May 24, 1980. The Nassau Coliseum was a pressure cooker. The Islanders had never won anything — and now they were in overtime of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers. The sellout crowd of 15,000 had waited eight years for this moment.
At 7:11 of the first overtime period, John Tonelli battled for a puck behind the net and fed it to the front. Bob Nystrom, positioned at the right post, redirected the pass past goalie Pete Peeters. Nassau Coliseum erupted in a roar that could be heard across Long Island.
Nystrom raised his stick. His teammates piled on. Bryan Trottier leaped into the arms of anyone he could find. On the ice, grown men were weeping. The Islanders — the scrappy, hungry, long-suffering Islanders — were Stanley Cup champions for the first time.
"I just tried to get my stick on it," Nystrom said afterward, characteristically modest. "It went in and the building went crazy. I still can't believe it happened." The goal has been replayed thousands of times since, but it never gets old for Islander fans who were there.
The Flyers, who had physically brutalized opponents all season, had no answer for the Islanders' speed, depth, and now their destiny. It was the beginning of something special at Fort Neverlose.