1983–84 New York Islanders season

The 1983–84 New York Islanders season was the 12th season for the franchise in the National Hockey League. The Islanders entered to the season as the four-time defending Stanley Cup champions, and subsequently went the Stanley Cup Finals for the fifth time in a row, but lost four games to one in a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers.

1983–84 New York Islanders
Wales Conference champions
Patrick Division champions
Division	1st Patrick
Conference	1st Wales
1983–84 record	50–26–4
Goals for	357
Goals against	269
Team information
General manager	Bill Torrey
Coach	Al Arbour
Captain	Denis Potvin
Alternate captains	None
Arena	Nassau Coliseum
Team leaders
Goals	Mike Bossy (51)
Assists	Bryan Trottier (71)
Points	Mike Bossy (118)
Penalty minutes	Duane Sutter (94)
Wins	Billy Smith (23)
Goals against average	Billy Smith (2.72)
← 1982–83 1984–85 →

The Islanders nevertheless set a new North American major professional sports record by winning nineteen consecutive playoff series (two more than the seventeen series won by the Boston Celtics in their eight year NBA championship dynasty) and unmatched in any major sport since.

Offseason

NHL Draft

See also: 1983 NHL Entry Draft

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team
1	3	Pat LaFontaine	United States	Verdun Juniors (QMJHL)
1	16	Gerald Diduck	Canada	Lethbridge Broncos (WHL)
2	37	Garnet McKechney	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
3	57	Mike Neill	Canada	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)
4	65	Mikko Makela	Finland	Ilves Tampere (Finland)
5	84	Bob Caulfield	United States	Detroit Lakes High School (USHS-MN)
5	97	Ron Viglasi	Canada	Victoria Cougars (WHL)
6	117	Darin Illikainen	United States	Hermantown High School (USHS-MN)
7	137	Jim Sprenger	United States	Cloquet High School (USHS-MN)
8	157	Dale Henry	Canada	Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
9	177	Kevin Vescio	Canada	North Bay Centennials (OHL)
10	197	Dave Shellington	Canada	Cornwall Royals (OHL)
11	217	John Bjorkman	United States	Warroad High School (USHS-MN)
12	237	Peter McGeough	United States	Bishop Hendricken High School (USHS-RI)

Regular season

All Star Game

The 35th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Campbell Conference defeated the Wales Conference 9–3. Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, and head coach Al Arbour participated in the All-Star Game as representatives of the Wales Conference.

Season standings

Patrick Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
New York Islanders	80	50	26	4	357	269	104
Washington Capitals	80	48	27	5	308	226	101
Philadelphia Flyers	80	44	26	10	350	290	98
New York Rangers	80	42	29	9	314	304	93
New Jersey Devils	80	17	56	7	231	350	41
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	16	58	6	254	390	38

^[1]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Record vs. opponents

Vs. Wales Conference

Vs. Patrick Division 1983–84 NHL Records ^[2] Team NJD NYI NYR PHI PIT WSH Total New Jersey — 0−7 1−5−1 0−7 3−4 0−5−2 4−28−3 N.Y. Islanders 7−0 — 3−4 4−3 6−1 4−3 24−11−0 N.Y. Rangers 5−1−1 4−3 — 4−3 5−2 3−3−1 21−12−2 Philadelphia 7−0 3−4 3−4 — 7−0 3−4 23−12−0 Pittsburgh 4−3 1−6 2−5 0–7 — 1−6 8−27−0 Washington 5−0−2 3−4 3−3−1 4–3 6–1 — 21−11−3

Vs. Adams Division 1983–84 NHL Records Team BOS BUF HFD MTL QUE Total New Jersey 1−2 0−2−1 1−1−1 1−2 1−2 4−9−2 N.Y. Islanders 0−2−1 3−0 1−2 3−0 1−2 8−6−1 N.Y. Rangers 0−2−1 1−1−1 1−2 1−2 2−0−1 5−7−3 Philadelphia 1−1−1 0−3 1−2 2−0−1 2−0−1 6−6−3 Pittsburgh 0−3 0−3 2−1 0−2−1 0−3 2−12−1 Washington 1−2 0−2−1 2−1 3−0 1−2 7−7−1

