Description
The 1982 Stanley Cup Finals was played between the Vancouver Canucks in their first Finals appearance and the defending champion New York Islanders, in their third Finals appearance. The Islanders won the best-of-seven series four games to none, to win their third straight and third overall Stanley Cup. This is also the most recent time that a Stanley Cup Champion has won three in a row and the first, and so far only, time that a U.S.-based team has won three straight Stanley Cups.
This 1982 Finals took place under a revised NHL divisional alignment and playoff structure, which de facto revived the “East vs. West” format for the Finals that had been abandoned when the Western Hockey League folded in 1926. It was also the first time a team from Western Canada contested the Finals since the WHL stopped challenging for the Stanley Cup (the Victoria Cougars, who had also been the last team from British Columbia to win the Cup in 1925, played the 1926 Finals too).
