Talk:1984 Stanley Cup Finals

Format change for 1984 and 1985 Stanley Cup Finals

Even though the NHL only used the 2-3-2 format for the '84 and '85 Stanley Cup Finals. Does anybody know why they made the change? I'm guessing just to mimic what the NBA and MLB use for their respective championships, and for travel purposes as well. I'm sure the Oilers dominating both the Islanders and Flyers at home caused the NHL to rethink about the format :). MechaKnight (talk) 18:34, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Not sure why it happened... but I've always wondered what would have happened had the Islanders gotten to play Game 5 at home. That team had incredible heart and a knack for coming through in the clutch. 3 straight games in Edmonton against the POWERHOUSE Oilers was simply asking too much though...Smythtown94 (talk) 1:26, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

It was done to reduce travel . . . only two cross-continent trips instead a possibility of 4 in a 2-2-1-1-1 . . . keep in mind that both years, the Oilers did not have home-ice advantage in the series (they had more points than the Isles in '84, but less than the Flyers in '85). That's because, in those days, home-ice advantage in an inter-division series was not determined by point totals of the two teams, but the record of one division against the other, and the Patrick had a winning record against the Smythe. In my opinion, the 2-3-2 format is better for the Finals because it minimizes the effect of home-ice advantage, which should be reduced as much as possible for the Finals. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.112.217.193 (talk) 11:40, 28 July 2009 (UTC)