The 1980/81 NHL season was the 64th season in the National Hockey League . 21 teams played 80 games each. The Stanley Cup won the New York Islanders after a 4-1 win in the final series against the Minnesota North Stars . Wayne Gretzky scored 2.05 points per game this season. Only Joe Malone had a higher average in the first season of the NHL. Gretzky broke Bobby Orr's record with 109 assists and Phil Esposito's record with 164 points . Orr and Esposito set the two records together at the Boston Bruins 10 years ago . Esposito later said that his father called him a few years ago after seeing Gretzky in a youth game and saying, "I saw a boy who was going to break all your records". Marcel Dionne led the "Triple Crown Line" with Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer in Los Angeles and scored his thousandth point in his 740th game. Never before had a player reached this mark faster. As the second player after Maurice Richard , Islanders star Mike Bossy scored his 50th goal in his 50th game of the season. Two Czechs caused a stir in Quebec. At the Olympic Games in the previous year, the brothers Anton and Peter Šťastný had separated and Peter achieved 109 points in his rookie season. For this he won the Calder Memorial Trophy . The Association of Czechoslovakia reached an agreement with the NHL and so the players could legally switch to the NHL from the coming season. Including the third Šťastný brother, Marián .
In the game of the Los Angeles Kings against the New York Rangers on April 8, 1981 in Los Angeles, there was a penalty minute world record. The referees imposed 58 penalties on 25 players with a total of 267 penalty minutes.
National Hockey League
Doug Wickenheiser