Vs. Campbell Conference

Vs. Norris Division 1983–84 NHL Records Team CHI DET MIN STL TOR Total New Jersey 2−1 2−1 1−2 0−3 0−3 5−10−0 N.Y. Islanders 3−0 1−2 2−0−1 1−1−1 2−1 9−4−2 N.Y. Rangers 2−1 3−0 1−1−1 2−1 1−2 9−5−1 Philadelphia 1−0−2 1−0−2 0−1−2 1−2 3−0 6−3−6 Pittsburgh 1−1−1 0−3 1−2 0−2−1 1−1−1 3−9−3 Washington 1−1−1 1−2 3−0 2−1 3−0 10−4−1

Vs. Smythe Division 1983–84 NHL Records Team CGY EDM LAK VAN WIN Total New Jersey 0−2−1 0−2−1 2−1 1−2 1−2 4−9−2 N.Y. Islanders 0−3 3−0 2−0−1 3−0 1−2 9−5−1 N.Y. Rangers 2−1 1−2 1−0−2 1−1−1 2−1 7−5−3 Philadelphia 2−1 2−0−1 2−1 1−2 2−1 9−5−1 Pittsburgh 0−1−2 0−3 1−2 1−2 1−2 3−10−2 Washington 2−1 1−2 3−0 2−1 2−1 10−5−0

