/magazine/where.bossy/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050709234538/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/magazine/where.bossy/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 9, 2005|title=Mike Bossy|last=Farber|first=Michael|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|access-date=July 19, 2009}}</ref> In [[1982–83 NHL season|1982–83]] the Oilers had a better regular season, but the Islanders swept them in the [[1983 Stanley Cup Finals|Stanley Cup Finals]] to win their fourth straight championship. [[Billy Smith (ice hockey)|Billy Smith]] was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner after shutting down the Oilers' vaunted scoring machine. Gretzky failed to score a goal during the series.<ref name="Collide">{{cite web|url=http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2008/05/1983-islanders-and-oilers-collide.html|title=1983: Islanders and Oilers Collide|last=Pelletier|first=Joe|date=May 21, 2008|work=Greatest Hockey Legends.com|access-date=July 19, 2009}}</ref> Duane and [[Brent Sutter]] scored seven and five points respectively in the first three games, while Bossy again scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in game four. After that game, the Oilers players walked past the Islanders' dressing room and were surprised to see the champions exhausted. Oilers players such as Gretzky and [[Mark Messier]] said that they realized at that moment how much it would actually take to win the Stanley Cup.<ref name="Collide" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=424157|title= Messier relates to Penguins in their Cup rematch |last=Rosen|first=Dan|date=May 28, 2009|publisher=[[National Hockey League]]|access-date=July 19, 2009}}</ref>