Au revoir
If the Rangers were going to win their fourth Cup in franchise history (and first since 1940), they’d have to conquer three-time defending Cup champion Montreal.
The Canadiens were loaded with nine future Hall of Famers and gunning for their sixth Cup title of the decade.
The Rangers managed a 4-1 win in the series opener at the Montreal Forum. According to Phil Esposito, several teammates celebrated by partying hard into the wee hours in the Old City.
Some say the Rangers never recovered from their wild night and ran out of gas in Game Two after Anders Hedberg and Ron Duguay gave New York a 2-0 lead. The Canadiens scored the next six goals to even the series before winning the next three contests to secure the Cup.
But others pointed to the physically exhausting and emotionally draining series against the Islanders. Davidson later acknowledged that his knee pain worsened in that series and grew progressively worse in the Finals. He had major knee surgery afterward. Meanwhile, Nilsson told reporters “the battle with the Islanders took a lot out of” his teammates.
The other big reason was the Canadiens’ situation in goal. Their starting goalie was Ken Dryden, an All-Star who would win the Vezina Trophy that season. However, Montreal coach Scotty Bowman pulled Dryden in the third period of the first game of the Finals after he gave up four goals, replacing him with Michel “Bunny” Laroque.
After Laroque shut the Rangers out in the third period, Bowman gave him the nod to start Game Two and the Rangers had to think they were fortunate to not have to face Dryden. But it was not to be. In pre-game warmups, a shot from teammate Doug Risebrough hit Laroque in the mask forcing him to be taken to the hospital. To boos from the crowd, Dryden replaced him.
The boos grew louder when the Blueshirts scored their two quick goals to take the lead, but Dryden shut them out the rest of the way and allowed only five goals in the next three games.
Whether it was Nilsson’s broken ankle or Davidson bum knee or Dryden’s fortunate break, bad luck continued to dog the Rangers in their quest to end their Stanley Cup drought.
Although they fell short of winning it all, the 1978-79 Rangers remain one of the most unique and fun teams in franchise history.
Next, part five of our series will look at a Rangers team whose dream season wound up on ice at the Igloo.