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 4, 1983	3–7	@ Quebec Nordiques (1983–84)	0–1–0
2	W	October 6, 1983	7–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1983–84)	1–1–0
3	W	October 8, 1983	8–7 OT	@ Washington Capitals (1983–84)	2–1–0
4	W	October 11, 1983	5–2	Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)	3–1–0
5	L	October 15, 1983	1–5	Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)	3–2–0
6	W	October 16, 1983	3–2	@ Buffalo Sabres (1983–84)	4–2–0
7	L	October 18, 1983	3–4	Calgary Flames (1983–84)	4–3–0
8	L	October 22, 1983	2–3	New York Rangers (1983–84)	4–4–0
9	L	October 23, 1983	5–6 OT	@ New York Rangers (1983–84)	4–5–0
10	L	October 25, 1983	2–4	Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)	4–6–0
11	W	October 29, 1983	5–3	New Jersey Devils (1983–84)	5–6–0
12	W	October 30, 1983	6–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)	6–6–0
13	W	November 1, 1983	6–3	Vancouver Canucks (1983–84)	7–6–0
14	W	November 4, 1983	6–1	@ New Jersey Devils (1983–84)	8–6–0
15	W	November 5, 1983	4–0	Buffalo Sabres (1983–84)	9–6–0
16	W	November 8, 1983	4–1	Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)	10–6–0
17	W	November 11, 1983	6–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)	11–6–0
18	L	November 12, 1983	2–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)	11–7–0
19	W	November 15, 1983	6–4	Hartford Whalers (1983–84)	12–7–0
20	L	November 18, 1983	1–7	@ Washington Capitals (1983–84)	12–8–0
21	W	November 19, 1983	6–2	Washington Capitals (1983–84)	13–8–0
22	W	November 22, 1983	3–2	Quebec Nordiques (1983–84)	14–8–0
23	W	November 23, 1983	4–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)	15–8–0
24	W	November 26, 1983	9–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1983–84)	16–8–0
25	T	November 29, 1983	5–5 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1983–84)	16–8–1
26	L	December 1, 1983	2–6	@ Calgary Flames (1983–84)	16–9–1
27	W	December 4, 1983	4–2	@ Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)	17–9–1
28	W	December 6, 1983	5–2	@ Vancouver Canucks (1983–84)	18–9–1
29	T	December 7, 1983	4–4 OT	@ Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)	18–9–2
30	W	December 10, 1983	4–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1983–84)	19–9–2
31	W	December 13, 1983	8–5	Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)	20–9–2
32	W	December 15, 1983	4–2	Detroit Red Wings (1983–84)	21–9–2
33	W	December 17, 1983	7–1	New York Rangers (1983–84)	22–9–2
34	W	December 20, 1983	11–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)	23–9–2
35	W	December 22, 1983	6–1	Washington Capitals (1983–84)	24–9–2
36	L	December 23, 1983	3–7	@ Washington Capitals (1983–84)	24–10–2
37	W	December 28, 1983	6–5 OT	@ Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)	25–10–2
38	L	December 30, 1983	3–4 OT	@ Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)	25–11–2
39	W	December 31, 1983	7–3	@ Minnesota North Stars (1983–84)	26–11–2
40	L	January 3, 1984	2–4	Boston Bruins (1983–84)	26–12–2
41	L	January 5, 1984	2–4	@ Hartford Whalers (1983–84)	26–13–2
42	W	January 7, 1984	5–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1983–84)	27–13–2
43	L	January 8, 1984	4–5	@ New York Rangers (1983–84)	27–14–2
44	W	January 10, 1984	4–2	New Jersey Devils (1983–84)	28–14–2
45	W	January 12, 1984	7–3	Montreal Canadiens (1983–84)	29–14–2
46	W	January 14, 1984	4–2	New York Rangers (1983–84)	30–14–2
47	L	January 16, 1984	0–2	@ Boston Bruins (1983–84)	30–15–2
48	W	January 18, 1984	9–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1983–84)	31–15–2
49	L	January 21, 1984	1–7	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)	31–16–2
50	L	January 24, 1984	0–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1983–84)	31–17–2
51	L	January 26, 1984	1–5	Quebec Nordiques (1983–84)	31–18–2
52	L	January 28, 1984	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1983–84)	31–19–2
53	L	February 2, 1984	2–5	St. Louis Blues (1983–84)	31–20–2
54	W	February 4, 1984	6–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)	32–20–2
55	W	February 5, 1984	5–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)	33–20–2
56	W	February 7, 1984	5–3	Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)	34–20–2
57	W	February 11, 1984	6–4	Vancouver Canucks (1983–84)	35–20–2
58	L	February 13, 1984	1–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1983–84)	35–21–2
59	L	February 15, 1984	2–3	@ New York Rangers (1983–84)	35–22–2
60	W	February 18, 1984	4–3	New York Rangers (1983–84)	36–22–2
61	W	February 19, 1984	5–4 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (1983–84)	37–22–2
62	W	February 23, 1984	5–1	St. Louis Blues (1983–84)	38–22–2
63	W	February 25, 1984	7–1	New Jersey Devils (1983–84)	39–22–2
64	L	February 26, 1984	3–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)	39–23–2
65	W	February 29, 1984	4–3	@ Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)	40–23–2
66	W	March 3, 1984	11–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1983–84)	41–23–2
67	W	March 6, 1984	5–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)	42–23–2
68	W	March 8, 1984	9–5	Toronto Maple Leafs (1983–84)	43–23–2
69	L	March 10, 1984	4–5 OT	Calgary Flames (1983–84)	43–24–2
70	W	March 11, 1984	6–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)	44–24–2
71	W	March 13, 1984	5–1	@ New Jersey Devils (1983–84)	45–24–2
72	L	March 17, 1984	1–2	Washington Capitals (1983–84)	45–25–2
73	L	March 18, 1984	4–5	@ Hartford Whalers (1983–84)	45–26–2
74	W	March 20, 1984	5–2	New Jersey Devils (1983–84)	46–26–2
75	T	March 22, 1984	3–3 OT	@ Boston Bruins (1983–84)	46–26–3
76	T	March 24, 1984	4–4 OT	Minnesota North Stars (1983–84)	46–26–4
77	W	March 25, 1984	5–3	@ Buffalo Sabres (1983–84)	47–26–4
78	W	March 27, 1984	7–0	Montreal Canadiens (1983–84)	48–26–4
79	W	March 31, 1984	3–1	@ Washington Capitals (1983–84)	49–26–4
80	W	April 1, 1984	2–1	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)	50–26–4

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Mike Bossy RW 67 51 67 118 8 66 6 0 11 Bryan Trottier C 68 40 71 111 59 70 7 3 4 Denis Potvin D 78 22 63 85 87 55 11 1 3 John Tonelli LW 73 27 40 67 66 21 5 1 7 Greg Gilbert LW 79 31 35 66 59 51 6 0 2 Bob Bourne C 78 22 34 56 75 12 5 5 2 Brent Sutter C 69 34 15 49 69 4 7 0 6 Tomas Jonsson D 72 11 36 47 54 12 2 0 1 Butch Goring C 71 22 24 46 8 9 0 5 3 Bob Nystrom RW 74 15 29 44 80 9 1 0 1 Duane Sutter RW 78 17 23 40 94 2 2 0 1 Stefan Persson D 75 9 24 33 65 30 4 0 2 Clark Gillies LW 76 12 16 28 65 5 3 0 2 Anders Kallur RW 65 9 14 23 24 0 2 3 1 Pat LaFontaine C 15 13 6 19 6 9 1 0 0 Dave Langevin D 69 3 16 19 53 26 0 0 1 Ken Morrow D 63 3 11 14 45 26 0 0 1 Gord Dineen D 43 1 11 12 32 10 0 0 0 Wayne Merrick C 31 6 5 11 10 2 0 0 0 Paul Boutilier D 28 0 11 11 36 18 0 0 0 Pat Flatley RW 16 2 7 9 6 3 1 0 0 Billy Carroll C 39 5 2 7 12 -1 0 0 2 Mats Hallin LW 40 2 5 7 27 -2 0 0 0 Gord Lane D 37 0 3 3 70 6 0 0 0 Mike McEwen D 15 0 2 2 6 -5 0 0 0 Roland Melanson G 37 0 2 2 10 0 0 0 0 Billy Smith G 42 0 2 2 23 0 0 0 0 Garth MacGuigan C 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Darcy Regier D 5 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 Bruce Affleck D 1 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 Kelly Hrudey G 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Billy Smith 2279 42 23 13 2 130 3.42 2 Roland Melanson 2019 37 20 11 2 110 3.27 0 Kelly Hrudey 535 12 7 2 0 28 3.14 0 Team: 4833 80 50 26 4 268 3.33 2

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG Clark Gillies LW 21 12 7 19 19 3 0 0 Mike Bossy RW 21 8 10 18 4 2 0 3 Pat Flatley RW 21 9 6 15 14 1 0 1 Bryan Trottier C 21 8 6 14 49 1 0 0 Brent Sutter C 20 4 10 14 18 0 1 3 Greg Gilbert LW 21 5 7 12 39 2 0 1 Pat LaFontaine C 16 3 6 9 8 0 0 0 Tomas Jonsson D 21 3 5 8 22 2 0 0 Paul Boutilier D 21 1 7 8 10 0 0 1 Butch Goring C 21 1 5 6 2 1 0 0 Denis Potvin D 20 1 5 6 28 1 0 0 Stefan Persson D 16 0 6 6 2 0 0 0 Anders Kallur RW 17 2 2 4 2 0 1 1 Duane Sutter RW 21 1 3 4 48 0 0 0 John Tonelli LW 17 1 3 4 31 0 0 0 Dave Langevin D 12 0 4 4 18 0 0 0 Ken Morrow D 20 1 2 3 20 0 0 1 Bob Bourne C 8 1 1 2 7 0 0 1 Gord Dineen D 9 1 1 2 28 0 0 0 Bob Nystrom RW 15 0 2 2 8 0 0 0 Billy Carroll C 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mats Hallin LW 6 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 Gord Lane D 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Roland Melanson G 6 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Wayne Merrick C 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Billy Smith G 21 0 0 0 17 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO Billy Smith 1190 21 12 8 54 2.72 0 Roland Melanson 87 6 0 1 5 3.45 0 Team: 1277 21 12 9 59 2.77 0

^[3]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Playoffs

Stanley Cup Finals

Main article: 1984 Stanley Cup Finals

New York Islanders vs. Edmonton Oilers

Date	Visitors	Score	Home	Score	Notes
May 10	Edmonton	1	New York	0
May 12	Edmonton	1	New York	6
May 15	New York	2	Edmonton	7
May 17	New York	2	Edmonton	7
May 19	New York	2	Edmonton	5

Edmonton wins the series 4–1.

Awards and records

• Prince of Wales Trophy
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Mike Bossy
• Mike Bossy, Right Wing, NHL First All-Star Team
• Denis Potvin, Defence, NHL Second All-Star Team
• Bryan Trottier, Center, NHL Second All-Star Team

References

• Islanders on Hockey Database

1. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.
2. "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
3. "1983-84 New York Islanders Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved July 27, 2009.